2--2 [Best Guess 1]

[twilightfell]

[He's been hiding, mostly. Passive. Didn't fight. What's the point? Up till now, he'd been simply watching. Waiting. Taking care of his own, when he had to.

Till now. This really is do or die.]

I remember.

[He's in the hallway where the suites are. Struggling past debris and live wires in the deep gloom, occasionally hissing when he whacks a

Comments

[conniving_flame]

Huh, I thought you'd disappeared again.

[twilightfell]

Axel.

[he says it absently, not looking at the Sphere, almost like a second thought.]

It wouldn't have mattered if I did, though. Right? It's going to happen again anyway.

[conniving_flame]

[snorts] Try saying it with more feeling next time.

I just like to keep tabs.

[twilightfell]

Yeah? Why should I?

[finally looks at the Sphere now, expression oddly relaxed for someone consigned to the fact that they're all gonna die. again.]

You doing okay?

[conniving_flame]

The correct response is Why not.

And of course. [for once, it looks like he's telling the truth. there's nothing but humored calm on his face] Should I not be?

[twilightfell]

That's not going to convince me.

[for a brief second a genuine sort of smile flickers over his features, a little warm, then it fades] Just wanted to be sure. With everything falling to pieces .. [shrug]

[conniving_flame]

I'm not trying to. My purpose in life is to just point out your flawed thinking.

[smirks a little, then shrugs as well] It's not as if this is the first time we've danced with death.

[twilightfell]

My thinking isn't flawed.

[that draws another small smile out of him, though not the genuine kind of a moment ago] Yeah. Maybe it's weird, but ... I'm not worried. This isn't the end. Not the .. final one, anyway. At least, I don't think it is. It doesn't really feel like it.

[conniving_flame]

That's what a flawed thinker always thinks. [taps his head knowingly, oh yes]

Really now? I can't feel a difference. Must mean I'm desensitized to the whole thing. [pauses] But it doesn't feel very threatening, huh?

[twilightfell]

[with a bit of a drawl] You would know.

Heh. No, it doesn't. It's almost .. boring, actually. I want to just get it over with. [a little quietly, absently again] I want to see what happens next.

[conniving_flame]

Surely you're not implying that my thinking's flawed now, Rox.

Next? [a flash of thoughtfulness] There's always a 'next', isn't there?

[twilightfell]

I don't need to imply anything. It's true.

[for a moment he sobers, a seriousness coming over his expression that hasn't shown up since he first arrived. it's very grave and a little tired.] I'd like to think so.

[conniving_flame]

And that's why your thinking's flawed.

[despite the light banter, Axel doesn't seem to be concentrating on it now. he meets Roxas's seriousness with his own flatness, voice full of bitter humor] I'm not sure how many more 'nexts' I wanna deal with.

[twilightfell]

[he drops the banter now, eyes far away.]

... what if it all worked out? Everything. What if .. in the future, everything was okay? Would that be the kind of "next" you could put up with?

[the look he gives Axel is complicated and inscrutable, like he's .. waiting for something]

[conniving_flame]

I stopped believing in fairy tale endings a long time ago, kid.

[twilightfell]

... this isn't a fairy tale.

[his tone is almost reproachful]

It was never going to have a fairy tale ending. But things .. start changing, Axel. Big things.