The Perks of Being a Hero
By: Mokona-Midoki
Disclaimer: As much as I wish they were mine, neither Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy belongs to me.
The sun set on Twilight Town, casting warm rays of sunlight, and reaching long fingers of shadow across the sleepy city. Several people still moved about. Seifer and his small ragtag gang still monopolized the sand pit while Hayner and his two friends were locking up their secret place beneath the train tracks. Shops were closing or already closed, and time seemed to slow.
A lone red-haired figure sat at the top of the train station tower. It was a popular spot for quite a few residents of Twilight Town. If people knew they went up there, sat on the very edge of the clock tower, they might be banned. But people never though to look up to the sky, so no on ever knew.
The man sat one knee propped up, and one arm draped straight out across it, his drooping black gloved hand holding a bar of melting blue ice cream. It drip, drip, dripped slowly to the pavement far, far below, but he didn't seem to notice. His eyes were trained on the sunset beyond the town.
He sat thinking. Unbidden, and unwanted, a memory surfaced.
He had once told Roxas that his memories brought him nothing but trouble, and it was true. His memories, of his time as a Nobody and his life as a person, were, for the most part, not pleasant. Not happy. Not cheerful. Not at all.
Not that he deserved any happy memories. People like him weren't supposed to end up happy.
And so, as the memory surfaced, he tried to ignore it. Tried to ignore the pictures that flashed through his mind, and instead focused on the sleepy, warm, sand-colored town below him.
The city was anything but warm. It was gray steel, and metal was not warm. It was cold.
Axel was not a good person, and he knew it.
Reno was not a good person, and he knew it.
Despite all that Roxas and Xion had ever said,
Despite the little that Elena ever said, because Rude said hardly anything,
Axel knew he was not one of the good guys.
Reno definitely knew he was a bad guy.
After all…good people didn't kill people.
Good guys didn't kidnap innocent girls.
Good people didn't betray others.
Good guys didn't sacrifice people for their own purposes.
Good guys protected their friends.
Good guys didn't stand back and do nothing when their friends die.
And yet…watching Roxas and Xion…
Still…working with Rude and Elena…
And maybe even that still so innocent Sora…
And later watching Reeve as he worked, to kind for his own good…
It made him want to be one of the good guys.
He wanted to be somebody like Cloud.
Cause…if he was one of the good guys…
Cause don't you know, the hero…
They always got their happy ending.
They ended up being disgustingly happy.
Surrounded by their friends.
And by the people they never admit to actually care for.
But Axel wasn't a good guy.
Reno was not a hero.
And he never would be.
Too many sins stained his soul. And he knew it.
And yet…
Even so…
With a soft sucking noise, the ice cream slid off the wooden stick and fell to the ground below.
Axel looked down, frowning a bit as he watched the ice cream splatter on the pavement. He looked back at the empty stick, and noticed something on the side. In dark letters was put the word: WINNER.
Axel snorted.
Reno rolled his eyes.
He knew the bad guy never won.
The bad guys always lost.
And yet…
Even so…
If he had been different, maybe he would have had someone there beside him.
Maybe he wouldn't feel so alone.
After staring at it for a moment more, Axel dropped the stick as well, not watching as it fell through the warm air.
Axel stood and stretched. "Don't give me that look man." He voiced to the empty space beside him. The space that, had it been filled, would hold a startled blonde teenager. "What's the point in keeping it?" He continued, turning away from the ledge, hands in his pockets. "I can't eat two bars by myself."
-The End-
Footnotes: This was based on the (basically true) fact that Axel is Reno's Nobody. The creator said that Axel was Reno, in a different environment and this is my take on it.
Axel and Reno are two of my favorites, so I did enjoy writing this.
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