小月 - Little Moon

"I don’t think that’ll be a problem, I always have been good at keeping people’s attention on me, I mean really, since when have I been good at sneaking anyways?" He chuckles quietly, almost laughed outright. Certainly years ago it had been far from what he was good at, but now? Why, he had long since learned to manipulate and sneak about—not as well as Xigbar, but well enough to cause the elimination of half the Organization’s number at one point. Something he was sure Saix would learn to be just as capable of—if not better at it.

He falls silent for a long while—until their icecreams were completely finished. He twists the blank stick in his hand. “Isa,” he eventually says “Things are going to get hard, once the keyblade wielder appears. We won’t have room to make mistakes. Both of us.. we might change. But I want you to know, that you’ll always be.. my very best friend.” He smiles a barely there smile “Got it memorized?”

          It was a mutual understanding of sorts, Saix thought. Although he could argue about Axel's abilities, remembering Lea to be one who knew how to at least try to sneak. Then again, he always got caught. But so did Isa. At least now Saix had enough power to silence most that got in his way, even if thinking like that was dangerous for reasons unknown to him. Deciding to bite back commentary he would dig his teeth into the ice cream instead, contemplating how they were going to operate. There was a plan that had to be made, they just needed a little time.

          To hear Axel talk so solemnly was worrisome in itself - but it sounded like he was giving some sort of dying declaration. "I already know all that." he said in an attempt to show some emotion, even if all he had was a pain gripping into the empty cavern of his chest. While the former was something he speculated, and assumed Axel was too, but the latter. He would not doubt the latter. "And you're mine, too. So don't go doing something too stupid and getting yourself killed before we get our hearts back. No matter how hard it gets. Getting our hearts back is why we're here. I won't let the 'Superior' get in the way of that." and they would get Lea's eyes back too, somehow.

"I’ve always been good at absorbing information, now I just… have a reason to absorb more than usual," he murmurs quietly. He watches the other lean back against the bed. He felt a wisp of warmth in his gut at the sight of the other, but quickly stifled it. There could be no room for such feelings in him and he knew it. He had no choice but to let the piece of Xehanort inside him thrive.

He nods slightly “I have every confidence,” he says, “Soon enough the keyblade wielder will appear, and all our plans will begin to move.” He glances down at the other, it was now or never—to ask Saix to do what he had done so long ago. “I need your help Isa,” he says, softly “I didn’t take this job because I like Xemnas bossing me around.” He shakes his head “You and me Isa, we’re going to turn this place inside out, tear it apart from it’s deepest reaches.” He looks to him “Can I count on you to do what I can’t? To be the shadow that carries out our plan out of sight of Xemnas?” It was almost a rhetorical question. He knew he could count on Isa for that.

          He should be worried. Saix rationalized with himself. He knew that Lea had always been intelligent. But it was that street-smarts intelligence that he only understood to a degree. This was so unlike him, as if those eyes were not the only thing that changed him. He was paranoid, surely. He did not have time to really think about it, to wonder about why he was the only one physically changing (well, outside of Xigbar, but he had had those golden eyes for years, and it was not a comfort to remember that) before the sound of his former name caught his attention like what a slap to the face would do.

          Immediately he was sitting up again, forcing himself to look into the eyes that made him cringe, Saix listened intently. He had had similar thoughts, so Axel voicing them was almost relieving. That he had consciously chosen this road, and was trying to undermine things. Much more Lea. Authority was never something Isa look to, and he thought the same for Lea from time to time. "Glad we're on the same page, though I was thinking you do the same. But I suppose it's better this way... Considering you already have Xemnas' attention." it was always the sun that followed after the moon, after all, creating a shadow... But even the moon had the sides that the sun could not reveal to the reflective light. "I'll do what I can. But you be careful. He's not going to make this easy, to stay in the shadows."

"I know what I’m doing, just trust me," he says to the other’s concern, squeezing his fingers lightly. He sits on his bed, licking away the melting bits of ice cream from his popsicle. He nods slightly at the other’s words. "Yeah they’ve—they’re, not the smartest for sure," He’d almost slipped up, but saying ‘they’ve never been the brightest’ wouldn’t make much sense to the Diviner now. "Anyways, it’s not surprising, next to creepers they’re the most basic forms of nobodies. Their will was strong enough to let them go on as a nobody, but not strong enough to give them much more than a body." He could pass that knowledge off as being told by Xemnas—though in truth Saix had been the one to tell him that originally, so long ago.

Saix’s paranoia we well founded—though Axel couldn’t tell him that. He knew full well that Xemnas always knew what was going on in the castle, no matter how sneaky they would try to be—but in order to keep Saix from figuring out what had happened, he would have to act as much as he could towards being oblivious to the knowledge he shouldn’t yet have.

          He did trust Axel - or rather the memory of Lea. It was hard to trust much of anything, when he was faced with those golden eyes. It seemed to dement everything that was being said. He hated it, as much as someone without a heart could. Nevertheless, Saix would take what they were given and hope for whatever it was Xemnas was supposedly promising them. Instead of focusing on that he would think of other things. Quietly he would lick his own ice cream, looking around the near blinding white room. He had to say, if nothing else having such a white 'home' made the other worlds seem very vibrant, reminding Saix that they were living and thriving. While this was an in between space. There was no real life here. "I'm impressed," Saix remarked to distract himself. "I don't think I've ever heard you so resourceful about things." but he did suppose it was needed, if they were meant to survive. It showed Axel was taking it seriously.

          Calmly would he lean back against the bed, growing blue hair sprawling out against the sheets. "Do you suppose we will find the 'Keyblade wielder' Xemnas spoke of soon? Putting so much faith in one person seems like a long shot, but gives opportunity..." the latter was said in a musing. There were plans formulating in his mind, even if they were not the same as what was going through Axel's; they were quite similar to what had been done in Axel's first run through time (not that Saix would know that). He wanted to find a way to regain their hearts without putting 'faith' in the Superior. There was no trust to be had. Isa had not trusted Xehanort. It transcended now.

He supposed there was no sense in making the other worry about him “I didn’t say I wouldn’t take it,” he says with a quiet chuckle, taking the stick in his hand. “I’m just doing my job,” he nibbles on the treat. “Come on, everyone else won’t be back for awhile, lets go to my room,” he says, taking the other’s hand lightly in his free one, leading the way down the hall to the bedrooms. The door slid open with a light tap to the panel that opened it, and he watched it slide into the ceiling before stepping into the room—it would close once Saix had stepped in as well.

"How was the mission anyways? Xemnas is putting them together yet, guess he’s letting me settle into my job one step at a time, I bet he’ll have me help him put them together when I bring the reports to him once everyone’s back." He shakes his head a bit, "shouldn’t be too hard." He knew everyone’s abilities far better than he had before—living a few years over again would make it easier to do the job he knew he wouldn’t have been able to do originally.

         That was a relief in the simplest of forms. It was disgusting, to look at those golden hues, but Axel still accepted the ice cream, even if they were not going to be eating it together at the side of the shop. However, he seemed to give some leeway. He took a small bite of his own as they walked, gloved fingers intertwining slightly. He did not know what was provoking him to be trying this, but it did not matter. They were pretending to be human, and these things were what made him 'feel' something.

          The concern which followed prompted Saix's head to turn toward the redhead, watching him for a minute before he spoke. "Be careful dealing with him." Saix remarked first "Something about doing this seems too clean cut." a pause, before he quickly changed subject. He did not trust these walls, either. Call it a healthy-unhealthy paranoia. "The mission went fine. One of those little things tried to bite my ankles though. And the Dusks seem... Really stupid."

Saix was way easier to get along with this time around, Axel had to say. Sure it had been okay for awhile anyways, but even so… “Well…” Wait, no, bad. He had to be strict, if he wanted to keep this up he had to be a better second than Saix had been. No easy task, mind you.

"Yeah you are, but reports come first, I can’t bend the rules for anyone, even if they bring me icecream," he says, smiling a bit and tugging the other’s ear lobe lightly "Besides, since when have you been the type to bribe your superiors mmm?"

          He was not sure if he should be impressed or worried, that Axel was so determined on having him work. Maybe he should just get along with it. Which he would, eventually. Something just did not seem to sit right with him, that he should not be acting. He knew that they needed to get Kingdom Hearts, to get their hearts back but it was almost as if he was getting a little whisper in his head. But that was ridiculous.

          Still, Axel refusing ice cream made him think that he may very well be ill. "You're rejecting ice cream?" he asked, still holding it out to him. He did not want to be wasteful, and did think Axel would be easier to bend. He opened his mouth to further his reply, before the tug to his ear reduced it to a "Nnn--" and a smack to the other's hand. He hated when he did that. "Since my superior became you. Now c'mon. At least take it."

"Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t you have a mission you’re supposed to be doing?" Hah, wasn’t this supposed to be the other way around? Axel never thought he’d be the one doing the scolding, that’s for sure. He drops a hand on the other’s shoulder, leaning against him and shifting partly around so he could see his face "If you’re done then you should be doing your report or handing it in."

          He would let himself be moved by his supposed 'superior' and took his words and almost laughed at them. This really was reversed, in all the memories he was able to establish, Lea was the slacker, Isa was the hounder -- he supposed without their hearts a reversal was possible but, it was still funny. Instead of making that kind of remark, he would reach into his pocket and hope that it had not been melted in the time it took him to get back. In the end, he waved a semi-melted popsicle at him. "A thank you would work just as well. Paperwork can wait a bit -- I'm the first one back, aren't I?"

| for vanelephant |

Ｓｉｌｅｎｔ Ｐｒｏｍｉｓｅｓ | ᵃᵏᵘˢᵃᶦ ᵈᵃʸ ᶜᵒᶫᶫᵃᵇ 

alternatively that Winter Soldier!AU would work with AkuSai. Sai = Bucky Barnes Ax = Steve Rogers