Sometimes, Being Your Friend Hurts -- Traverse Town 2nd District [Open/COMPLETE]

[noster_nostri]

Traverse Town had changed a lot since he was fourteen. It had lost much of its innocence. The whole world seems to be geared towards fighting the war and defending the people who appeared everyday. It was supposed to only be a way-station, a place for people to learn about the different worlds and then travel to them, but more and more of the

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[crimson_apathy]

… But what about those who didn’t have a heart to guide their emotions in the first place?

"Sometimes its hard to smile," The redhead frowned a little and looped his ankles together. " Not everyone is as strong as you. They might not have friends, loved ones, or anything of that sort to smile for. Beyond the light of your Keyblade, it can be a very bleak universe..."

His eyes were hazed for a moment, before they readjusted, and gave Sora an apologetic look.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I always have to ponder about the ‘Other Side’. It’s a habit."

Lea looked back up at the stars, reaching a gloved hand upwards and made a notion of grabbing a star from the sky, cupping it in his palm and cradled it to his empty chest.

"The sky looks beautiful tonight. I guess I should be thanking you for that."

[noster_nostri]

"Nah," Sora said modestly. "I didn't make the sky beautiful, I just try to keep it that way."

He looked up again and smiled to himself. It really did look very beautiful. Sora couldn't count all the stars and it didn't weigh heavily on him as it did the nights in Hollow Bastion. He wasn't afraid that one of them would suddenly blink out of existence. For a moment he was completely content just to look at the sky the same way he used to look at the ocean.

It was filled with promises of adventure.

He turned back to Lea, a slightly curious expression on his face. This man said strange things, and yet Sora felt oddly comfortable with him.

[crimson_apathy]

Lea smiled modestly back.

"You should take at least a little bit of credit. The sky wouldn't be as bright without you as its protector." As if to emphasize, Lea outstretched his arm to show Sora all the sky they could possibly gaze at from their spot in the fountain. Indeed, all the stars seemed to glimmer and show some kind of majestic appeal for all to appreciate.

When he caught Sora staring at them the nobody looked back and tilted his head, crimson strands scraping against his cheeks at the notion.

"Am I offending you...?" Lea asked humbly.

[noster_nostri]

Sora's eyes widened slightly at the question. Did he seem like Lea was offending him? He shook his head automatically.

"No!" he said, waving his hands slightly. "It's not that! It's just... I feel kind of relaxed around you." At least maybe that's what he meant. He felt like his body was kind of foggy and warm. If he had any idea what it was like to be intoxicated he might have realized that was what it was.

He smiled sheepishly. "Maybe it's because you just saved my neck, huh?"

[crimson_apathy]

Sora was as blatantly expressive as ever, and for a moment Lea was actually startled at all the body language that was invading his vision. But he calmed when the brunet explained himself, all the more curious with the specific ‘feeling’ he was creating for the teenager.

"It's relieving to know that my presence is relatively stress free." The nobody practically lost count with how much he smiled those past several minutes, and the more he did it, the more 'natural' it strangely became.

"And it was nothing, I swear. Just talking to you is like... oh, I don't know. Taking your first breath after almost drowning..."

Refreshing.

[noster_nostri]

Sora frowned and looked at Lea oddly. "Drowning? Why were you drowning?" he asked as he became genuinely concerned.

This red-haired man had helped him, after all. He didn't like the idea that he was suffering for any reason. Maybe he was unhappy with some aspect in his life? Or was he just being strange and metaphorical? He seemed good at that.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?"

[crimson_apathy]

He chuckled.

"I'm just speaking figuratively. This war's taken a toll on those who are affected by it. You don't see friendliness much anymore, or at least not without a price." Lea assured Sora calmly, a little more than amused by all the cornucopia of expressions he was receiving from him. It reminded him vaguely of Zack...

... But this wasn't Zack he was talking to, now was it?

"Do anything else? Well, nothing material wise..." He set his hands on his lap.

"Good friendships are often destroyed because of material reasons."

[noster_nostri]

"That's a shame," Sora said, frowning slightly. "Good friendships are important." He grinned at Lea, as cheerful as ever. "We're friends now, so I'll try to be a good one."

That's simply how Sora was, he became someone's friend without asking any questions and Lea had already done enough to make Sora trust him. He couldn't begin to consider that there was any reason they shouldn't be friends, at least not yet.

[crimson_apathy]

But unlike Sora, Lea couldn't help but hide the hint of shock from his face, those relaxed green eyes widening slightly at the Keyblade Master's simple statement.

Apparently, he wasn't familiar with this concept.

"Friends?" The redhead watched him warily. "Are there strings attached...?"

[noster_nostri]

"Of course not!" Sora said simply. "It just means that we..." He paused. Have connected hearts? Something about what was happening stopped him from saying that. His hand went to his chest, lightly touching above his heart. What was this strange feeling that was clouding his head? It was like the headache but different, maybe worse.

"We are just friends," he continued and looked at Lea. "Don't you have friends that are just friends? Without strings attached?"

He didn't really know who this man was or what his life was like, but suddenly he felt almost sad for him, almost... empty.

[crimson_apathy]

"..."

He watched Sora quietly, catching his disjointed movements and following everything else the brunet laid out for him. His look was solemn, and he waited patiently for the latter to recover himself and continue where he left off. And when he did, Lea smiled and nodded his head a little.

"I... can see pity in your eyes." Letting those words slip from his mouth caused his wrists to tingle and ache a little, absent-mindedly rubbing them to relieve that uncomforting feeling.

To have Sora feel pity for him. It was almost disconcerting in a way.

"There are people who adapt to having loved ones always around them. And then there are those who adapt to having, well... none."

Lea meekly smiled.

[noster_nostri]

"Sorry," Sora said. "I don't mean to. The idea of having no one around who cares about you is kind of sad to me. But then I always have someone around, and even if I'm alone I know that my friends are with me in my heart." His palm flattened on his chest and his eyes drifted to the water in the fountain. "Even if I can't see them, I know they are always there." He smiled again and looked at Lea. "Getting friends isn't had hard as people make it out to be. You just have to be willing to have them."

[crimson_apathy]

"Willing?" It was a little inappropriate, and almost even rude, (But really, would anyone put it passed him?) but Lea had to laugh out lightly. He let his arms reach high above him, hands cupping each other while he leaned back to stretch in his seat.

"Tell me Sora," Lea asked after a moment. "Have you ever been shoved into a locker before?"

[noster_nostri]

Sora frowned the frown of someone who had missed the meaning for a joke, and maybe he had.

When Lea asked the question he shook his head. "No," he said carefully, drawing out the 'o'. He had heard about lockers from other worlds, they were in public showers and schools. From what he knew they were really small though, who would want to shove someone else in one?

[crimson_apathy]

By then he had calmed, leaning back almost far enough for the trickle of water to splash on him. For those who knew him as Axel, he was always infamous for jumping from one subject to another and back two topics in the blink of an eye. Mostly everyone he'd met couldn't stand that aspect of him, but it was something that defined whatever individualism he had over what he was.

It was almost like a 'comfort zone', where he never had to get too attached to one thing in particular. It gave him the sense of control, and it seemed to coax out the most entertaining of reactions of his 'acquaintances'.

"I guess it's in your favor then. They've never been really useful anyway. Sometimes I wish I never knew about them."

[noster_nostri]

Sora had once known him as Axel, but only has an enemy, and despite the fact that Axel had ordered him to commit the name to memory... well, that was just the problem wasn't it? Sora's memories had been altered, so much so that his entire past had to be re-written. Being around someone from these forgotten (but not lost, not really anyway) memories had a strange affect on him.

It didn't help that this one had a horrible habit of being confusing. It was easy to confuse Sora even if you were Somebody... or anyone with a little more sense for the normal flow of conversation.

"Huh?" he asked, with his eyebrows folded into a confused expression.