Roxas shifted uncomfortably on his perch. He had been restless for a few
weeks now, but he couldn't pinpoint what the problem was. He just felt weird in his
own skin.
--
"Roxas!"
He turned.
"Axel!" he smiled slightly. His best friend was the only one who could get a
reaction out of him lately. "What's up?"
"Not much, you wanna go into town and hang out?"
He chuckled softly at the look on Axel's face. He looked thrilled just to be going
somewhere, even somewhere as unexciting as Twilight Town.
"Sure" Roxas said, picking up his coat.
--
So there they sat, perched on top of the clock tower in Twilight Town eating sea-
salt ice cream, Roxas' favorite treat. Axel looked over at him.
"Soo…you wanna tell me what's been bugging you lately? You've been so anti-
social and secluded. I'm worried about you."
Roxas knew this was coming. He had only been waiting for the question to crop up.
He sighed.
"It's just…I…I don't really know…to tell you the truth. I just feel weird.
Like…like there's somewhere else I'm supposed to be...like I shouldn't be here."
"Well, you really shouldn't. None of us should. Nobodies like us were never
supposed to exist."
"Maybe…I'm supposed to go back."
"…what…?" Axel dropped his ice cream bar and it splattered on the ground.
"Oops! Sorry!" Axel called down to the boy in camouflage pants it had hit.
"Roxas...you can't be serious."
"Why not? If I was never supposed to exist then isn't that what we're all supposed
to do? Merge back into what we're supposed to be?"
"But…you DO exist…whether you were supposed to or not…you do."
"Ugh…you just DON'T GET IT!" Roxas shouted. Axel was taken aback by this
sudden outburst. It was quite unlike Roxas to raise his voice. He's usually so calm.
"What's your problem?!"
"Why can't you understand? It's so simple! You know what…I bet you wouldn't
even NOTICE if I left!"
Axel couldn't believe what he was hearing! "I wouldn't notice? Well since I'm
obviously too STUPID TO UNDERSTAND WHY DON'T YOU EXPLAIN IT
TO ME?!" the moment the words came out of his mouth he wished he hadn't said
them. He shouldn't have shouted back.
Roxas leapt to his feet. "JUST FORGET IT!" he stormed off, leaving Axel alone
on the tower. They'd never fought before.
'Maybe I just put to much pressure on him to answer' Axel thought, looking over
his shoulder in the direction Roxas had run off too. He sighed and got up, he might
as well go back too. As he approached the doors of Castle Oblivion, his and Roxas'
friend Demyx ran up to him, frantic.
"Axel! What happened to Roxas?! What did you say to 'im?! I think he's going to
leave!! ….Axel?"
Axel was speechless, Roxas had told him that he was thinking about leaving but
RIGHT NOW?! He ran toward the castle as fast as he could.
'Ugh…why does he have to live on the second floor!' he thought, gasping for
breath. He reached Roxas' room and burst through the door.
"ROX…as?" the room was empty.
"What are you doing?"
Axel turned. Zexion was standing behind him, eating an apple. That made Axel
angry for some reason. How could he be so calm?!
"Where's Roxas?!" Axel quickly asked. Zexion looked past him into Roxas' room.
"He's not in there?"
"If he were, I wouldn't be asking you where he was, now would I." Axel spat
impatiently.
"Hey Axel, hey Zexy"
"Don't call me that." Zexion complained as Marluxia, organization member XI,
walked up.
"Axel, if you're looking for Roxas you'd better hurry, he just walked out the front
doors. I dunno where he's going, but it didn't look like he was coming back any
time soon -- huh?" Axel had run off before Marluxia had even finished his sentence.
It was pouring rain outside.
"ROXAS!" Axel called after his friend. Roxas stopped walking but he didn't turn
around. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" he asked with annoyance, still not turning.
"You can't just turn on the organization! If you get on their bad side they'll destroy
you!"
Roxas turned his head slightly so that he could see his friend "No one would miss
me." He said.
"That's not true!"
But Roxas did not turn again.
"ROXAS!" Axel shouted after him. But the boy had already slammed the entrance
gate shut. He wasn't coming back.
Demyx jogged over to Axel and put a hand on his shoulder. Axel shook him off
and turned away. Thank god it was raining; he was ashamed of the tears in his eyes.
"Axel…it's not your fault…" Axel looked up staring at the gate Roxas had left through.
'but it was my fault…wasn't it.' He thought 'if I hadn't shouted back…made it
sound like I didn't care…'
"c'mon, let's get you back inside." Demyx said, though Axel barely heard him. He
allowed himself to be lead back inside the castle, nearly oblivious to everything
happening around him. He sniffed, remembering the last thing Roxas said to him.
--
"No one would miss me."
"That's not true!"
--
"That's not true…I would." He blamed himself for Roxas' choosing to leave. He
hated himself for provoking him. But most of all, he hated himself for not
treasuring the time that he DID have with his best friend. He had always assumed
that nothing would ever change. That Roxas would always be there.
