A Sadness Runs Through Him - A Kingdom Hearts Axel short songfic

Redemption

( Watch the video first! )

'People are puppets held together with string, 
There's a beautiful sadness that runs through him...'

"Xion is... S-she's not a puppet!" A blond boy with oceanic blue eyes cried out, standing in front of his dear friend with his arms spread out defensively.

Behind him was a girl in her early teenage years. The leather hood of her cloak covered part of her face, only a small portion of her chin left exposed in view. But, despite this, one could easily deduce from her curled posture and trembling hands that she was utterly petrified.

"Tch... Is that what you think?" A third voice bellowed lowly, coming from a shadowy figure in a hood not unlike that of Roxas and Xion. "Perhaps I should show you how much of a puppet she truly is..."

"Leave her alone!" With a small motion of his wrist and a flash of light, a key-shaped sword materialized in Roxas's grip. He narrowed his eyes sharply. 

"Hm." The voice said with a chuckle of amusement,"... Such foolishness coming from such a remarkable child..."

'As he asked me to pray to the God,
He doesn't believe in...'

A man with an unmistakable, absurdly spiky head of crimson hair and piercing emerald eyes watched from the background as the infamous keyblade wielder, Sora, clashed his way through a horde of dusks.

He silently pondered the words that had been repeated to him all too-many times by different members of Organization Xiii. 

'Trust the keyblade's chosen', they'd say. 'He will know what to do.' 'He is the answer.' 'He will complete Kingdom Hearts.' 'He will allow us to become whole once again.'

What was the point, anyway? Why did he need a heart if he didn't even have his best friends to live a normal, human life by his side?

'Time and again boys are raised to be men,'

Axel thought about the day Roxas was brought to Organization Xiii. He remembered it vividly, as if it had just happened the night before.

He remembered he boy's blank, somber expression. But there was something eerily familiar about him... The way his golden hair spiked upwards in small curls. Those round little sapphires for eyes; although they were fairly drab at the time of their meeting.

Suddenly, like a switch flicking on in his brain, Axel remembered a boy - Not from his days as a nobody, but from when he was a teenager, growing up in the Radiant Garden. A boy he'd found sulking in a corner with a wooden key-shaped sword beside him that he'd dropped by mistake. Axel specifically recalled picking up the large key, giving it a swing, before turning to the boy.

"This yours?"

"Lea, we don't have time for this." His childhood friend, Isa, grunted.

"Lighten up, Isa! It'll only take a sec." Axel - or rather, Lea - held the sword back out to the boy with a cheeky grin. "Still play with toy swords? That's cute. Now this right here?" He whipped out two plastic frisbees. 

Axel chuckled a little to himself. He remembered being particularly fond of those things. 

"Ta-daa~! Whaddya think?" 

The boy rolled his eyes. "Not a whole lot..."

"You're just jealous. I'm Lea! Got it memorized..? What's your name?"

"Ventus." He replied solemnly. 

Axel's eyes widened as he snapped back to reality. Ventus! That was it! The new member of the organization looked scarily identical to Ventus. The only thing was, it'd been over ten years since he'd seen that boy... Why hadn't he aged at all?

Despite his shock and confusion, Axel vowed to treat this new kid like the friend he lost growing up.