onlytwilight | (no subject)

I guess I still need help renovating Chez Nobody. It looks like it used to be five stories. If we could rebuild it, we'd have another secure home for people in case of an attack. I haven't seen any rats around, thankfully, and the drawings are gone. Still can't help but think something's still coming our way.

...You know, maybe we should think about that Council idea, again. It might help the city to have a more open way of helping everyone here, and everyone will be heard at some point. Couldn't hurt, could it?

Sora, are you out there? You've been quiet.

[Private to Henry and Eileen | Unhackable]

Tell me anything you can about Walter and the Sacraments, please. I need to know.

[Private to Axel | Unhackable]

Up for some killing?

[Private to Lucifer | Unhackable]

Let's have that talk now.

[Private to Self | Unhackable]

The Heartless are getting stronger and nastier by the day. It's like those dreams just made them more powerful overnight. If there's too many of them, they'll enter the city. Riku, Sora and Kairi have been quiet. Maybe...Maybe they went home. If they did, I'd be grateful. They don't deserve to be here.

Riqis has been with Naminé a lot recently. Hm. I guess...that's just how it is.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Not quite the line I was talking about. [ Slight laugh. ] Never mind. Call me up when you need me for Chez Nobody.

[Confused.] I will.

Go look Avari up some day. You and Sora can go there for a free meal.

Free meal? And miss Sora trying to be a stealthy hunter? Not a chance.

It's the least I could do.

It could be a good idea...

How have you been, Roxas?

Sure thing.

Such gestures are unnecessary, Roxas.

[He looks to the ocean now, and when he speaks, his voice is quiet and deliberate, like he's carefully choosing his words.]

Michael and I have always had difficulties, going back to shortly after our creation, so it came as little surprise. Despite the various universes from which we come, who we fundamentally are remains.

[He pauses to gather his thoughts, then continues.]

He became jealous and petty, which was a side of him that I have never seen. He was deliberately hurtful to those who caused him no harm. And it was clear to me that he and John would eventually come into conflict. Michael was becoming unstable, or so it seemed to me, and each day the likelihood increased that he would harm someone. Not the individuals that were trying to kill John and I, those he seemed rather inexplicably fond of, but others. Humans.

It was sudden, so abrupt there were no signs. One moment he was the brother I had come to know, and the next it was like he'd been replaced by someone else. Perhaps the shift to that reality unsettled him. Or perhaps he inadvertently fond his way through the door. I cannot say for certain, but I know that he changed.

For others to start?

That's sort of risky, you know?

It was a suggestion, not a comment meaning "Hey, let this sixteen-year-old do it!"

[The story is not so different from what happened to Axel. He bites his lip and looks down at his hands resting on his knees.]

When I first came here, my friend Axel had been here for a long time. A year at least, I think. He said that I had been here many times and none of them were good. He said I had tried to kill him...along with other things I would never do in my right mind.

But when I tried to talk to him, he dodged everything. He wasn't my friend anymore. He sided with our enemies, slunk around, and lied to me. I figured out that he had made a deal with the Crimson King to bring me back here. [There's no emotion in his voice. He can't be angry with him anymore.] In return for me, he had to kidnap some people in the city.

...Axel never would have done something like that. Not ever. Whatever happened to Michael could very well have happened to Axel too.

Thanks.

You're doing me a favor.

Or not.

I've been okay. You?

Sixteen, huh? Kid.

Jerk.

[Grins.]

[Laughs a little.]

Come on, there's got to be "kids" in your world that are capable of stuff.

Never said there weren't, but hey, you're goin' against yourself by saying that, if you can do stuff, why don't you want to be part of it?

Because I don't want to be a part of any council. I've got other things to do.

I believe I remember him. Tall, very thin, with red hair? [Lucifer smiles, a little bitterly, and there isn't much humor in this joke.] Perhaps there's something with redheads...

I did much the same, you know. I made a deal with the Crimson King. That I would be his servant if he would keep Michael safe. It was a lie, the first I've ever told, and one that I perpetuated. I thought if I could get close enough to him, I could kill him, but I never got the opportunity. The firestorm came, and though there were hints of his presence, it was as if his attention was turned elsewhere, barely even there.

I made many mistakes with Michael, both in my father's universe and here. I had hoped to rectify them, but I never got the chance, and the path he wished me to walk was one that I would not take. I made my choices, even the less than savory ones, and I would not change them even if I could. But I still feel as if I'm betraying him. Perhaps I always shall.

[He's quiet for a moment, then slants a look at Roxas.]

He's back though, is he not? Your friend Axel? I've been less than attentive to the current events of the city, but I thought I saw him. Is he different than the last? Is he the person you remember?

You know that thing I said about it probably not workin'? Well, now I'm positive it ain't gonna work.

[He growls in frustration.]

I don't understand why all of you need to make this so complicated. I offered a suggestion, that's it!

Yeah, that's him. And I wouldn't be surprised about redheads...

[He glances at him, both surprised and conflicted. He had done similar? Well, at least he had a real reason. Axel's - as far as he had known - had been only to bring him to this world. And everything after had spiraled out of control.]

You and I are a lot alike, in that. I walked a path Axel, and a lot of others, didn't want me to take. I did it anyway. I'm still paying the price of being a traitor.

[He nods.] He is. He's...what I remember, from before. I'm glad for that. I'll never tell him what he did, though.

Hey.

Just saying.

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