[Roxas watched that expression of hers, that always-troubled, always-worried look that she'd worn so much in their last days together and even a great deal since they'd met again. And then finding out that more often than not, it was because of him. It was both touching and painful at the same time. Part of him wondered just why he meant so much her, but then when he changed the question and asked himself why Xion meant so much to him, he was usually without answer. And at the same time, it hurt to know that she was this way because of him.
His experience in the Organization contrasted with how Sora had always treated and been treated by his friends. Everyone seemed to like their Other and he was always going out of his way to help his friends -just as Roxas had with Xion. He told himself that he certainly would've done the same for Axel, but somehow his other friend was just so much harder to figure out at times and was a great deal harder to follow -not that she'd been an easy mark to follow or understand in the least. But all of these experiences told him; that was just how friends were. The closer a person is to another, the more that they worried. Maybe that was why he was so adamant about trying to tackle every one of her fears and either dispel them or push them aside.]
Thanks... looking back on everything, after all Sora found while I watched. You and Axel were trying to protect me back then. It's okay though. No matter what comes up, we'll figure things out together.
[His smile was pained. Their conversation had reminded him that there were serious consequences should things go wrong, that simple optimism was not going to solve everything -at least not so easily and not on its own. It was dawning on him that just as he had almost a year's worth of resentment over being manipulated, she had a year's worth of having Saix and whoever else drill into her how worthless she was and combined with how she felt on her own. It was going to take time if he wanted to see that smile of hers again regularly.]
...
[The look on his face when she made that request -especially the way the light caught in his eyes, could easily have led a bystander to think she'd just asked him to kill her.
It wasn't until he felt her hand squeeze his again that time resumed for him and his expression turned contemplative. She was bringing up a valid point, something that would be an ultimate worst-case scenario and one that he'd never want to face again. But assuming that despite what he viewed as her heart, her body might still be whatever that replica thing that they'd made her from.
Out of the blue, he felt something inside. A sensation of something growing bolder, a refusal to accept that path. Writing it off as an automatic memory reaction, he figured that there must've been countless time their Other felt like this. His expression hardened -not grim, but defiant. Even if all of this was doomed to stray toward a repetition of what happened the last time, he was determined not to let it end that way.
He still had no idea what he would do just yet, but there was no doubt in his mind that he would not just sit and let things happen. Not again.]
We'll figure that out as we go.
[His tone was measured and serious -lacking the unsupported hope of his earlier words.]
But I will never draw my Keyblade against you again. If you suddenly turn, I'll run, restrain you, do whatever it takes... but I won't let that happen again.
[There was a tear in the corner on his eye, seemingly out of place on his otherwise defiant expression. His voice trembled, the volume dropping a notch. It wasn't fearing of being heard or a loss of resolve, but because he sincerely was starting to worry now.]
/fixes because he's a perfectionist... sorta
His experience in the Organization contrasted with how Sora had always treated and been treated by his friends. Everyone seemed to like their Other and he was always going out of his way to help his friends -just as Roxas had with Xion. He told himself that he certainly would've done the same for Axel, but somehow his other friend was just so much harder to figure out at times and was a great deal harder to follow -not that she'd been an easy mark to follow or understand in the least. But all of these experiences told him; that was just how friends were. The closer a person is to another, the more that they worried. Maybe that was why he was so adamant about trying to tackle every one of her fears and either dispel them or push them aside.]
Thanks... looking back on everything, after all Sora found while I watched. You and Axel were trying to protect me back then. It's okay though. No matter what comes up, we'll figure things out together.
[His smile was pained. Their conversation had reminded him that there were serious consequences should things go wrong, that simple optimism was not going to solve everything -at least not so easily and not on its own. It was dawning on him that just as he had almost a year's worth of resentment over being manipulated, she had a year's worth of having Saix and whoever else drill into her how worthless she was and combined with how she felt on her own. It was going to take time if he wanted to see that smile of hers again regularly.]
...
[The look on his face when she made that request -especially the way the light caught in his eyes, could easily have led a bystander to think she'd just asked him to kill her.
It wasn't until he felt her hand squeeze his again that time resumed for him and his expression turned contemplative. She was bringing up a valid point, something that would be an ultimate worst-case scenario and one that he'd never want to face again. But assuming that despite what he viewed as her heart, her body might still be whatever that replica thing that they'd made her from.
Out of the blue, he felt something inside. A sensation of something growing bolder, a refusal to accept that path. Writing it off as an automatic memory reaction, he figured that there must've been countless time their Other felt like this. His expression hardened -not grim, but defiant. Even if all of this was doomed to stray toward a repetition of what happened the last time, he was determined not to let it end that way.
He still had no idea what he would do just yet, but there was no doubt in his mind that he would not just sit and let things happen. Not again.]
We'll figure that out as we go.
[His tone was measured and serious -lacking the unsupported hope of his earlier words.]
But I will never draw my Keyblade against you again. If you suddenly turn, I'll run, restrain you, do whatever it takes... but I won't let that happen again.
[There was a tear in the corner on his eye, seemingly out of place on his otherwise defiant expression. His voice trembled, the volume dropping a notch. It wasn't fearing of being heard or a loss of resolve, but because he sincerely was starting to worry now.]
I'm not going to lose you again.