"Aqua," the young woman turned to see the young man who had said her name. He was tall and thin in the extreme with wild red spikes and green eyes. Yet, Lea possessed non of his usual confidence as he clutched a towel nervously in front of him.
"Yeah, how can I help you, Lea?" she asked. She brushed a lock of her blue hair behind her ear and smiled warmly. This was probably the first real interaction she'd ever had with him.
"This is gonna sound really weird," Lea said as he shuffled about. "But I was wondering, if maybe, you could help me cut my hair."
"Really? Okay," she said slowly and stood up.
She hadn't really done any sort of hair cutting since before she passed her Mark of Mastery and she'd had to take care of Terra and Ven...
Terra, the thought came unbidden to her mind and she looked down so that Lea wouldn't see the tears spring to her eyes. She gestured to the chair so that her voice wouldn't crack, and she swiped at her eyes when she thought he wasn't looking. She would hold herself together until after she had cut Lea's hair and she was alone. Then she could let everything pour out, just like always. She had to remain brave for the others; it was her duty.
Lea sat in the chair and pretended to not notice when Aqua wiped tears from her eyes. What had he said to make her cry? He knew she was putting on a brave face-how many times had he done that around Sora because his mere presence brought up the thought of Roxas?-but he knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up for long without it doing harm to her.
"Maybe we should do this another ti-" he started to stand up.
"No! It's fine. You look like you could use a haircut anyway." Aqua smiled. But Lea could tell it was forced by the sadness he saw deep in her blue eyes.
Lea didn't protest any further as she took the towel from his arms and draped it around his shoulders, clipping it in the front. He watched her rummage through her drawers until she came back with a spray bottle and a pair of shears. Suddenly, he was just the slightest bit nervous. Did he really want to go through with this? Was he sure?
"How short do you want it?" Aqua's voice broke through his inner debate.
"Cut it all off," he replied, voice even. He needed to do this.
"A-Are you sure?" Aqua asked, running her hands through his hair.
"Yes, I'm sure."
Aqua frowned but nodded and began to comb his hair, misting it until it was wet and dripping. Without realizing it, they both took a deep breath before she made the first cut at about his shoulders. A long section of hair fell to the floor, landing at her feet. She stared at the red strands for a few long seconds before taking a deep breath and continued her work.
There was a long silence, interrupted only by the light snipping of the shears before Aqua finally spoke up.
"So what brought on this decision?" she asked.
"I needed a change." Lea shrugged, "A way to distance myself from my past."
"Ah," Aqua said and nodded. She wanted to ask for details but didn't push. She knew about having a past she'd rather escape from.
"When I was younger," he began, not even knowing if she was listening, "My friend and I, we were stupid and got ourselves into a bad place. He, never quite got out of that place." Lea didn't know why he was telling her all of this. But he needed to tell someone, someone who didn't know him, who didn't see him as only Axel.
"H-How did you get out?" Aqua asked, hesitant.
"I had another friend who helped me immensely. But, he..." Lea looked down as his voice cracked. He was usually so good at controlling his feelings about Roxas. But maybe that was because he was usually expecting it.
"Oh! I'm sorry," she said, eyes widening slightly as realization hit her.
"Don't be," he managed to chuckle. "It wasn't your fault. But, this little group of ours, they all see me as who I used to be."
"Well, they're all your friends," she reasoned. "So you can't have been that bad."
Lea couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. "Not that bad! The bad place we were in was the Organization. I don't know that I would've gotten out if it weren't for Roxas."
Aqua had no reply. She almost dropped her shears in shock. So Lea had almost been... So it was partially because of her decisions made so long ago...
Lea noticed her silence and turned to look at her, his red eyebrows raised in question. "I'm sorry, if that, upset you." His lips curled in a slight frown.
"What? Oh, no, you didn't..." Aqua waved off and gave him another fake smile in the mirror.
"You don't have to keep up this façade in front of me. I can see that you're hurting," Lea said but didn't push further than that.
Aqua was silent as she went back to diligently snipping away at his hair, her emotions building up inside her. Regret, sadness, anger, it all boiled under the surface until she couldn't keep it in anymore. She let out a sob, hands dropping to her sides. She didn't want to cut his hair when she couldn't see through her tears.
Lea was standing and facing her in almost no time at all. He opened his arms and she practically collapsed against his chest, her body wracked with heaving sobs.
"This is all my fault," she managed. "I could've stopped Terra. I could've saved him. But I just stood aside and refused to acknowledge that anything was wrong. It's my fault Ven got hurt. I should've protected him. I should've tried to help Terra. And they're both gone..."
The shears clattered as they fell on the ground. Soon after, Aqua followed and Lea eased them to their knees. He wasn't sure what he could say. He vaguely remembered Ven from so long ago. But he couldn't feel much of anything for him, having not known him for more than a few minutes. The only thing he could really remember about Ven-other than having his butt handed to him on a silver platter by the boy-was that he bore an uncanny resemblance to Roxas.
The thought of Roxas made Lea's heart sink, but he kept his feelings at bay for Aqua's sake. She needed him right now.
Lea held her for what felt like forever until she finally ran out of tears. Then, she just sat there in his arms, staring at the wall and hiccupping occasionally.
"I'm sorry," she said, looking up at him.
"Don't be; you needed to let it out."
"Then thanks, for letting me open up."
"Anytime," Lea said with a smile.
Aqua stood up and looked at Lea's cropped hair. "Um, maybe we should finish what you came here for," she said, her cheeks turning slightly red.
Lea glanced in the mirror and touched his hair. It was about chin-length now. After a few seconds, he decided that this was the length he wanted it.
"I think it's great the way it is now," he said, aware of how Aqua's face fell at his words. "But, maybe, I dunno, we could go grab some ice cream?"
Aqua blinked and then smiled brightly. This time, it reached all the way to her eyes. "I'd like that."