Chapter Four - An Auspicious Meeting
Roxas stood at the edge of a cliff side facing the sea. The skies were dark and stormy, with thick black clouds choking the air around him. The waves crashed against the rocks below, as if trying to chip them away piece by piece until the cliff gave way, causing him to plunge into the churning seas and drag him into their icy depths. The wind whipped around the blond, almost as if it was trying to push him into the ocean. "No, I need more time" he thought pleadingly. Suddenly the most mournful sound of a crying child was carried in on the wind, causing his heart clenched terribly. A little girl appeared before him, standing on the water without sinking, the waves of the ocean coiling around her ankles as if fastening her to the spot, preventing her from running to land, a deep sadness and longing in her beautiful blue eyes; eyes which looked so much like Roxas', betrayed this very desire, her pale golden hair rippled around her face. Her eyes were the saddest Roxas had ever seen. She was only a toddler; one or two at the most. A strong sense of guilt washed through him as he fiddled with the shell bracelet around his wrist.
"I didn't ask for this" he thought miserably. To his horror a giant wave leaped up behind the girl with a mighty roar before diving back down, swallowing her completely and silencing her cries. The ocean waters were becoming rougher, thunder rumbled threateningly above him. The waves grew in strength, and began crashing against the cliff; bit by bit it began to crumble, until it finally gave way from underneath him, and Roxas dropped like a stone into predatory seas. He tried to fight his way through the churning water to make it up to the surface, but he was being pulled down, down, down into the dark depths of the ocean. His chest burned, his body screaming desperately for air. He reached his hand out in front of him, hoping to grab onto something, anything, in order to pull himself up towards the surface; but his desperate attempt were in vain. The burning sensation in his chest intensified, and he breathed in, water gushing into his lungs.
Roxas woke with a start, sweat dripping from his brow. He panted heavily as if he really had been holding his breath the entire time. His chest heaved as he looked around his room, trying to take in the familiarity and convince himself that it all really had been just a dream. His room held nothing extravagant, just a small table with a wooden stool and shelf on the wall opposite his bed. The bed sat right beside a window, which currently allowed soft moonlight to fill into the room. His breathing slowed as he calmed down a little, this was his room; it had only been a dream. He'd had the dream more then once, but now the dreams of drowning, of being dragged into the dark depths of the sea, were occurring more and more. They always felt so real. He knew they were a warning. He only had a short time left, but what was he to do? He thought back to the little girl in his dream. She had been a lot younger that what he had been when the fisherman and his wife had found him. He had always known that they were not his biological parents, but now the time was coming when he wouldn't even be able to pretend just for a while that they were. That just for a while he could be an ordinary boy. He looked at the shell bracelet, which was currently sitting on a small wooden chest of draws next to his bed. His breathing had slowed and his heart was no longer ramming painfully against his chest. Roxas spent a few minutes trying to clear his thoughts of the usual panicky, uneasy feeling one gets after a nightmare, and slowly, he managed to drift off once more into an uneasy sleep.
Early that morning Roxas woke with a start after having a similar dream, however this time he wasn't able to get back to sleep. With a sigh he got up and dressed. A simple pair of cotton trousers and a white shirt with shoe string lace at the front, with baggy sleeves for simple comfort. Good enough for the son of a simple fisherman. He slipped on his boots, hesitating when he saw the shell bracelet. He sighed sadly, and put it on despite his guilt laced feelings, then began to carefully walk through the house, not wanting to wake his parents. He opened the front door slowly, cringing at the creaking noise it created despite his caution. Hearing no sounds of his parents having awoken he went outside, closing the door gently behind him. It was early morning, the sun just barely peaking over the ocean's horizon, but shining just enough to create a soft golden glow to shine throughout the new born sky, causing the oranges and pinks of early morn to stand out all the more. He groggily made his way down to a small brook which ran a few feet away from his house. He knelt down and looked at his reflection for a little while. His large deep blue eyes were sad as they were most days, and a troubled frown etched his otherwise handsome features. He growled irritated with himself, before cupping some water into his hands and splashing his face, part of him hoped that the clean clear water would wash away all of his worries as well as the dirt he imagined himself to be tainted with for all he had done, but all it accomplished was waking him up a little.
Suddenly, he heard the soft hoof beats of a horse. He looked up. According to where the sun was it was approximately six in the morning. Who would be travelling so early? Roxas looked towards the trees and saw a man riding a large black stallion. As the steed came closer, Roxas could make out the rider's deep red hair, sticking out behind him in large thick spikes. "What an unusual hairstyle" he thought. The man wore chain mail under silver armour, a white shirt draped over the front of his armour, displaying an unusual cross-like symbol on the front. A broad sword hung from his belt. "He must be a knight" Roxas thought, unable to look away. The man came even closer, and Roxas could see his stunning emerald eyes. As beautiful as they were, they appeared puffy as if he was very tired. His horse, too, looked very weary. It limped slightly on its back leg. Roxas did not realise he has been staring with his mouth slightly open, until a voice interrupted his trail of thought.
"Pardon my intrusion, but I have been travelling for a very long time, and both me and my horse are in much need of rest of refreshment. If it is not too much of an inconvenience, might I trouble you for some logins and provisions?" The knight smiled at the boy with mild amusement. He'd never been started at so intensely before; although the blond himself was very handsome. Golden hair like the rays of the sun, and the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen. Sapphire eyes that bore into his almost mesmerised. He noticed the young man blush slightly as he looked down with embarrassment. "I - I - um, y-yes, that should be-be fine. I, uh, follow me Sir" Roxas stammered, bowing his head slightly. The knight chuckled; the lad was cute when he was shy. "My name is Axel" the red headed knight smiled, extending a hand. "And I can assure you I'm not old enough to be addressed as "Sir" he chuckled. Roxas timidly shook his hand.
"Apologies, I-I meant no offense. My name is R-Roxas" the flustered blond stammered. Being this close to the knight, he could now see that he had strange tear drop shaped markings under his eyes. Roxas wanted to inquire as to how he had obtained them, but thought it would be rude, so he merely nodded at the knight, slowly released his hand and turned to lead the knight back to his house, well aware that his face was burning. He wasn't sure what was wrong with him. He'd never had this much of a reaction to someone before. Perhaps the solution to his problem resided in this very man, only time would tell.
He led Axel to a smaller wooden hut behind his house. "Forgive me knight, but this is the only place that we have to accommodate your horse. I can bring some spare oats we may have to feed him" Roxas said, feeling mildly ashamed for only being able to provide such a handsome important man such a flimsy place to keep his steed.
Axel chuckle softly. "I think he will be too tired to worry about it. And you may call me by my name" he added, giving Roxas a wink which made the blonds' heart skip a beat. The red head wearily dismounted his horse, and removed its saddle and bridle. "I shall clean his hooves later" Axel said sighing, as he placed the saddle onto the floor. Roxas wished he could do something for the knight, but he knew next to nothing about horses, having seeing only a small handful in his lifetime. "So, Roxas was it? Where am I to be staying?" Axel asked, wondering whether he would have to settle down with his horse. Not that he would have particularly cared at this moment, for he was very weary. Roxas however thought otherwise, worried that he'd offended or displeased his important guest as he watched the knight looked around the hut thoughtfully. Roxas' blush darkened.
"Oh, f-forgive me Sir Knight" Axel chuckled and corrected him.
"Axel. You may call me Axel".
"Oh-oh y-yes, or course. Follow me". Axel gave his horse a fond pat on the neck and followed Roxas into the house. Once again he looked around his surroundings; they obviously lived a very modest life. A stone fire place sat on the right hand side wall about a foot away from the front door. Charred logs sat in the mouth of it. An arm chair sat in front of the fire. It was a little tattered and patched in places, clearly well used. At the far end of the room to the left hand side sat a small wooden table, littered with hooks, strings and what appeared to be a half finished net. Obviously a fisherman's working desk. There was a smaller doorway in the corner of the room near one of the bedrooms opposite the fireplace. Another bedroom lay at the end of the room near the working desk. The ceiling was fairly low, but just high enough for the red head to stand without having to lower his head. Roxas blushed again and looked down, wondering what Axel thought of his very simple home. He couldn't help but feel ashamed of himself. He'd never been embarrassed by his home before. His father worked very hard to keep them in the accommodation like this. There were many people in the world who would consider this a real luxury. After all, it was sturdy and draught proof enough, and had two bedrooms along with this main front room. Some people had to keep their whole family in one room on a cold dirt floored house.
He sneaked a peak at Axels' expression. The knight merely looked thoughtful, but still very tired. Dark bags hung under his eyes, which he was finding hard to keep open. "Um, you may rest in my room, Axel. Would you care for something to eat?"
Axel smiled tiredly at Roxas. "That is most kind of you. I hope I am not imposing, taking your room. And no, thank you. If I may, I would like to eat later. I am much too weary right at the moment."
Axel hoped that Roxas' family could spare some food. He would feel awful if he were to take away their provisions. He vowed he would pay the family for their hospitality. Roxas lead the man to his room, where he took off his boots, placing them neatly beside the bed. He placed his sword strap around the bedpost and began to slowly remove his white shirt with the cross like pattern, then the large plates of armour, and chain mail, revealing a thin white cotton shirt underneath. Roxas found that he was staring and blushing deeply again. Seeing the knight slowly peel away his clothing made him feel strange, almost like a flutter of butterflies had some how found their way into his stomach. Now that the all of his armour had been taken off, Roxas could see that the knight had a very slim figure for a man, although he appeared to be well toned. His arms were lined with muscle, obviously built up from practicing his sword fighting. He had caught a glimpse of Axels' stomach as he had lifted his arms whilst removing his chain mail and armour, revealing a track of muscle. Roxas swallowed roughly. He jumped when Axels' tired emerald eyes locked onto his own.
"I-uh, I hope you will be comfortable enough. I-I shall return in a few hours to see if you should-should, uh, require anything' he stammered. Axel smirked in amusement once more and said "are you always this shy, or am I just special?" Roxas flushed in embarrassment and frowned, almost scowled. The knight immediately regretted his jest, hoping he hadn't offended his host too much after all the kindness he had shown him.
"Forgive me. I am so weary I am starting to speak nonsense. I hope I have not offended you; you have been most kind. I –I shall just rest now" he said nervously, lying down on Roxas' mattress with his back to Roxas. Despite being a little upset that he'd offended the blond, Axels' exhaustion finally overpowered him and he fell into a deep sleep.
Roxas sighed, regretting his actions. The knight was only trying to be friendly, he supposed, and he was the one that had been staring. Perhaps he had been making the knight feel uncomfortable. Roxas sighed, and it was then that he remembered Axels' horse. He decided he'd make up for his behaviour towards the knight by making his horse comfortable and perhaps catch some fish for their breakfast. His father had some pre - cooked dried pieces of beef - which was a fairly luxurious type of meat for them to actually afford with the very modest earnings his father made - left in a jar which they kept in their small pantry, but Roxas felt that dried meat wasn't good enough for a knight, someone who was probably used to fine cuts of fresh beef amongst other plentiful portions of food that Roxas' family would only ever dream of eating.
So he grabbed a complete fishing net and went outside again. First he took a bag of oats that they could spare out of the pantry and carried it to Axels' horse. He found it lying down on its side, breathing steadily. At first Roxas panicked, thinking there was something wrong with it. He moved forward slowly to get a closer look, when suddenly the horse sat up and clumsily got to his feet. Roxas breathed a sigh of relief. He put the bag down in front of the horse and patted its neck as it grunted gratefully, before closing the door and making his way to the neighbouring river in hopes of catching his own breakfast.
After much patient waiting, a short doze and a scramble to keep his catch in the net, a slightly wet Roxas returned to his house with a decent catch of five trout. He did manage to catch a few more, but they were far too small to make a decent meal out of, so he merely threw those back. "Lucky things" he had thought, watching the small ones swim away quickly. He had never did like killing the fish. All it took was a smack to the head, or to leave them out of the water until they stopped breathing, but it hurt him to do so. His father had always found this strange sensitivity amusing. Still, Roxas did what he always did-closed his eyes and whacked the fish against the floor. He also hated gutting them, but over the years working with his father these tasks had become slightly easier. He though about Axel, and that handsome debonair smile of his; and how he imagined his eyes would light up at the site of freshly prepared breakfast, the thought made his task easier to bare.
A couple of hours later, the fisherman and his wife woke to the smell of cooking trout. They went into the main room to see Roxas cooking on a hot fire, with some small potatoes boiling in a pot next to the fish. "Morning" he greeted with an unusually cheerful smile.
"Why, Roxas, how kind of you" his mother smiled, walking over and hugging her son. "What has happened to have placed such a glowing smile upon your face?" his father asked, as Roxas placed a trout fillet and a spoonful of potatoes onto a plate and handed it to him. The sound of one of the bedroom doors opening answered the fisherman's question. "We have company" Roxas replied, smiling shyly at Axel. The red head returned the smile and stretched.
"Hmm, is that breakfast I smell?" He asked, looking forward to his first proper meal in a long time. Roxas smiled shyly in response, feeling his cheeks heat up again. He dished out Axels' portion and handed it to him, too shy to make eye contact. Axels' smile widened as he took the plate. "You are too kind" he said. It was then that he realised that Roxas' parents were in the room.
"Oh, please excuse me, Sir, Madam. Here, please, eat first" he said apologetically, offering his plate to whichever of the two wished to take it.
"No, no, please sit down Sir, tell us a little about yourself" The fisherman said, gesturing to the patched seat by the fire. It wasn't often that they had visitors.
"I wouldn't want to intrude-"Axel began.
"We insist" the fisher man said, carefully pushing the red head into the chair. Axel chuckled nervously. "But where will you-"before he could finish his question, Roxas' mother came out of her room with two smaller wooden stools. Roxas had left the fire and came out of his room with a stool of his own. Clearly Axel was entitled to the comfortable chair in the house.
"I-I fed you horse for you" Roxas said timidly.
"Why thank you, I shall pay you for your oats of course, and also for your provisions and hospitality" Axel replied, with his usual debonair smile. Roxas flushed again and looked at his hands, twiddling them nervously, unaware that his parents were watching his unusual behaviour with surprise and amusement.
"My, you certainly seem to have quite an effect on my little Roxas" his mother said almost slyly, looking at her son who's face was now probably the same colour as Axels' hair. Axel and the fisherman chuckled.
"Well, I must say, he's certainly never been this interested in someone else before" the fisherman teased.
"Father!" Roxas grumbled huffily, staring at his knees in embarrassment. The fisherman ruffled his hair affectionately, earning disapproving grunts from the blond as he tried to shoo him off. Axel laughed softly, thinking how cute he was, making Roxas wish that the ground would swallow him.
"So, please, tell us more about yourself, what of your travels?" Roxas' mother asked; eager to hear of the handsome man's adventures.
"He's a knight!" Roxas blurted out a little too eagerly. Everyone in the room stared at him, amused by his outburst, causing Roxas to flush again and look at his feet, embarrassed, mumbling something incoherent. Axel laughed again, but a little louder this time. The sound made Roxas' heart ram against his chest.
"Well, yes, Roxas is right. I am a knight, from the city of Undine. It is a very hot place. I was travelling back after completing an important mission for my commander. I took a shortcut through the woods, which I've since learned to be enchanted."
"Everyone knows that" Roxas said, leaning over onto his knees.
"That was quite a risk my friend" the fisherman said. "Many who enter those woods never return" Axel agreed full heartedly, and went on to tell them of the mishaps that had occurred within the forest, which Roxas especially listened to with great interest. Although when Axel got to the part about Larxene, Roxas' face visibly paled.
"Y-You met Larxene?" He asked nervously.
"Why, yes. Although she helped me, she didn't prove to be a very kind person." Axel answered. Roxas swallowed roughly, and Axel noticed-slightly alarmed-that he had began to tremble slightly. "Roxas, are you alright?" His mother looked at her son with concern, touching his forehead. "You did cook the fish thoroughly, didn't you?"
"Y-yes, mother, I-I'll just step outside for some air" Roxas replied, subconsciously fiddling with the shell bracelet. Everyone watched as he shakily went outside. His father stood up to go after him, but Axel held out his hand. "No-no, I'll go after him. Perhaps it was something I said". Roxas' mother took the half eaten plate of food as Axel followed the blond. He found him sitting a few feet away from the house beside the river. Axel cleared his throat to alert the blond of his presence before sitting down next to him. Roxas sighed a little, fiddling with his bracelet nervously. Axel sighed. "Roxas, I'm sorry if something I said offended you back there" Roxas shook his head dismissively. "It's not that" he muttered. Axel watched him for a little while, before trying to lighten the mood. "I didn't know boys liked to wear shells. Did you make it? I don't think I'd have the patience". Instead of receiving one of the blonds' cute smiles he'd already grown to like so much he received an offended scowl.
"My mother gave it to me as a baby, I have to wear it."
"My apologies, I had no intention if causing offence. Why do you have to wear it?" Axel asked; a little upset that he'd made Roxas angry with him.
"I-I-just-it's kind of complicated, I-"Roxas sighed again, before standing up and starting to walk in the direction of that path that would take him down to the beach.
"Hold on! Roxas! Please wait!" Axel called frantically, stumbling in his hurry to stand up. He caught up to the blond quickly, placing a hand on the blonds' shoulder, causing him to stop in his tracks. "Roxas, please forgive me. I-I spoke without thinking. It's not right for me to pry into these things. I won't ask you about it again, I promise." The blond sighed again. He couldn't blame Axel. He didn't know about his - predicament. He suddenly felt a strong urge to explain everything. Tell him about the dreams, about why knowing that Larxene was near frightened him so; but he couldn't. Not yet anyway. He would drive Axel away. Not even his parents knew the truth about him; about his past life; about the dreadful secret that threatened to tear him from his normal family life. They wouldn't believe him anyway, not until - Roxas tried to shake off his negative thoughts, holding his head in his hands. Axel became alarmed, worried that he'd really upset the blond. Said blond turned to look at the red head and felt guilty when he saw Axels' worried expression.
"I'm sorry. Forgive my rudeness. I-I've just got a lot of things plaguing my thoughts at the minute, please do not worry." He forced himself to smile at the red head. "Did you finish your breakfast?"
Axel relaxed a little, deciding that if the blond did not want to talk them he would not press matters.
"I've had enough, thank you. Now I need to see to my horse. Would you like to help me?" Roxas smiled for real this time and nodded. He decided that he really would like to learn more about horses. Especially if it meant he could spend more time with Axel.
The two young men walked around to the hut where Axels' horse was being kept. The red head opened the door to see his steed lying on his side. "That's what he was doing when I came to feed him. Is he okay?" Roxas asked, starting to worry that he had somehow neglected to care for the horse properly.
"Worry not, horses lay down when they sleep. We had been travelling for many a day so he's perhaps catching up with some well deserved rest." Axel chuckled, as he carefully went over to his horse. "Stand back a little in case I startle him too much. He might un-intentionally knock into you." Roxas did as Axel asked, wondering just how dangerous a horse could be, and whether he should stand outside. Axel stood behind the horses head and gently ran his hand down its neck. The horse sprung to life and stumbled as it tried to stand up. It grunted as if displeased to have been woken from its slumber. "How is its hoof? I saw that it was limping when you first arrived" Roxas asked. "They just need cleaning" Axel replied, unhooking what appeared to be a small silver hook from his horses saddle. He then gently ran his hand down the horses' side until he reached its back leg. When Roxas looked at him quizzically the knight said "it's so he knows I'm there, otherwise he might have panicked if I suddenly touched him and kick out. They could easily kill you with a single blow to the head."
Roxas looked at the animal uneasily; horses certainly were unpredictable creatures. "Worry not" Axel reassured with a kind smile. "We trust each other well. Respect an animal and it will respect you". He lifted his horses hoof as Roxas gave it a wide birth, shimmying around keeping close to the walls until he stood near to Axel. "You have to avoid the frog in the middle" the red head said.
At this statement Roxas laughed. "They have frogs in their feet?"
Axel chuckled. "The frog is the triangular fleshy part in the middle of the hoof. It's a sensitive tendon, if you hurt that, you hurt the whole foot."
"Does it croak?" Roxas asked humorously.
Axel smirked. "That was terrible!" He teased. Roxas laughed, his eyes sparkling. It was strange how much more of a personality Axel brought out in him.
Throughout his stay the red head continued to teach Roxas about the proper care for horses and in turn Roxas taught him about fishing. Firstly he taught him how to make a good decent net, which Axel always seemed to somehow get stuck in his hair, much to the amusement of Roxas who teased him with comments such as "ooh, you're a very strange looking fish, I'll have to throw you back!" Roxas also taught the knight how to find edible berries and mushrooms in the woods, and show him which ones were good to eat and which ones would make you sick. The evenings soon became Roxas' favourite time of the day, because that's' when he and Axel would sit down by the fire, sometimes with his parents, other times they were alone, and tell stories of events they had experience in their lives or interesting events which had occurred during the day. Such things had never fully appealed to Roxas before, but within the past few weeks of the red heads' visit he had began to feel a new found interest for such things. Axel spoke of his home land and all of the adventures he'd had, and even some of the battles that he'd fought in. The family took particular interest in the knights' stories, especially Roxas, who was starting to think that Axel was the bravest man he'd ever met, and his eyes glowed in awe as the red head spoke, watching words spill from his perfect, enticing lips, each beautiful smile made his breath hitch, and he couldn't help but notice how the knight's emerald green eyes brightened whenever he spoke of something he was passionate about, like his sword training, and all of the wonderful, exotic places he had been to.
He also spoke of the origins of his city, which was called Undine. The very word made Roxas' heart skip a beat, his eyes dilated slightly from fear of recognition. Axel spoke of the local folklore describing of long distant times where sea creatures known as Undine were often spied amongst the waves of the ocean, usually during stormy nights or when the moon was full. Usually they took the form of what appeared to be beautiful young maidens no older then twenty, but were in fact centuries old, who often ventured out of their watery depths in hopes to find a human mate and obtain a soul. Folk said that their alluring songs could often be heard throughout the night, carried in on the wind. It was said that the grand captain who had first discovered the land had done so by following the song of one of the water sprites, and upon finding her taking her for his bride, and over time building the city which he named after his new brides' people. A statue of them had been created to commemorate the legend, which had been placed on the cliff side where the two lovers had supposedly met. He laughed at the idea of people supposedly throwing their hearts away so easily for a song. Roxas laughed awkwardly with Axel, unsure how else to react without causing the knight to question his actions.
This particular tale created a flurry of unusual emotions within Roxas. Confusion, fear, shame and yet perhaps a small spark of hope. Axel had obviously heard of such legends before, so perhaps he wouldn't react quite so badly when – if – he ever decided to tell the red head about – well, his predicament.
During the day Axel started to teach Roxas how to ride a horse. The blond struggled to maintain his balance at first, and at one point he ended up clinging to the horse's neck for dear life while Axel had to run after his steed in order to rescue him. Eventually Axel decided to sit on the horse with Roxas in front, taking the hold of the reins from behind, which made Roxas feel nervous for reasons other then the riding itself. His face flushed pink as Axels' well toned chest pressed into him as he leaned forward to give Roxas instructions about how to control the horse, his breath softly brushing past the blonds' ear, making his blush deepen.
At night time Roxas had taken to sleeping on a spare mattress to allow Axel to sleep on his more comfortable bed - despite the red heads' protests - in the view that it would make him a poor host if he didn't allow his guest to sleep as comfortably as possible.
One particularly stormy night, Axel noticed that Roxas was tossing and turning, and mumbling something in his sleep. He was having another nightmare:
Roxas had been standing on the pebbly beach near his home, the surrounding seas and black skies churned and rumbled in a terrible storm. The waves began to wrap around him, like ice cold tentacles. They wrapped around his legs, climbing up his body like a watery snake. He tried to run back towards dry land, but the water constricting him caused him to fall onto his front. He frantically scraped and scrabbled into the wet mud like sand, but he couldn't stop the pull of the water. Suddenly the weight of his panicked heart lifted as he spotted a red haired person walking onto the beach. His heart told him immediately that it was Axel. He called out to him desperately. Only he could save him now. "Axel, Axel, please help!" but the red head merely started at the blond, watching impassively as the watery tentacles dragged him into the ocean's murky depths. Fear and confusion clouded his mind. Why wasn't Axel helping him? Roxas tried to look closer, until his vision focused on Axel, and only Axel as the rest of the world became a blur, yet he could still feel the pull of the waves behind him. The knights eyes were glazed over, he merely turned his gaze slowly to look at Roxas, watching him as he was being pulled into the icy depths of the ocean, before turning around and walking away, as if nothing he saw mattered to him. Roxas reached out his arm in a desperate attempt to reach the red head, but the water washed over him, hitting him hard as if the waves had dropped from a great height, the weight of the water crushing him. Evil laughter from an unknown source rang through his ears.
Roxas woke with a start, panting heavily with sweat dripping down his brow. Axel got out of bed and knelt beside the frightened blond. "It's ok, I'm here, you were just dreaming." It took Roxas a while to realise that he was awake. He could hear rain pelting the window outside. The red head placed a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "Wha –what -"the blond stammered. "Oh, it was just another dream" he said breathlessly. But the coldness and fierceness of the waves had felt so real - and the laughter -
"You were crying out for me, what were you dreaming about? You seemed so frightened". Axel asked; his words laced with concern.
"Waves were pulling me in, I was going to drown. You wouldn't come. You walked away" Roxas replied shakily. The only person he had truly connected with in his life had left him. What if that really happened when he told Axel the truth about his origin; he shuddered at the thought and tried to shake away his negative feelings. Suddenly he felt a pair of warm arms around him. "Please be well, I'm here, you're fine. Do not worry about such things. It was just a nightmare". This felt strange to the blond. He hadn't been embraced by anyone since he was very young, but this time it felt almost - pleasant. He leaned into Axel still shaking slightly, but gradually he started to feel a little more relaxed. "My apologies for waking you Axel, it's just that these dreams plague me often".
"Dreams of drowning?" Axel asked, gently rubbing a hand on Roxas' arm for comfort.
"Yes, it's always the same principle" Roxas replied, eyes starting to drop with tiredness again. Perhaps you should sleep in your own bed" Axel suggested softly, brushing aside some of the sweaty bangs on Roxas' head.
"But you're our guest!" Roxas began to protest, before the knight silenced him by placing a finger gently onto his lips, making him flush slightly. Luckily it was too dark for the knight to see.
"I mean, if it is not too bold as to say, perhaps you could – share - with - me?" The red head said a little nervously. "If you have someone with you, then perhaps these dreams won't plague you so".
A sudden strike of lightning momentarily lit up the room, followed by an enormous crack of thunder. Roxas jumped and automatically clung onto Axel. He had never liked storms, despite living on an island that was often stormy, especially during winter months. When he was really young he'd go to his mother, but as he got older his father tried to make him less dependant on them "You're a big boy now, you shouldn't still fear storms so" he had said, so poor Roxas had had to cope alone; but even years later, especially since these dreams had begun to occur, his fears had intensified. Axel made him feel safe, like nothing could hurt him while he was around. Like he could take his sword and fight off all of his fears. Roxas could feel Axel gently rubbing his back in a comforting manner. "Y - yes, um, I - I would like to share with you. If - if that is okay" Roxas said quietly, suddenly feeling very shy. Axel smile kindly, and the two of them settled onto Roxas' bed with their backs turned to each other. Another crack of thunder made the blond jump and un -intentionally whimper. Axel turned and draped an arm around him, to let the blond know that he was there, and slowly they both drifted off to sleep.
Roxas had no more nightmares that night.