"Softly Smolder"
He left him. After all they had done together, after all they were to each other… he had left. As if nobody would care. As if nobody would miss him.
But a Nobody missed him. Axel missed Roxas. Terribly.
† † †
He left her. He didn't care. He had never cared. She had only made him believe that he did. At first because she was forced to do so… but then she found herself wanting his rescue. Craving her make believe white knight.
The white knight who chose the girl he couldn't remember over the girl who needed him.
Sora abandoned Namine. Left her. All alone.
† † †
Mission (Operation "Confirm Treachery") complete, Axel should have returned directly to The World that Never Was. He ought to have gone straight to Xemnas to make his report and await further assignments. But he didn't. He couldn't. Could not bring himself to return to a place so connected with the one he cared so deeply for when that person was not even there.
But where else did he have to go? Twilight Town… too painful. Same for the Destiny Islands. And Atlantica. And every other world. There was no place free of memories of Roxas.
Memories…
Save one.
† † †
Her task had been to steal his memories. Now it was to repair them. To atone for her sins the only way she could. No mention of his sins.
Apparently it was a nobler thing to sleep for a year to get back to a girl who had no memory of you then it was to save a girl who was imprisoned because of your existence.
To fix Sora's memories. This was her objective and her curse. It took much of Namine's time. But it was a painful thing. To have to help the person who did not help you, so that he could be with the girl he picked instead of you.
That pain made Namine's time away from her work all the more precious. Though, as a Nobody, the haunted halls could not work their magic and make her forget, she had nonetheless taken to wandering Castle Oblivion.
The white witch, now a pale ghost in the colorless castle, with no pure sviour left to her.
At least here no one would hear her cry.
† † †
He knew that this place could not give him what he desired. Roxas had never been here. There would be no false worlds for Axel to revisit again and again, until his misery was sated or he wasted away. Nor could his slow accent of the endless stairs make him forget. No sweet release for him. Only a moment of quiet pause, of time alone.
Or not.
Third floor. A bare corridor- indistinguishable from any other in the castle. Axel had assumed there would be no other soul here.
He was wrong.
A flash of blonde hair-
"Roxas?" His eyes drew wide and he went after the figure.
"Roxas!"
His useless heart felt close to stopping as he rounded the corner and-
† † †
Namine turned around at the calling. She had thought she was the only one here.
"Axel," she said, passively surprised.
"Oh," the man said, stopping just short of the girl, "Namine. I'm sorry. I thought…" he trailed off, looking away.
"That I was Roxas?" she supplied.
He hesitated, looking back down at her tiny form through the corner of his eye. "Yah," he said finally, shoulders slumping.
They were quiet then. He seemed so disappointed. Like someone who had so hoped for something, then felt stupid for ever holding such a hope when it was dashed. Namine knew that sensation all too well.
"I thought you left after…" she let the end of the question remain unsaid.
"I did," he confirmed quickly, "I just wanted to be here… for a walk… I needed to clear my head…" His explanation sounded awkward and lame in its truth, even to his own ears.
Namine nodded with her eyes downcast out of pure habit. "Me, too," she agreed.
"…He left you, didn't he?" Axel said after a slight hesitation. He didn't need to clarify who 'he' was; they both knew.
Very slowly, as if her head was too heavy for her fine neck, the girl child nodded.
"Looks like neither of us got out happy endings," he said quietly. She nodded miserably. Her eyes felt too wet- like a cloth saturated to the point where it threatened to run over.
"Maybe," Axel observed, looking up as if the place where the plain white walls met the plain white ceiling was even mildly interesting, "Maybe Nobodies don't get happy endings."
"Axel," Namine said, voice a sudden choke.
He looked down, chest feeling too full as he watched her face rise, pink-rimmed eyes full of hurt looking back at him.
"It hurts." Her lower lip quivered with the effort of holding it in.
Unbidden, a strong arm reached out to her, wrapping thin around shoulders. Axel's touch was hot, even though the clack sheathe. He pulled her close to him. Namine could smell darkness, leather, and sweet clean skin as she buried her face in his chest.
"I know, love," he whispered softly, "I know it hurts."
He squeezed his grip comfortingly. She really was so very like Roxas. And yet still so different. Where he was aloof and indifferent, she was shy and gentle. But she had survived more then he had, and come out the other side with her innocent nature somehow intact. And right now, that sweet innocence needed more protecting then Roxas ever had.
"I won't let it hurt anymore, Namine," he promised, kissing her tear-dampened cheek carefully, "I'll be here for you. I won't ever let it hurt again."