Empathy

I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It is the property of Square Enix and the Walt Disney Studios. This is a creative work that I do not profit off of in any way.

Hello, my dearest readers! Enjoy!

Far above the streets of Twilight Town was the Clock Tower. The Clock Tower was the most prominent landmark in the area, and it was one of Axel's favorite places in any world. It was here that he and his best friends, Roxas and Xion, would sit and watch the sunset.

Axel glanced down from his perch. He could see a bunch of people running this way and that. Shoppers and soccer moms. Ducks and Moogles. But Axel only had eyes for Xion, who was standing with two others. Sora and Riku. Now there was an interesting trio to be sure.

"It's funny…" Roxas said, looking down at Riku, Sora and Xion. "Riku's not as easy to hate as I thought."

"What you mean?" Axel asked. He knew that Roxas and Riku had a very rocky history. Heck, if he was being honest, he had a rocky history with the kid too. Back in the Organization, Riku had masqueraded as a member, wearing the same black robe they all wore. And it had been Riku who had told Xion what she really was: a Replica made to house Sora's memories. He'd also been the one who had told Xion that the only way to get Sora to wake up was to return the memories…and disappear.

"Everything he did…wearing one of our robes, fighting Xion, fighting me, drawing on Ansem's power…it was all for Sora," Roxas said quietly. "He wanted to help Sora."

Axel was still kind of fuzzy on the specifics of what went down after Xion had vanished from conscious memory. He knew Riku and Roxas had fought and that Roxas had been defeated. And locked in that weird Digital Twilight Town.

All in all, Riku should have been someone that was very easy to hate. But Axel found that he couldn't either.

"He ruined my life…" Roxas said. "But…it was doomed from the start wasn't it? Because of Xemnas and Xehanort?"

"Not so different, when you stop to think about it," Axel muttered. "I did some pretty icky things myself…to Xion, and to you too, buddy."

"Icky" was putting it mildly. Forget the icky stuff for the Organization—taking out Vexen and Zexion had been a horrible thing, but since it allowed for their re-completion, maybe it balanced out. Ienzo didn't seem to hold a grudge, at least against Axel.

But fighting Xion, and taking cheap shots at her head to drag her back to the Organization by force? Staring her down while she begged him to kill her so she could return to Sora properly? And fighting Roxas in the Old Mansion, or the Digital Old Mansion…whatever. That was as icky as you could get.

Really when he really thought about it—how different was Riku from Axel?

Axel glanced over the streets. He could see Riku talking to Sora and Xion. Sora had an arm around Xion's shoulders, keeping her in a headlock. He smiled. Xion looked very happy. But wait a moment, Sora and Riku hadn't come here just the two of them. Where was…

"Hi," Kairi said. "Xion asked me to keep you two company, if that's alright."

"Yeah, of course," Roxas patted the seat next to him. Kairi sat down slowly, almost shyly.

"Don't be so nervous, Kairi," Roxas said. "You're among friends."

"Yeah," Axel added. "Xion's the one who bites."

"If you're talking about the time that she bit you for holding her ice cream above her head, you had that coming," Kairi said with a sneaky not-Princess-of-Hearty grin. "She also says that when you two are alone up here, you tend to get into trouble. So I'm here to make sure you don't get into any trouble at all."

"How could we get into trouble just by being up here," Roxas asked. "That doesn't make any sense."

"When boys are alone together, all their brains go away," Kairi said. "You need a girl around to make sure you don't do anything stupid. It's a rule. Xion does it for you two, I do it for Sora and Riku. We just traded today. Olette does it for Hayner and Pence. Back home, Selphie does it for Tidus and Wakka…"

Kairi trailed off. She began kicking her legs lightly. Xion had the same habit, whenever she was feeling contemplative.

"It was so much simpler back then, wasn't it?" Axel asked. "Back when you were all little kids."

"I'm still sort of a kid," Kairi mumbled. "But…Roxas, you and Xion never had the chance to really be kids."

"Sort of…" Roxas admitted. "But…we're here now, aren't we? We all struggled but we're all here now."

"Yeah…" Kairi said. "We're all here now."

"And I'm not going anywhere," Axel said. "Got it memorized?"

Kairi smiled her brightest smile.

"Got it memorized, Axel."

A lot of people think that Roxas would hold a grudge against Riku. This is a reasonable position to hold, given every action Riku took. But keeping in mind what Roxas was willing to do for his friends, they strike me as not being very different at all. Thus, an understanding can be reached. And a little empathy goes a long way.

Thank you for reading my dear, dear readers. Leave a comment if you're so inclined! I appreciate each and every one of you!