Fear
Roxas hurried down the hallway, his bare feet silent against the floor. He wasn't even sure where he was going. Maybe the Round Room. He was pretty sure that there were no windows there.
He rounded the corner, squeezing his eyes together tightly for a moment - and came to a sudden stop when he walked smack dab into something.
"Woah there, Roxas. Where's the fire?" Hands steadied his shoulders as the familiar voice sank into Roxas's consciousness.
He opened his eyes, looking up at Axel, who looked too awake for one-thirty in the morning and too calm for the situation.
"Roxas?" Axel frowned, his hand coming up to press his knuckles against Roxas's forehead. "What's wrong?"
Roxas just shook his head, preparing to open his mouth to say that he was alright when it happened again: a low rumble, off in the distance, which increased in loudness and tone, until it practically hurt Roxas's ears. His stomach jumped to his throat before settling again and he swallowed against the horrible swirling motion in his stomach, unconsciously leaning closer to Axel's warmth as something like self-preservation took over.
"Oh."
Roxas looked up and Axel was grinning at him.
"You're afraid of thunderstorms," Axel said, gripping his shoulder before releasing him entirely.
"Thunderstorms?" Roxas echoed. "What's a thunderstorm?" There were no windows in the hallway here, either, Roxas realized. For whatever reason, there was that loud, rumbling noise and then there would be a flash of light that made his eyes burn and his body feel like it was on high-alert. The sky didn't usually put on such a light show; it wasn't meant to happen.
"It's a- um..." Axel rubbed the back of his neck. "It's what's happening now. A phenomenon of the sky. Every clap of thunder is followed by a flash of lightning and it's pouring down rain out there right now, too. There might be some wind or ice chunks can fall out of the sky - that's hail."
There was a crack and Roxas jumped, his shoulder going flush with Axel's chest and staying there as he held his breath, eyes wide.
Axel laughed. "Neat trick, Roxas. We don't have the hearts to be afraid of anything. Besides, we're in here, not out there. We're safe."
Roxas would beg to differ, because the sky shouldn't light up like that and there shouldn't be an echo or a crack or a roll of any type of noise in the otherwise silent Castle. It was time to sleep, but he couldn't do that when there was all of this and his palms were slick with sweat and his stomach was churning. He felt horrible.
"You're shaking," Axel commented, his body pressing close to Roxas's for a brief second before moving away. "Huh. Maybe your human self-"
Thunder cracked again and, inevitably, Roxas flinched, eyes blowing wide before slamming shut. He just wanted it to end.
"Oh, hey," Axel muttered, tone dropped. "You don't have to act like that. You're okay, Roxas. Everything's okay."
There was another rumble and then a boom!, and Roxas whirled around so fast that he didn't realize he was actually moving. He only realized that the darkness blocking his vision was from Axel's body and not because his eyes were closed.
On top of not being able to feel fear but managing it, nonetheless, Roxas could feel embarrassment, too; his cheeks burned hot and he planned on moving back, he really did, but he was rooted to the spot, hands clenched into tight fists at his side.
"Roxas," Axel grunted. "Come on, man."
Roxas shivered and made to pull away, but not before another clap of thunder and he flinched again.
"Calm down," Axel said, wrapping his arms around Roxas's shoulders.
The touch was both unfamiliar and exceedingly satisfying at the same time. Roxas relaxed infinitesimally. Only slightly, though. The warmth and pressure around his shoulders was a pleasant distraction against the thunder and lightning, but he knew it was still there.
"Everything's alright, Roxas," Axel said, tightening his grip.
Roxas shuffled a bit closer, breathing in the scent of Axel's t-shirt that was identical if not better fitting than his own. It smelled just the same as his, too.
"I promise. It can't hurt you in here. Roxas?" Axel's fingers rubbed into his shoulder slightly. It was a comforting movement, although Roxas didn't know why it helped to settle his nerves. "You trust me, right?"
Roxas swallowed and nodded slightly.
Axel laughed quietly. "Of course you do. Now, listen to me. We're going to sit down here, alright, and you're going to do whatever works best for you, you can stay like that if you want, and you're going to get used to the sound of thunder and lightning because it does happen, and then you're going to go back to bed. Alright?"
Roxas forced himself to nod again.
"Good." Axel shifted, although he didn't let go of Roxas, and sank to the ground.
Roxas followed his motions belatedly, not raising his head. He knew he couldn't see the lightning here, but something about feeling Axel breathe and breathing in the scent of the detergent and feeling his warmth helped calm him down a bit. He curled more firmly into Axel's presence as they sat down, his hands coming up to grip his shirt loosely.
"There you go. Don't forget to breathe," Axel said. His arms didn't move from Roxas's shoulders.
Roxas forced in a deep breath, wincing when he heard the thunder again, but Axel's grip tightening around him gave him very little time to think about it. If he could focus on Axel rather than the thunderstorm, it was an easy choice.
"Relax," Axel commented, fingers pressing circles into his skin again.
Roxas took another deep breath. He would if he could.
The thunder seemed like it was getting further away, which Axel commented to, and he said the storm was leaving, although Roxas wasn't sure that he believed him. He'd just have to wait and see, but even then he didn't, because when silence reigned for so long without a broken noise besides their breathing or a stray Dusk whizzing down the hall, Roxas's eyelids were so heavy that he couldn't keep his eyes open.
He didn't know where the darkness of his closed eyelids turned to actual sleep, but Axel didn't move him throughout the ordeal.
Axel sighed, lifting Roxas into his arms and getting to his feet. His limbs were uncoordinated with lack of sleep - he'd only woken up because of the storm and he'd decided to get something to nosh on, he hadn't bargained for this! - but he managed to tread back to Roxas's room without waking the sleeping blonde.
"Tucking it back into bed?"
Axel glanced over his shoulder. "Roxas just experienced his first thunderstorm," he said tiredly. "What's so different about him that he doesn't know any of this stuff?"
Saïx didn't answer. His gaze was as flat as stone. Instead, he said "You seem to have settled into the role of care-taker rather well".
Axel rolled his eyes, shifting Roxas's weight a bit. "It's not like you gave me much of a choice, huh?"
"It's role is simply to aid us in our journey, Axel. Do not get attached."
"Roxas," Axel muttered, correcting Saïx without fully being aware that he had been about to do so. He was too tired for this. "And if I'm his care-taker, I have to be the one to pick up the pieces when he falls apart. Wouldn't do to have him crumble before you can use him up," he muttered dryly, and not without sarcasm, turning and striding, with as much tired gusto as he could, into Roxas's room.
He didn't know what Saïx's plan was right now. He'd put him on babysitting duty, so now he was babysitting. Don't get attached?
Out of all the company in the Castle, Roxas was the only one Axel even remotely wanted to spend time with. He might act like a zombie most of the time, but at least he made him feel more human than the rest of the Nobodies around here.
I got into the manga version of 358/2 Days and I love how meticulous Axel is with Roxas in the beginning; he'll do anything he needs to for him. And I wanted to write Roxas being afraid of thunderstorms (and I'll be writing a slashy version later, too), and it ended up like this. I think it's adorable and I have manga-esque mental pictures of it and they're adorable. Fluff all around!
I do not own Kingdom Hearts. All rights belong to Disney and Square Enix. Thanks for reading!