"So you really won't come back with me, Roxas?' the question was almost painful, if Axel had been able to feel it. "That's fine. Don't answer me then. Just turn your back on your best friend and act like I don't exist. But guess what, Roxas old pal. I'm not giving up on you. I'll drag you back kicking and screaming. Even unconscious if I have to."
Glancing uneasily between the fiery teen and his twin, Sora, who stood defensively on his other side, clutching his key-blade, ready to pull Roxas out of danger at any moment, his mind couldn't fully process the jumble of words passing through him. "…Why?" he finally muttered, bowing his head. "Who am I? The first person I saw, waking up that first day, was you Axel… But now here comes Sora, saying he needs to reunite with me to become whole again… I don't know what to do." Dropping to his knees, he gripped his head in his hands, eyes becoming cloudy.
"Haven't you ever dreamed of being complete, Roxas? When I went to sleep you and I separated from the same body and we became twins, but neither knew the other existed. Now that we both have our memories back you can come with me and we can be whole together… Isn't that what you've always wanted?" Sora's own voice cracked as he spoke, letting down his guard as he stepped forward, taking his brother's hand in his own as their eyes met.
"Roxas don't listen to him! He only wants you to merge with him again so HE'S whole! What would happen to your dream of a heart? A heart of your own." pleading with the smaller boy, Axel stepped forward as well, his fiery weapons tossed to the ground behind him.
"Roxas, listen to me for a sec! That's not how it would be! We'd become one, yes. But we'd both be whole as one… You need me and I need you, or neither of us will be complete. I'm sorry I sound like I'm stealing you from the world you always thought you knew, but it would be better for both of us… King Mickey and DiZ think so too…"
A sudden flood of rage filled him, and he ripped away his hand, glaring into his look-a-like's eyes with a burning anger and loathing Sora had never seen before. At that moment it was clear that Roxas would inevitably do something rash. Both men, realizing this, instantly went on the defensive, preparing to restrain the boy if needed.
Tears came to his eyes as he shouted his next words, the venom and hatred within them causing both Axel and Sora to wince backwards. "I'm not part of Sora, and I'm not a nobody! I have a free will and a heart of my own! DiZ and Mickey don't know anything, just like Xemnas!" turning swiftly to Axel, whose shocked face caused him to stay silent, Roxas continued, this time more urgent. "Axel; you feel it too, don't you? You and I have hearts. We're SOMEBODIES! You and I are best friends, and I know you feel it. There are no such things as nobodies…"
Jumping to restrain him again as Roxas pulled away from Sora, Axel wasn't quick enough and tripped over Sora's foot. Roxas was already on the move before he could stand and stabilize himself. The room, pure white on all sides, had only a single door. It was there that Roxas ran, having shed his black cloak long ago.
"Roxas, wait!" Sora called desperately, feet frozen to the floor beneath him, mind reeling with incoherent thoughts. The angst and sorrow within his heart wasn't his own, but Roxas'. Those were his emotions.
"Damn you, Roxas, stop running from me!" before he could even take two steps into his mad dash to catch up with Roxas, Axel gasped, feeling someone pulling him back by the cloth of his black coat sleeve. "Why are you stopping me?" he snarled, glaring down at Sora as he pulled his arm away. "It's your entire fault he ran! If it hadn't been for you, he wouldn't have run like this! Now we'll have to recapture him and settle this."
"Let him have his space…" Sora muttered, clutching his chest with his hand, his key-blade dissolving into the air at his side. "He'll most likely be venting up in the clock tower, so just leave him go for now. We'll go and try this again when he's finally ready to listen."
"What do you think set him off like this?" Axel, having flopped backwards onto a white armchair, kicked his feet up, onto the flawless face of a nearby white coffee table, resting his arms on the back of the chair.
"It was when I mentioned DiZ… He hates that man more than anyone else. He deceived Roxas and toyed with his mind the entire year I was asleep. It was him who suggested getting rid of the nobodies…" Sora, eyes appearing far away, probably sneaking into Roxas' memories as he spoke, appeared weak and unsteady, choosing to settle blankly onto a nearby white couch, staring down at the floor, the same emotionless white that blanketed everything there. "But he did have a point. DiZ had wanted to rejoin Roxas and me, hoping that we could become complete and use our memories to destroy the heartless. King Mickey seems to think this is a good idea as well, but I just can't help thinking about the emotions running wild inside Roxas."
"It is strange…" Axel added his eyes closed to the world. "The typical 'nobody' has no emotions, no heart. The fact that you say you can feel Roxas' emotions and heart clearly show he's not a normal 'nobody'. I guess that goes to show why he and I feel this way. I don't feel empty, now that Roxas is here. I feel like I've actually got a heart when I'm with him."
Sora merely nodded his reply, standing from the couch to venture slowly toward the large floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out at the darkness surrounding them. "He might have been right, saying there's no such thing as a 'nobody'… If you're only half a person, Axel, then doesn't that mean you could possibly have half a heart too? Maybe you and Roxas feel this way because your halves are collecting into a whole. When all of this is over, and we complete Kingdom Hearts, you'll both be complete again… along with me. I think as long as Roxas and I work as a team, it's just like being whole, right? There isn't a need to join bodies."
"You may be on to something there, Sora." It was almost humorous, the way Axel put it, tilting his head back to laugh, eyes still closed. "After we've finished putting together Kingdom Hearts and the so called 'nobodies' get complete hearts, we can all go for some much needed sea-salt ice-cream. What do you think?"
Nodding again, pleased that he and Axel were finally agreeing and had come to form a sort of plan; Sora realized that all they needed now was to explain their idea to Roxas, if ever they could calm him down. Even if it would take a while and maybe set the two back a bit in their recent headway together, Sora was willing to cause minimal damage to Roxas in a fight, if it would snap him out of his confusion and anger.
"Yeah… Let's start heading to the clock tower now and check on him. He's sulking on the edge, but overall he's calmed down considerably since earlier."
"Are you inside his mind or something?" Axel, eyes finally open, sat up straight, an idea slowly forming in the back of his mind. "Well?"
"Sort of…" he mumbled uneasily, not quite liking the look in Axel's eyes at the moment. So, adding a bit more, he hoped Axel wouldn't do anything too racy. "I mean, it's like FEELING what he does; only it's sort of detached. It's like sometimes, if I'm looking for where he is, then I can see him, as if I'm there looking at him. Other times, like when I need to know what he's THINKING, I slip into his mind and read his thoughts like an audio. Other times, when I need to know what his EMOTIONS are, I just tap into them and feel them second hand."
Axel's emerald eyes took on a new and scarily interested feel as he studied Sora's face, probably forming a whole list of questions about Roxas in his mind. Things like 'Boxers or Briefs' was probably a key question, but he decided he'd rather not hear it spoken aloud.
"We don't have time for chit-chat, Axel. We need to get to Roxas before he falls asleep. If he does then I can't sense where he is anymore, and in that time a heartless could attack him." He explained, heading for the doors on the other side of the room, their faces white as well. It seemed the mansion's designer wasn't all that creative when he built it.
"Right." He muttered, placing a hand on Sora's shoulder. "I can get us there a lot faster through a corridor, you know." He grinned, opening a swirling portal in front of Sora.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that…" he shrugged, pulling Axel through without another word. Even if he wouldn't normally trust Axel, it seemed the two shared a mutual need to protect Roxas. Other than that they would probably claw the other's eyes out.