onlytwilight | twenty-eighth key

[Roxas breathes heavily into the device, sighing.]

Jerk locked me in a closet. What the heck is his problem!?

Ugh...I feel so strange. Gotta get far away from here.

[Click. The device turns off.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

todomarishi

You'll keep out of this if you value your health, stranger.

From:

kakolookiyam

I value my friends, and you are trying to bully one of them.

From:

todomarishi

He's your "friend", is he?

I'm doing what's best for him. He doesn't understand the threat that man poses.

From:

kakolookiyam

I would like to think so.

Roxas has been her for months now, Axel has for much longer. I think he understands better than you might the threats of this place.

From:

todomarishi

Wouldn't we all?

I've been in the company of another Roxas and... several Axels for the past year. No, I can't claim to know this place, but I do know what Axel is like. The things he's said here have mirrored the immoral actions of the others.

From:

kakolookiyam

I do not wish to see him harmed, but I would hardly think that binding him and locking him away a proper solution.

I do not know Axel, nor have I seen any other of him. Or Roxas. But in the time I have been here, I have known three Links, and each was different. Experience can change a person. Do not be so quick to judge.

From:

todomarishi

... I don't have time for cheap lectures. You and your companions will keep out of my way or you'll be made to regret it.

From:

kakolookiyam

And what do you intend to do then? Bind him, lock him away again? For how long? If you mean to convince him of your sincerity, you would do better with another method.

From:

todomarishi

He'll be kept in a safe location for as long as necessary. Once I've managed to do away with the threat in question, he's free to go wherever he wants... with supervision.

From:

kakolookiyam

...You are hopeless, then.

From:

todomarishi

Excuse me?

From:

kakolookiyam

You do this for yourself, not for him. You cannot shut out all others merely to achieve your own goals. It leads to ruin.

I know this..

From:

todomarishi

Ruin? ... Too late. I've watched the light fade out of his eyes three... four times now. Fate was merciful enough to send me here. Fate's given me another chance. This is my duty, my purpose. My responsibility. I won't watch him fall again.

From:

kakolookiyam

[Lower and more flat.]

And what if your actions are those that drive him to the edge, this time?

From:

todomarishi

I don't... She's not here to catch him. I don't know.

From:

kakolookiyam

She?

Please, for his sake, do not ignore all he says because you think you have the right of it. I have seen all those I held dear die for my own folly. Not because I failed to protect them, but because the decisions I made in haste were--

[He cuts off, and pauses. Then continues, slower this time.]

Because of what I did in trying to put things right. Do not repeat my mistakes.

From:

todomarishi

A teammate of mine. She was wise beyond her years.

I have my own share of mistakes but my losses... They were always because I didn't act- no, because I didn't act fast enough.

From:

kakolookiyam

I see.

It would seem we are two of a kind, then. Even so, I cannot stand idly by if you do that to Roxas.

From:

todomarishi

What would you suggest I do then?

From:

kakolookiyam

Keep an eye on him. Tell him your concerns. Be a friend. It is easier to listen to the advice you wish to hear than that which you do not want to.

From:

todomarishi

Easier said than done. He sprints away anytime I go near him and I've already expressed my concerns... several times. He waves them off just as you do.

From:

kakolookiyam

You mean to bind him, and you question why he flees? I am not waving off your concerns, merely stating that your course of action will not win you his trust.