PoV identifiers have been requested. Hello; Demyx speaking.
I was in the Hall of Empty Melodies when he hit me.
I was busy composing - the first time I'd tried doing so since the accident. That was another thing I'd been leery of doing, for fear it wouldn't be the same as it used to be - but lo and behold, I was very much in the zone. The joke is that it's easier to talk to me while I have my hearing aids out than when I'm composing, because when I have my hearing aids out, I can at least see what's going on around me. When composing, I've been known to ignore hunger, exhaustion, and serious illness for days at a time. When Roxas was so desperate for my attention he was willing to punch me in the face to get it, my first guess was that I'd been doing just that. "What day is it?" I asked when the stars went away and I was finished reorienting myself.
"Thursday -"
"Good, that's when I thought it was."
That bit of levity sailed right over Roxas's head; when I finally looked up at him, his face was as serious as a broken neck. "Something's happened to Axel."
In nineteen years' experience, I've discovered that whenever anyone says "something's happened to someone", that something is never good. "...What's happened to Axel? How bad is it?" My first guess was something involving blood sugar; he never was all that diligent about taking care of his diabetes, and skipping one bolus before a meal could send him on a downward cycle that leads to a diabetic coma. Has before, could again.
"I da - I don't know. We were just sitting there playing Call of Duty, and all of a sudden, he just doubles over in pain. He could hardly breathe. I - he - it - we were just sitting there - and then all of a sudden - he just -"
Maybe it's just because I have a bad memory, but I'd never seen Roxas panic before. It made me wonder just how bad a shape Axel was in. "Where is he? Right now?"
It took Roxas three or four seconds to force out an answer. "Vexen has him."
"Good. Vexen may be an icicle wearing skin and clothing, but he knows what he's doing." Obviously; he put the three of us back together. Even me. "Whatever's wrong with Axel, he'll be able to do something about it, I'm sure..."
"How? How the hell can you be sure?!"
I couldn't. I hadn't seen Axel yet; I didn't know what was wrong or what was going on with him besides Roxas's hysterical babbling; all I knew was that Vexen could usually be relied on in any medical emergency. "Well, he fixed the rest of us up all right after the accident...he should be able to at least do something for Axel..."
"If we're all all right now, why do you still get seizures?"
I wished he had just hit me again instead.
It was true. As far as Vexen or I or anyone knew, I'd keep having seizures for the rest of my natural life. Hopefully very rarely, but if I ever went off the Depakene, who knew how often they'd happen. If I was still having seizures, didn't that mean I wasn't okay, and if I'd have them for the rest of my life, didn't that mean I'd never be okay? And if I'd never be okay, how could I be sure Axel ever would?
I couldn't. I was just being a dumbass optimist.
"I'm sorry, Roxas..."
"Oh, dammit...no, I should be sorry. Axel's not the only one that needs a lesson in tact sometimes."
"No...it's all right...you had a point..." He did, after all. There was only so much Vexen or anyone could do sometimes. "You should probably go check on Axel."
He tore out of there like he smelled smoke - I guess his mind was in such a tiltawhirl state of panic he'd forgotten. I should have followed him, but instead I just sat there on the floor, with my sitar and staff paper and my own ugly thoughts.
AN: Owchy. Deck him, then make him feel bad. Bad Roxas.
Also, I saw Animusic, in case anyone's ever heard of it. I found Demyx's idea of heaven.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?