Work Text:
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽♡☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
When Axel first laid eyes on Roxas, he was reminded of another boy he once met, a decade ago, and a part of him worried. Had Ventus fallen to darkness and lost his heart? But Roxas looked too young and it had been ten years since he met the boy who should be an adult like him now, so he couldn’t be Ventus’ Nobody… right? Either way, just like the way he saw a sulking Ventus and decided he needed to cheer the guy up when he saw Roxas’ blank face and lost posture, a part of him had already decided he needed to protect the boy. From the Organisation. From whatever Xemnas had in mind, Saïx’s words be damned — he couldn’t see how this whole conspiracy was supposed to help them find her.
“You have no heart, you shouldn’t feel,” Saïx kept telling him. And he had believed it, for a while, at least, because there was no mistaking the worry deep inside him whenever Roxas came back from a mission even if only a little battered.
Castle Oblivion came in between all that, with a peculiar blonde girl with incredible power trapped inside and two boys running up the stairs, one in search of the other and the other in search of himself. Axel was originally sent to sort out traitors to the Organisation but he couldn’t quite help but be intrigued watching everything unfold. How were those kids such a pain to the Organisation? They were, what, barely 14? Riku looked maybe a little older, or it was just because darkness made him look more frustrated at everything they were throwing at him as opposed to Sora who entered combat without much preamble, but Sora sure had a baby face, if he ever saw one — a bit like Roxas’ and Ventus’ faces, in fact. Youthful, full of life and positivity. Full of light.
Naminé was frightened by him, of course she was, but somehow she could see he wasn’t there to harm her in any way. Maybe she even thought him doing his job of getting rid of Vexen and the others was an act of mercy to protect her. Maybe in some subconscious way it was, but there really wasn’t much else he could do before Saïx could get suspicious he was interfering in their plans to create the perfect replica of the keyblade wielder.
Then came Xion who was supposed to be that perfect replica— yet something was off from the get-go, he could tell. He— She did not look one bit like Sora, to him at least. Maybe her face was different in others’ eyes, he wasn’t really sure, Vexen wasn’t here anymore to explain the whole process after all, too bad. Roxas felt a connection with her immediately, though, so Axel found himself getting to know the puppet. Getting to like her. Getting to pity her because oh, she had no idea. And neither did Roxas.
“You can’t have both of them,” Saïx told him simply, coldly, during Roxas’ coma. “The Organisation only needs one.”
He could barely hold back a “fuck you”. He could barely recognise the man he thought he’d spend forever with either.
Then Riku disturbed it all, unknowingly — or maybe not, the boy was annoyingly perceptive — throwing a wrench in the Organisation’s plans. Axel only later learned he had been in contact with Xion and had let her make a choice even though he was ordered to, well, kill her. And that was what led Xion to investigate her own existence and her relation to Roxas and Sora. Axel had heard her call out Riku’s name late at night and at the time he thought he only imagined it, or that she just absorbed more of Sora’s memories and she mumbled it in her sleep, reliving said memories in dreams. Now he knows it was actually her asking the boy for some guidance, the same way maybe Sora did when he was younger.
A decision was made. A fight was lit ablaze and suddenly Axel had no one left. Not even his oldest friend, tainted by power and Xemnas’ pretty words.
Or well.
“You made everything more difficult, you know,” Naminé said when they first saw each other again as she half-hid behind a Riku who looked nothing like the kid he had caught a glimpse of in Castle Oblivion.
“Right back at you two,” Axel replied, crossing his arms. “Now what?”
“Now I need to get you two far away from DiZ as possible,” Riku replied and Axel almost laughed.
“I thought you’d be here to end me, at least, I was ready for a fight.”
Naminé frowned but didn’t say anything, clutching her notebook and Riku only shrugged. “You just wanted your friend back too, that’s no reason for me to kill you because an old man told me so. I listened once and look where it got me.”
Only a kid, who got tempted by darkness, lost everything and still appeared more mature than he could ever be. Axel kind of hated him at that moment.
“I was helping DiZ to get Sora back because he was the only one who knew how but I never agreed to what he thinks of Nobodies. I saw it in… you, Naminé, Roxas and… her. I can’t remember her face or her name anymore but I could sense it. A light. A heart. I don’t know. Something.” Riku shook his head.
“And what are you going to do?” Axel asked. “Shouldn’t you reunite with that best friend of yours?”
“Not like this. Not yet.”
“Or ever, huh?” Naminé whispered softly, probably voicing the silver-haired boy’s voice and something inside Axel broke a little looking at these two lost kids. One who was taken as soon as she rose, locked in a room and following orders or else she would be disposed of and now only had Riku and him somewhat willing to help her. And one who lost everything and still gave up more to bring his best friend back and yet refused himself the joy to bathe in that victory and go see said friend.
“You don’t look like it right now, but you’re just a kid. You shouldn’t be dealing with all this,” Axel said then, almost gently. Almost.
“It is my price to pay,” Riku answered, looking away. “Don’t try to sympathise, I know you hate me for taking your best friend away from you.”
He shook his head. “Nah. I’m just… sad.” Riku startled then frowned at his answer but Axel didn’t read too much into it. “Never mind I don’t have a heart and can’t feel sad. You, Sora, Roxas, Naminé… Y’all are just kids, swapped up in this because of people like me who helped that guy for selfish reasons.”
Riku didn’t answer anything, choosing instead to look at Naminé who smiles encouragingly.
“You’re just a kid,” Axel repeated thoughtfully. “And for all that’s worth, I hope you get to be one when this is all over. At least literally, this look really doesn’t suit you.”
That gets the boy to chuckle at least and although it felt weird to see Ansem smile, it made Axel feel a little better.
And then, funnily enough, even if she was an important key to how his closest friends were even created, Axel met Kairi last. By kidnapping her, which, admittedly, was not his brightest moment. But he still needed to hurry things up, bring Sora to the rest of the Organisation so he can defeat them and make Saïx believe he still was on the Organisation’s side. Maybe he could have just explained everything instead of frightening the poor girl like that but he made sure to make Saïx promise she wouldn’t be hurt in any way.
Letting himself die for the boy for who Roxas agreed to disappear felt appropriate.
Then, disappointingly somehow, he woke up anyway, in the lab surrounded by all the others too. It was going to be awkward when he saw Even again but it was the least of his issue at the moment as he scanned the room and didn’t see Isa anywhere. And then nowhere in the castle either. Fuck it. Time to fully turn tables. Lea was back.
And for some reason, when he saw Riku with his body back and looking like a proper kid again, Lea almost wanted to jump on him first and congratulate him but he caught sight of Sora’s sleeping form in one of those dreadful chairs and it reminded him of the mission at hand and that feelings — hah! Was it good to say that sincerely! — would have to wait.
Then feelings came smashing right into him anyway when one of the hooded figures was revealed to be Isa— no, Saïx with unfamiliar glowing yellow eyes staring down at him with pure hatred and contempt. So much for a tearful reunion with your bestie, he supposes he’s not deserving of one after everything that happened.
“This feels a bit too familiar,” Lea commented out loud some moments later, when they were back in the Mysterious Tower, with Sora asleep and everyone else looking at him, worried.
“You don’t say,” Riku muttered.
“You don’t have to do this alone, this time.” And the boy smiled a little at that.
Only for Yen Sid to prove him wrong a moment later because, apparently, Riku managed to turn himself into a dream-eater. How does one even do that unconsciously? Lea almost cursed out loud because, once again, they’re just kids, how did they let kids get mangled in this mess?
And then, almost as soon as Riku disappeared into Sora’s heart, the latter woke up. Asked everyone why they were staring at him weirdly. Then promptly whined that he was hungry after this whole thing.
Then panicked when he saw Riku sleeping next to him and not waking up despite shaking him to death.
“He’s fine, kid,” Lea spoke when no one else seemed inclined to intervene for some reason. “He’ll wake in a moment.”
“It is weird he isn’t back yet though,” King Mickey said with a frown. “I wonder what he’s seeing in there.”
Sora didn’t say anything and just brought a hand to his heart, a little smile on his lips. Lea felt like he needed to look away, the intimacy and fondness of it all reminded him a bit too much of how he and Isa used to be, before everything fell apart.
A table was dressed with various desserts, courtesy of the tower herself when Sora’s stomach growled. Lea decided to grab a chair to look over Riku’s sleeping body instead of indulging in the food, a tiny part of him still worried, for some reason. Finally, when the boy stirred awake, he couldn’t help but smile at the sight, and even more so when Sora promptly jumped on his friend and hugged the life out of him, and thus despite the fact he had been the one in danger for the past few hours.
They were just kids. But it seemed the strength, light and hopeful attitude of these teenagers were exactly what they needed right now and it only inspired Lea to work harder to be worthy of the keyblade as well, someday.
Being paired with Kairi for training following Xehanort’s plan reveal was just on the tiny side of awkward, though.
“He’s the guy who kidnapped me,” Kairi deadpanned, glaring at the old wizard. Lea didn’t even try to refute the statement— it truly wasn’t his best moment.
“So did I once,” Riku pointed out a bit too nonchalantly.
The girl spluttered then. “It was completely different circumstances, Riku we’ve talked about this!” she defended him, much to the boy’s amusement.
“But it’s true,” Riku laughed when Kairi started playfully hitting his chest. “And I mean, perfect opportunity to have your revenge and kick his ass and be congratulated for it.”
Kairi brightened at the suggestion, summoning her keyblade immediately and pointing at Lea who throws his hands in the air.
“Woah you’re a bit too enthusiastic for murder for a princess of heart.”
“It’s the pent-up frustration,” Kairi replied with a smirk and for a brief moment, Lea saw flashes of black hair. And right there and then, he decided he liked her and would dedicate himself to protecting her.
And when he put himself in front of her to counter an attack he knew would kill Kairi in an instant in the Keyblade Graveyard the same way he once shielded Sora with his life, well, it just felt appropriate again.
Except he wakes up again and there’s still a whole mess to clean up.
And among the chaos, dust and despair, he finds solace again when the world is kind enough to give Roxas, Xion and even Isa back to him.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽♡☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
The battle is over now and he doesn’t have a keyblade anymore— or well, he struggles to summon it again. Something about how he doesn’t believe in himself anymore, Yen Sid tells him, but he isn’t too inclined on questioning it for now. For now, he’d rather bathe in the peace and sun. Sat on the beach with Roxas and Xion next to him— it feels like a dream. Naminé is also there, picking seashells and handing them to Riku who just accepts them without much questioning. Sora is pouting on their side, hand not leaving Riku’s short sleeve, waiting for his attention again while Kairi is talking excitedly with Aqua and Ventus.
Lea can see Isa talk with Terra, the both of them a little more isolated from everyone else and he has no doubt what they must be talking about.
In any case, it is nice, to finally see these kids just… be kids and play in the sand and the waves.
“Tag you’re it!” Ventus’ voice suddenly comes through and Roxas yelps as the older boy’s hand suddenly squash his face before running away.
“Oh, you’re on!” Roxas yells back as he gets up and runs after his, well, twin. If at least in appearance.
Lea watches them go, involving Kairi and Sora on their way — but missing Riku and Naminé when the former just lazily puts up a dark barrier around the both of them, apparently refusing to be disturbed and determined to help the blonde complete her collection.
“It’s so weird…” Xion’s voice startles Lea a little and he looks at her. She’s smiling yet her eyes are shining with unshed tears. “I think I’m happy but I also want to cry?”
Lea smiles, resting a hand on her head. “Yeah, that’s called relief.”
She chuckles, a few tears rolling down her pale cheeks in the process. “I wanna join Riku and Naminé, would that be okay?”
“You don’t need to ask for permission, Xion, you can do what you want now,” Lea answers, nudging her. She breathes in, eyes reflecting her eagerness and confusion. It must be odd, to experience feelings truly for the first time, and to know her existence is not tied to anyone or to a single purpose anymore. She is free. She lives. She is remembered and forever will be. “Seashells are your thing, after all.”
“I think I want to learn how to draw. And dance. And swim! Oh and bake! Axel, there’s so much to do!”
Lea chuckles. “‘fraid I can’t help with any of that. I suck at all of these.”
She pouts and then shrugs before she jumps on her feet. “Naminé and Riku would probably be of better help than you, that’s for sure.”
“Hey!”
“You should talk to him, you know?” Xion suddenly changes the subject, voice softening as she crosses her hands behind her back.
Lea doesn’t really need more information to know who she means. “I'm just... still figuring out what to say to him. It all still feels so... unreal.”
She looks at him pensively before she looks in the distance, surely in Isa’s direction. Then she nods to herself. “Fair enough. Just… don’t get your heart broken?”
He snorts. And where did that come from? “Will be careful.”
“Roxas and I will be there to pick up the pieces if anything,” Xion assures, brightening up again.
“You don’t need to look after me you know.” That should be his role. He’s the adult here, even if he doesn’t feel like it.
“But you’ve always looked out for me, it’s only fair.” She smiles and before Lea could say anything else more as a response, she already starts walking backwards. “Don’t just sit there and have fun too!”
And with that, the black-haired girl runs the last couple of meters separating her from Naminé and Riku. The two other teenagers must have heard her because they turn to her and wave but Xion is having none of that and goes straight for a hug as soon as she’s close enough. Lea smiles to himself, watching Naminé accept the hug with a bright smile and Riku returning it after a few moments of his arms awkwardly flailing in the air.
Just as he is about to stand up and do something — what, he’s not sure, he just needed to move — when he feels someone approach and soon enough a new figure drops down next to him.
“Aqua,” he greets, a bit uncertain.
The Keyblade Master nods at him. “Lea.”
He feels antsy, all of a sudden. For some reason, he just feels like Aqua doesn’t like him much, whether she knows what he has done in the past or not. Maybe it’s just in his head because, well, his thing is fire and hers is water and obviously, these elements clash but also water just destroys fire effortlessly and he has no doubt this woman could defeat him before he could even blink.
Then Aqua takes a deep breath. “Listen, I have my own previously possessed best friend slash lover—”
“Woah, slow down, who said we’re lovers?” Lea interrupts immediately, hoping his cheeks now don’t reflect the colour of his hair.
She blinks at him, seemingly genuinely surprised by that information. “Ventus. And Roxas. And Xion.”
Wow. His own kids conspiring against him apparently. “That’s— we’re not. Just best friends.” If even that, at the moment. They're still working it out.
“What, like these two are?” Aqua says dryly, pointing in the distance. Lea follows the direction of her finger right back to Riku, catching the moment the boy falls backwards into the sea because Sora jumps on him and then just clings to him with Kairi, Naminé and Xion fussing over them.
“Yeah, they look like friends,” he deadpans because he doesn’t see her point here.
“Look again,” she insists and yep, okay, they’re kissing suddenly and where the fuck did that come from? Kairi, Naminé and Xion are now building sand castles, completely unbothered by the pair it seems. Lea swears he thought Kairi and Sora… Although Kairi did tell him during their months of training she and Sora never really talked. She wrote letters and never sent them. Perhaps something was there before and it just fizzled out through time.
“Huh,” is the only proper response he can give at the sight.
“As I was saying,” Aqua says again, “Terra and I are still working things out, and we’re not actually— I mean we haven’t picked up where we left off before this whole mess. We weren’t even a thing, you know?” She looks at him again, as if searching for an answer or comfort but Lea knows that isn’t actually what she’s seeking. “But we want to, so desperately. So we talk a lot more now, he tells me about his nightmares, and I tell him about mine. Ventus helps, making us feel like it is like before. When it was just the three of us in the Land of Departure. The familiarity helps even if everything has changed.”
At that moment, Lea catches from the corner of his eye, Xion making her way towards Isa as she asks him something that seems to startle him before he slowly nods. The girl then drags him across the beach, apparently seeking his help with the fortress she, Naminé and Kairi were constructing in the sand. Roxas joins them then, curious, and leaning heavily on Isa’s back with absolutely no care in the world. The scowl on Isa’s face almost makes Lea laugh.
“Why are you telling me this though?” he asks at last.
Aqua shrugs. “Just think we can take examples on the kids. The bond between Sora, Riku and Kairi, it is so strong it transcended worlds and time. I know Riku fell once, I saw him in the Realm Of Darkness actually and I knew Terra bequeathed the keyblade to him so I was so worried— did history repeat itself? But it didn’t. These kids, they did what we never could. And a part of me wants to still protect them because they’re so young but…” she huffs out a laugh. “Sora and Riku could defeat me so easily with a combined keyblade! I had never seen that before and Master Eraqus never mentioned it was even possible outside of the X-blade. And then Ventus saved me from Vanitas. They don’t need my protection, they can kick my ass any time, but still.”
“Yeah, I get that feeling.” And he actually failed, every time he tried to protect one of these kids.
“Anyway, they remind me that sometimes, it is that easy. Loving.” She pats him on the arm. “We better make the most of it. From experience, we never know how long until the next big battle is upon us.”
Lea frowns but still nods. He has no idea what compelled her to come to talk to him but he appreciates it. Aqua smiles once more before getting up and making her way back to Terra instead, gone almost as fast as she appeared by his side. He lets out a small sigh before getting to his feet as well.
Except, instead of heading straight towards Isa, he sways on the side into the sea and promptly lifts Sora and Riku up by the back of their shirts, who whine and protest, respectively.
“The tide is rising and you two horny idiots are gonna drown if you keep it like that,” Lea chastises.
“You underestimate how much we can hold our breath,” Sora huffs with a pout, now thrashing around so Lea lets go of him and that results in the boy promptly falling into the water again.
Riku, on his part, only slaps his hand away since he was already properly standing. He doesn’t look embarrassed at all, though, Lea is somewhat impressed, he expected at least a small blush. All that awkward teenage stuff.
“Had this under control,” Riku says simply as he helps Sora up.
“Didn’t look like you were the one in control there,” Lea comments and ah, there it is, the deep blush contrasting so greatly against Riku’s silver hair. Sora, on his part, only grins widely, looking proud of himself.
“Anyway, we’ll be back in a moment,” Riku says, grabbing Sora’s wrist and the both of them might as well have just disappeared into thin air considering how fast they run to a recluse place, in between some rocks and bushes. Huh.
“You get used to it,” Kairi speaks up next to him suddenly and Lea is ashamed to admit he jumped. “Funny because watching them run so far ahead of me used to make me so frustrated now I’m just exasperated.”
“So you’re… you’re okay right?” Lea inquires softly. “I thought you and Sora…” he trails off, not sure how to really handle this kind of topic, actually.
“I am.” She smiles at him, genuine and happy. “It was just a crush. If that even. The princess has to end with the hero right? That’s how it went in all those worlds we went to. Every princess had her prince. It felt like the only option, but it isn’t. At least I don’t think so anymore.”
Against his better effort, Lea’s eyes drift to Isa at her words before they quickly fall back on Kairi. “How did you come to that conclusion, then?”
“Riku, actually.” The surprise must show on his face because she chuckles and continues, “Not intentionally, mind you. He’s just always been unapologetically himself. Back then, our friends thought he and I would end up together. He was stronger than everyone else, he was older, he was mysterious with all that bad boy vibe, and yes like everyone else I admired him. Yet he never… when girls would throw themselves at him, he never paid attention. And never in a better than thou way, he just wasn’t interested and stated it boldly. I never questioned it before, like everyone else I assumed it was because I was there. Which sounds really vain but I was the only girl he really talked to, you know? Even Selphie only got dismissive responses when she tried talking to him. It was easy to assume.”
“You are pretty loveable, princess,” Lea concedes, stopping himself from ruffling her hair.
She grins up at him. “I know. I asked him though, that time after they defeated Xemnas if he ever actually had a crush on me like everyone else kept saying. Even Sora thought that was why he fell into the darkness at first, because he wanted me and was jealous... I had rehearsed a whole rejection speech, Lea! Only for him to tell me that nope.” Kairi laughs, bright and easy. “Never was interested in girls in the first place. He was also honest and told me he liked Sora but promised he’d never get in between us, that idiotic self-sacrificing jerk. Little did he know he awakened something in me too. Maybe this princess wants another princess, rather than a hero.”
“Then I’ll still proceed to give that hypothetical princess the shovel talk.”
She laughs again. “I appreciate the support. Should I threaten Isa that I can easily beat him with a stick then?”
“Not you too,” Lea groans.
“We all already threatened him, actually.” And that’s Naminé joining in. “Roxas first, of course.”
“You too?!”
The blonde tilts her head innocently to the side. “Of course! I can still mess with minds.” She smiles sweetly at that and Lea belatedly notices she is holding a pen between her idle fingers. Now that’s a subtle but efficient threat if he’s ever witnessed one.
“You’re all terrifying.”
“Thank you!” Kairi and Naminé exclaim at the same time. Of course they would see it as a compliment.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽♡☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Destiny Islands is lovely during the days but Lea finds himself enjoying the chilliness of the beach at night better. It turned out that Riku’s parents were away… somewhere — as they often seem to be — so the boy offered his place for everyone to stay for the night and although Kairi and Sora had their own places, they decided to stay for a big slumber party. Riku’s house was pleasantly huge, for seemingly only three people living in it so they watched a few movies all piled up in the living room before slowly, but surely, everyone fell asleep one by one.
Except him, evidently. After wrapping Roxas and Xion in a blanket and making sure both of them had a pillow and weren’t crushing each other, he quietly slipped out of the house. So here he now stands leaning against the tree, in Riku’s garden, facing the beach. He extends a hand, concentrates, but nothing appears and he sighs.
No Keyblade yet then. That’s frustrating.
“You’re not okay,” a voice behind him says and Lea sighs instead of startling.
“I’m fine, Isa,” he says, without turning around.
“Physically maybe, your ego not so much from what I can see.” Soon enough, Isa is standing next to him, arms crossed and at a respectable distance.
Lea huffs. “Always so observant, aren’t you.”
Isa doesn’t reply so Lea just looks at the reflection of the moon on the ocean again. This feels familiar again, yet so foreign. He and Isa used to be joined by the hip, he supposes almost as much as Sora and Riku seem to be, although he’d say they were never that affectionate. It’s a feeling he only ever managed to recreate when he sat on top of Twilight Town’s clock tower with Roxas and Xion by his sides. They made him feel — never mind at the time they all thought they didn’t have a heart anymore — like he was a kid again. Like childhood wasn’t that far away.
“You seemed… to have found people who care a lot about you,” Isa speaks up after a moment.
“You’re letting kids threaten you now?” Lea teases.
“Don’t remind me how low I’ve stooped.”
“To be fair, all of them can and have beat our asses.”
Isa shrugs and seems to agree with that statement. Lea shifts a little so he can properly look at his friend. He’s always thought he looked especially good against the moonlight, pale skin and blue hair looking ethereal under the gentle light. He never really stopped and wondered if that was an odd thought to have, to find your best friend attractive. It is only appreciation, after all, and they were always so busy, trying to find her, surviving in the Organisation, fighting.
“Are we okay?” he ends up asking, softly, a little unsure.
Isa’s sunset eyes fall back on him and it really is relieving to not see that ugly yellow in his eyes anymore. Isa seems to hesitate, lips forming words that never get spoken out loud before he sighs. “I’d like to be, Lea.”
Lea smiles and extends a hand. “Then we will.”
Isa looks at his hand, uncertain, disbelieved. “That easy?”
And Lea thinks about Sora who opened his arms for Riku without a second thought, then about Aqua who embraced Terra as if nothing else could ever matter in their world, the two Guardians of Light so certain they could fix their relationship with their precious one, that everything would be alright as long as they held each other and did not let go.
He thinks of Riku’s confidence in himself and Terra’s will to be better. He thinks of how peaceful Kairi looked as a whole new perception of love opened to her and Lea thinks…
“That easy,” he confirms.
And when Isa takes his hand like a silent promise, it feels like a new beginning.
And he really has a bunch of teenagers to thank for it.