"Hey Axel?"
Roxas looked to his friend, the aloof number VIII of their Organization. Axel was busy staring off into the sunlight, the crimson sun that never seemed to move from its place on the horizon. Such was the reason this place was called Twilight Town; as it semed to be in a perpetual state of twilight.
Perhaps that was why Roxas liked being here. Like twilight, he was neither light nor darkness--but some being of the inbetween. Axel was, too.
"Mmh?" The red-head grunted, glancing at Roxas with a side-ways glance. A popsicle stick hung out of his mouth, giving him look that was even goofier than his usual face.
"I was talking to Saix earlier..." Roxas began, but was immediately cut off by Axel.
"That's your problem. Don't ever talk to Saix. He'll fill your head with nonsense and make you want to bury your head into a pillow for the next day."
"Well...no....I was asking him about his past." Roxas told Axel, shaking his head, "And he told me you and him used to be friends."
"Oh. Yeah. We were. Scourge of Radiant Garden, I always liked to call us. We always got into trouble.."
Roxas sighed. Axel was barely listening to him to begin with, and now the man was going off about his past.
"A-axel....what I wanted to to know was....what exactly makes you a friend to someone? What's...what's friendship?"
Axel paused, eyes going wide, as the popsicle stick fell from his open mouth.
"E-eh..? O-oh, right...you don't exactly have any memories, do you? So you wouldn't remember what having friends was like..."
Axel sighed, leaning back as far as he could on their little perch upon the clock tower. This was their usual hangout. Just him, Roxas, and occasionally Xion, although it seemed the soft-spoken girl was a bit late from one of her missions.
"Weeell...." Axel began, trying to find the words for this, "Friends are...how do I put it? It's like a bond. Between you and someone else. Since you're a nobody, you can't exactly feel that bond...and without your memories, you can't remember what the bond felt like, either."
Roxas frowned, staring down at the ground below his feet, "Does that mean....I can't make friends...?"
"Oh, no!" Axel exclaimed, sitting back up. His face showed an alarmed expression, which actually managed to make Roxas smile, "You can...lemme explain -and you better get this memorized- see, a friend is someone you like. Someone you hang out with a lot. Someone you like being with, and you make time to be with them."
"Like Xion!" Roxas added to that, smiling.
Axel nodded once, glad he was getting to the boy, "Yeah! Like her."
"And you!"
Axel grinned, shaking his head. Roxas could occasionally be naive, but it also meant he was strangely adorable. Like an innocent kitten.
"I'm glad you're understanding."
"Yeah." Roxas replied, nodding just once. He turned to Axel and smiled, "I'm glad...that I got to be friends with you."
"Same here." Axel smirked and searched around the popsicle stick. He growled, coming to the realization that it must have fallen off the tower, "God da--I think I lost that stick. And it was a winner too!"
"Oh..." Roxas murmured, taking out his stick, as he had just finished off the ice cream. Sadly, his lacked the crown and the word "Winner", which signified he had won a free ice cream bar.
"From that look of yours, I would wager you didn't win." Axel said, looking at Roxas. The boy silently nodded, to which Axel stuck his hand out and patted the blonde's head.
"It's alright. We can always buy more ice cream..."
"Y-yeah."
A few minutes passed, and an awkward silence fell upon the two of them. Roxas held the stick in his hands, studying it, as he went over the idea of friendship.
"Axel?"
"Hm?"
"Would you say....having two friends...would that be a lot?"
"Mmh..." Axel hummed, giving the question a thought, "I would say, based on our group, it is. Because almost no one else in the Organization really have any friends. I guess you could say Zexion and Lexeaus are, but us three are the only true friends."
"Mmh, okay."
Roxas blinked, and turned his head as the sound of boots walking grew louder, and the thin, young Xion appeared. She smiled sweetly, giving the two a wave.
"S-sorry I took a while...I...the mission didn't--"
"Xion!" Roxas exclaimed, suddenly jumping up and immediately went to grab her hands, "Xion! I have to ask you something!"
"Uh-uh...?"
"Will you...will you be my friend?"
Xion chuckled, the noise suddenly bursting from her lips as she smiled, "O-of course...but...I thought we already were!"
"W-well...I just wanted to make sure!"
Axel shook his head and let out a small laugh, "Jeez, you two, kiss already or sit down. And sorry, Xion, but I ate your ice cream. It was melting."
"Eh! How mean!" Xion exclaimed, but immediately started to laugh. It was followed by both Axel and Roxas, as the sound of true laughter drifted around the tower.
Xion sat down, and smiled at her two friends. Axel sighed, leaning back once again as he stared up at the red sky.
"You both are a buncha dorks..."
"Am not!" Xion exclaimed, "But Roxas totally is!"
"H-hey!" Roxas yelped, gently punching Xion's arm. She laughed, doing the same to him. Axel let out a chuckle and shook his head once again.
"I hope....I hope we get to be friends forever..." Roxas murmured, looking at the two others. He didn't see the flicker of sadness on Xion's face, but smiled when she looked at him with a smile of her own.
"Me too."
"Eh...I dunno...I don't know if I can stand an eternity with you dorks." Axel replied, flinching when Xion started to playfully hit him.
"Axel! Stop being so mean! Roxas is trying to be nice, but you're being a butt!"
"Okay, okay! Yeesh, I've got it memorized. Gods, it's like neither of you can take a joke..." Axel grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.
Roxas smiled at them, and turned to watch the sun. He truly didn't know if he would their friendship would be eternal, but he hoped it was. Even if they broke apart, he decided that the bond -the same one he couldn't feel- would still be there, connecting all three of them.
Even without a heart, he could tell, deep down, that they would always be together. No matter what.
- Killua0707, Arya Stark, Yuya Sakaki and 2 others
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5
