Open Interaction Post!

[chakramkeyblade]

[Permanent, open interaction post for Lea (and Axel). Let me know if you'd prefer me to do a starter, or just jump in with whatever!]

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[chakramkeyblade]

Now why would Sora want him to come all the way up here? Sure, he said he had Roxas's memories, and it checked out. He knew things that only he and Roxas would know. A few offhand comments, some of the things they liked to do. It takes him a while to get up there, lost in thought as he is. He blinks once into the light, steppin out onto their old meeting spot. He's a bit tired, to be honest. Between practicing with his keyblade and patrols, he finally has enough physical activity to keep him occupied.

"Okay, you win. You dragged me out here. Now what did you want to..."

Then he saw him. Blond hair. Blue eyes. Looking like Sora and Ventus both at the same time. Lea's eyes widened, and a tiny sound knotted in his throat as he backed up towards the tower's stairs again. No. No. Not again. "You're...supposed to be... how?" He brings his hands up, scrubs at his face, his eyes, making sure it's not a hallucination. It doesn't look like one...

Lea collects himself, taking a deep breath as his confusion and surprise is quickly replaced with anger. He bares his teeth for all of a fraction of a second, green eyes narrowing. "Who did it...? Was it Xemnas? I can't believe it, he..."

[heartismyown]

Sora had had Roxas' memories but how many could he possibly have now that Roxas had them back? It would be an interesting question to explore at some other time.

Roxas had been lost in just enjoying the breeze in his hair and the sun on his face when Lea's voice interrupted his thoughts. That wasn't the reaction he would have expected from him, backing away...although the anger wasn't a total surprise.

With his arm trembling a little from the effort, Roxas got to his feet. "Axel!" He protested, clearing his throat a little. He was the one who should be freaking out, he'd been incorporeal for a long time. Of course, if Lea was going to react like this, he might go out and do something foolish.

"Just think for a minute. Why would Sora tell you to come here if Xemnas did this?" His lips quirked a little bit. His heart swelled, he had missed his best friend. He wanted to hug him, but not while he was freaking out.

[chakramkeyblade]

He was right. Of course he was right. It was Sora that had asked him to come here. But if Roxas was here, then...

Lea swallowed, slumping his back against the wall, trying to make sense of this. Any of it. But in the end, it was the one thing nagging him that broke him out of his stunned silence. "It's Lea," he breathed finally. "My real name. It's Lea."

[heartismyown]

"I knew that." Roxas offered, now sitting on the edge of the ledge. "But it was a force of habit, sorry." He rubbed the back of his head a lot like Sora would when he did something mildly embarrassing.

"Lea, then." He still wasn't looking like he was doing too well. Maybe seeing Lea was a mistake.

"You know, this might be a bad time for you." And him, he couldn't help but think. "We can see each other some other time..." He offered Lea the out.

[chakramkeyblade]

"N-no, no." He was fine. He could do this. But... "How? How are you apart from him? That's...I mean, that's not really what normally happens. Is it...?"

Is Sora okay, is what he wanted to ask.

[heartismyown]

"Sora's working on it. I think he's trying to get everybody out and.." He reached for his chest, pressing a palm there. "I made my own heart...so it wasn't that hard. He just had to release me..."

Roxas shook his head a little. "Sora has all the details. I just kind of woke up here and then he took off."

[chakramkeyblade]

"Well... Just let him know not to push himself, y'know?" He gave a shaky, unsure laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "That can get dangerous, and he really can't afford to be a Heartless again..."

Wait.

"...What do you mean, 'everybody'?"

[heartismyown]

"I'll tell him, but not right now since he kind of left me here for you." Roxas pointed out and huffed a little bit. He got separated from Sora, finally, he was getting to have his own life and his best friend was still looking awfully pale.

"Some kind of welcome this is." He teased a little. "Here I thought you'd at least bring me ice cream."

Roxas shrugged a little at the question. "There are a lot of hearts connected to Sora's. He's trying to untangle them all. Mine included. He knows what he's doing."

[chakramkeyblade]

"...That's not exactly reassuring, you know." Sora was kind of an idiot, after all. A well-meaning idiot with way too much power. But still an idiot.

Lea sighed. Part of him still wanted this to be a dream. That he was unconscious somewhere with a bump on his head and a thief rummaging through his pockets. But another part of him was louder. He walked to Roxas and put both hands on the kid's shoulders, fingers lightly squeezing. Making sure he was solid. Real.

He blinked hard, but his throat was tight. "I missed you. You know that, right?"

[heartismyown]

His lips pulled into a bit of a smile at that and he shrugged lightly. Whether or not that was meant to be comforting, the matter of the fact was that Sora was handling it. What that meant for the worlds would remain to be seen.

Roxas was solid and completely real under his fingers, the familiar Organization coat feeling the same as it always did, although he sucked in a gentle breath at the touch. It had been a long time since he'd truly felt it. A long time living inside Sora. He almost felt like a completely new Nobody again, but fortunately forgoing the amnesia. If he'd have lost himself then this would never have worked.

"I know that." He smiled. He'd hoped it, but it made sense to him. He brought his hands up to squeeze Lea's arms gently. "I missed you too, a lot."

It wasn't really fair of Sora to have left him here for Lea to deal with. "It had to be him. I'm just glad he found a way. It's been awhile and I wanted to see you again."

[chakramkeyblade]

He chokes at the feeling of Roxas's grip on his arm. He's real. He's here. This stupid, stubborn, willful kid that is so much like Sora and yet is so different...

And he knows. He knows through the keyblade, can actually sense the keyblade in Roxas, too. "You...ended up with a heart of your own. That's why, isn't it. Why he's trying to sort everyone out."

If he put himself in Sora's shoes he could see why. It was way too much like Xehanort. How long had it been eating at him...? No use wondering too much, though. It was Sora. Getting him to talk about emotional baggage was like pulling teeth.

Instead he pulled Roxas into a tight hug. So weird, seeing the same face for as long as he had, and seeing it unchanged. Still the same age as when he first met Ventus all those years ago. But he doesn't care. He doesn't care why, or how, just that the one friend he had in the Organization was back with him.

"Knew you'd come back someday...just can't stay away, can you."

[heartismyown]

The hug is entirely too overwhelming and yet not enough at the same time. His arms came around Lea's body and linked to squeeze him back, clinging to him a little more desperately than he might have were he more adjusted.

"Well, I'm kind of addicted to having a best friend. And sea salt ice cream." Roxas laughed, the noise a happy one because he was so glad to be back. It was then he addressed the rest of it, nodding.

"Yeah. I grew my own heart. I made it myself. I don't know if it's full or perfect yet, but it's there. Sora...Sora's a good guy. He didn't want to trap me if I did that much." Roxas tilted his head back to look at Lea because that jerk was still so much taller than him.

"We got a next life." He said softly. "Thanks to Sora."