Engram (Kingdom Hearts, Axel/Roxas/Xion, #22)
Title: Engram
Author: salmon_pink
Pairing: Axel/Roxas/Xion
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Theme: #22 Crumble
Rating: G
Words: 484
Xion is back, and it doesn’t matter that Roxas seems as close to content as he’s able to be these days, because Axel knows it won’t last. Xion will leave again, and Axel wants her to do just that. He wants her to find whatever it is she’s searching for, even if he doesn’t want to let her go. But she’s not meant to be there, she’s not meant to exist at all, and he can see it pulling her to shreds.
She’s searching for peace, searching for Sora, even if she doesn’t know it yet. It always comes back to Sora, and Axel wants to be angry at him, but he just can’t be.
There’s something about Sora that even Axel likes, something like warmth and familiarity, something that makes him easy to be close to, even as enemies.
Not that Axel thinks of Sora as an enemy, not really, but he’s supposed to be playing his part in the Organisation, so he keeps that strange fondness to himself.
He has to wonder if that’s why he feels so right when he’s with Xion and Roxas. If it’s their connection to Sora, except he’s certain it’s more than that. They’re their own people, no matter how much Saïx may like to insist otherwise. They are simply them, and he watches through his peripheral vision, watches the way Roxas eats his ice cream distractedly, the way Xion lets hers melt over her fingers.
Axel wants to take them to the beach. Wants to whisk them away right in that instant, even if it’s not a vacation day, even if it would be more trouble than it’s worth. But he wants that memory, so bad he can almost taste it. He wants to watch a new sunset with them, wants to help Xion hunt for the perfect seashell, wants to kick water at Roxas’ face just to see him splutter and frown.
He can already picture it in his mind, the three of them playing in the shallow surf, him and Xion teaming up to dunk Roxas under the water. He can hear Xion’s giggle, so sweet and innocent, carefree in a way he knows she simply isn’t. He can imagine Roxas trying to hide his smile, chasing them across the sand, forgetting duty and the Organisation and that damn Keyblade in the heat of the moment.
They’re both so young, and yet there are times when he sees something ancient in their eyes, and Axel wants to chase it away but he’s not sure he has the right.
It’s all going to crumble around him, and it’s no more than he deserves. Axel watches in silence, holding the moment close, storing in within the void in his chest and letting it warm him like fire.
Beneath his feet, the clock tower ticks on, like a countdown to inevitability and loss, refusing to be ignored.
Author: salmon_pink
Pairing: Axel/Roxas/Xion
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Theme: #22 Crumble
Rating: G
Words: 484
Xion is back, and it doesn’t matter that Roxas seems as close to content as he’s able to be these days, because Axel knows it won’t last. Xion will leave again, and Axel wants her to do just that. He wants her to find whatever it is she’s searching for, even if he doesn’t want to let her go. But she’s not meant to be there, she’s not meant to exist at all, and he can see it pulling her to shreds.
She’s searching for peace, searching for Sora, even if she doesn’t know it yet. It always comes back to Sora, and Axel wants to be angry at him, but he just can’t be.
There’s something about Sora that even Axel likes, something like warmth and familiarity, something that makes him easy to be close to, even as enemies.
Not that Axel thinks of Sora as an enemy, not really, but he’s supposed to be playing his part in the Organisation, so he keeps that strange fondness to himself.
He has to wonder if that’s why he feels so right when he’s with Xion and Roxas. If it’s their connection to Sora, except he’s certain it’s more than that. They’re their own people, no matter how much Saïx may like to insist otherwise. They are simply them, and he watches through his peripheral vision, watches the way Roxas eats his ice cream distractedly, the way Xion lets hers melt over her fingers.
Axel wants to take them to the beach. Wants to whisk them away right in that instant, even if it’s not a vacation day, even if it would be more trouble than it’s worth. But he wants that memory, so bad he can almost taste it. He wants to watch a new sunset with them, wants to help Xion hunt for the perfect seashell, wants to kick water at Roxas’ face just to see him splutter and frown.
He can already picture it in his mind, the three of them playing in the shallow surf, him and Xion teaming up to dunk Roxas under the water. He can hear Xion’s giggle, so sweet and innocent, carefree in a way he knows she simply isn’t. He can imagine Roxas trying to hide his smile, chasing them across the sand, forgetting duty and the Organisation and that damn Keyblade in the heat of the moment.
They’re both so young, and yet there are times when he sees something ancient in their eyes, and Axel wants to chase it away but he’s not sure he has the right.
It’s all going to crumble around him, and it’s no more than he deserves. Axel watches in silence, holding the moment close, storing in within the void in his chest and letting it warm him like fire.
Beneath his feet, the clock tower ticks on, like a countdown to inevitability and loss, refusing to be ignored.