Axel feels a migraine coming on. Especially when Sora starts skipping around. See, he had a perfectly good order to things and Sora has to go and rearrange the alphabet. But when Sora starts in on the math, Axel holds up one finger like he wants to stop him, but honestly isn't sure how. So he just starts counting on his fingers along with him.
"Okay, I... wait." He counts two fingers, then stops and twists his wrist. "Hang on, there are Xehanorts who aren't Xehanort?" he asks, shaking his head. "Is he having an identity crisis?" Who is Xehanort, anyway? He knows that Xemnas isn't actually the Nobody of Ansem, because he grew up on the world where Ansem had once ruled. He knows about the--wait, Xehanort... was one of Ansem's... He snaps his fingers. "The apprentice!" he says, pointing at Sora like he'd just answered a quiz question. "But... hang on, Xemnas doesn't look much like that guy, he looks like..."
Axel still thinks Terra bears an odd resemblance to Xemnas, but you definitely don't get Xemnas from Terra plus an X, and Terra doesn't seem like a bad guy. Even without his heart, Axel still believes he's not really unlike who he'd once been, so that doesn't really add up at all. He counts his fingers again.
"How the hell are there four of him? Wh--in the past?" He holds both hands up and shakes his head, planting his palms against his crown for a moment. Yup, definitely a migraine coming on. That's when Sora says something that cuts through all the rest of the noise and confusion, and Axel physically startles, his hands falling away from his hair.
What had he just said...?
"S... Saïx?" He shakes his head again, but this time in something more like horror. "That... He can't..."
Become Xehanorts. He doesn't really understand it, but if that apprentice guy had been somehow turning members of the Organization into vessels, shadows of himself, that would explain why Saïx was so starkly not Isa. Axel doesn't really hear the rest of what Sora says. He'll come back to the Keyblade bit later. For the moment, he just sort of stares at his hands, something like abject horror on his face.
Saïx had somehow been tainted by this Xehanort person, poisoned to become a piece of himself. How had that happened? How could he have let that happen? He had always told himself that Saïx had changed, that Saïx wasn't acting like himself, that Isa never would have been so cold and terse and unkind, heart or no heart. Isa had been sarcastic and biting and a little too dry sometimes, but he'd never been unkind, and Axel suddenly wonders how he could have ever thought Isa would just change that way of his own volition. He had seen the changes, and instead of trying to help his old friend, he'd simply resented him for his strange new attitude.
He presses the heel of one hand into his eye socket and exhales shakily. He had lied to Roxas, he had all but handed Xion to Xemnas on a plate, and he had forsaken his oldest companion when he'd probably needed a friend more than anything else. Light, he's gonna go down in history as the worst friend ever.
His food completely forgotten now (he feels kind of sick to his stomach, to be honest), Axel can't quite look at Sora in the moment. It's not Sora's fault, he knows the kid had nothing to do with it, but somehow he can't bear to look at those eyes that are so much like Roxas' now that he understands the full breadth of his own stupid mistakes. How much of everything that's gone wrong is in part his fault?
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"Okay, I... wait." He counts two fingers, then stops and twists his wrist. "Hang on, there are Xehanorts who aren't Xehanort?" he asks, shaking his head. "Is he having an identity crisis?" Who is Xehanort, anyway? He knows that Xemnas isn't actually the Nobody of Ansem, because he grew up on the world where Ansem had once ruled. He knows about the--wait, Xehanort... was one of Ansem's... He snaps his fingers. "The apprentice!" he says, pointing at Sora like he'd just answered a quiz question. "But... hang on, Xemnas doesn't look much like that guy, he looks like..."
Axel still thinks Terra bears an odd resemblance to Xemnas, but you definitely don't get Xemnas from Terra plus an X, and Terra doesn't seem like a bad guy. Even without his heart, Axel still believes he's not really unlike who he'd once been, so that doesn't really add up at all. He counts his fingers again.
"How the hell are there four of him? Wh--in the past?" He holds both hands up and shakes his head, planting his palms against his crown for a moment. Yup, definitely a migraine coming on. That's when Sora says something that cuts through all the rest of the noise and confusion, and Axel physically startles, his hands falling away from his hair.
What had he just said...?
"S... Saïx?" He shakes his head again, but this time in something more like horror. "That... He can't..."
Become Xehanorts. He doesn't really understand it, but if that apprentice guy had been somehow turning members of the Organization into vessels, shadows of himself, that would explain why Saïx was so starkly not Isa. Axel doesn't really hear the rest of what Sora says. He'll come back to the Keyblade bit later. For the moment, he just sort of stares at his hands, something like abject horror on his face.
Saïx had somehow been tainted by this Xehanort person, poisoned to become a piece of himself. How had that happened? How could he have let that happen? He had always told himself that Saïx had changed, that Saïx wasn't acting like himself, that Isa never would have been so cold and terse and unkind, heart or no heart. Isa had been sarcastic and biting and a little too dry sometimes, but he'd never been unkind, and Axel suddenly wonders how he could have ever thought Isa would just change that way of his own volition. He had seen the changes, and instead of trying to help his old friend, he'd simply resented him for his strange new attitude.
He presses the heel of one hand into his eye socket and exhales shakily. He had lied to Roxas, he had all but handed Xion to Xemnas on a plate, and he had forsaken his oldest companion when he'd probably needed a friend more than anything else. Light, he's gonna go down in history as the worst friend ever.
His food completely forgotten now (he feels kind of sick to his stomach, to be honest), Axel can't quite look at Sora in the moment. It's not Sora's fault, he knows the kid had nothing to do with it, but somehow he can't bear to look at those eyes that are so much like Roxas' now that he understands the full breadth of his own stupid mistakes. How much of everything that's gone wrong is in part his fault?