Title: Dressed In White
Character(s): Axel, Demyx, Sora –mentions of Roxas-
Warnings: None
Rating: K+
Words: 602
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts and make no profit from its name and characters.
A/N: The phrase that inspired this fic was taken from another literary text. I'm not sure whether it was a random book or another person's story –it was long ago and came to me while writing- so whoever it was, thank you. If I find out who it was, I'll let you all know.
To be a God, all you have to do is forgive. To be the Devil, all you have to do is betray. To be a sinner, all you have to do is kill. But if you want to be a martyr, all you have to do is…
He'd never expected any great metaphysical truths, enlightenment about human existence or the extended hand of Angels dressed in white. He'd never expected anything from others, even less from himself. He'd expected nothing…and received nothing. So it was no great disappointment to wake up as a Nobody, even less to be treated as one. It gave him –and others- little expectation, just a means to an end.
"You know they're just setting you up." Not a question.
"I know." Just an answer.
"And you're still going?" No surprise, a bit of criticism though.
"Yeah." A small chuckle because this sounded too much like asking permission.
"Why?" Why not?
A smile, always a smile. "Because life sucks, you die and it sucks again. Maybe I'll get it right this time around." No expectation so it was only half a lie. No response so Axel knew it too.
He'd die; there was no mistake about that. He knew it, they knew it, Axel knew it. There were no great revelations that night, no flashbacks about a life worth living. There was only the heart shaped moon, a sitar against a stilted wall and two silhouettes promising a reunion in Hades, though both knew Nobodies didn't die…they were never born to begin with. But it gave them hope in name only. And for what it was worth…it felt grotesquely like praying.
Water droplets traced an arc from a lone sitar to his fading body, a scythe like stain. The ground bled black, his body collapsing from the inside out, a thousand instants to connect the dots. It all came back, a concentric circle and the nostalgia of the moment was something he'd never thought he'd feel.
The key blade wielder stood over him, his eyes still glassy, confused. And he asked, like they all do because once you open the Pandora's Box, you can never go back to being innocent again.
"Why? Why didn't you block?" So small a voice for the savior of so many. He could never understand why someone would throw his life away, but that was okay. He didn't have to. It would never happen to him. He had expectations of life; others held expectations of him and Axel? His only expectation was Roxas, and Sora by extension. So he laughed, both at the boy and his shadow, turning his gaze toward the dismantled rubble to find flame red hair and piercing eyes and smiled, even as the darkness made it harder to move. I finally know Axel; all I had to do was…
"To be a God, all you have to do is forgive…"
Roxas, don't ever…
"To be the Devil, all you have to do is betray…"
Sora, don't let him…
"To be a sinner, all you have to do is kill…"
Namine, you won't…
"But if you want to be a martyr…"
Axel, you're going to…
"…all you have to do is…"
He'd never expected any great metaphysical truths, enlightenment about human existence or the extended hand of Angels dressed in white. He'd never expected anything from others, even less from himself. He'd expected nothing…and received nothing. So it was okay to fade, because life sucked anyway and it was too late for him to dress in white.
"…all you have to do is…"
All I had to do was…
Forgivebetraykill
"…die…"