[For Roxas]

[1st_class_zack]

It was just another day of the life on Tabula Rasa. Zack had woken up at daybreak and done some squats. Some was more accurately described as hundreds, but he hadn't been counting. At least not after three hundred.

Today a nice swim in the ocean sounded good. He'd left most of his clothes on the beach and even left the Buster Sword propped against a tree in the sand. Strife, having only ever lived on Tabula Rasa, had no fear of the beach or the waves on the beach. So he followed Zack exuberantly into the water.

After a few laps, he felt refreshed, fully awake and ready for breakfast! The two headed back to shore and out of the sea onto the dry sand that stuck to Zack's skin and Strife's coat.

Comments

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

Behind him, Roxas' tone had changed. Zack hung his head slightly.

Zack... If you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams... and honor. He remembered that speech. It hadn't made sense to him at the time. He'd thought he was in trouble somehow for not being serious in the training mission. Back home, his memories had been more vivid and he could easily recall them. But even here, if he thought really hard, he could remember things like this that Angeal had said. The important things. They weren't as vivid, but they were just as helpful.

"I will," he replied quietly to himself. He pulled himself together and turned around to face Roxas again.

"Do you share it?" His brow was furrowed though his tone was curious. He didn't always understand what Roxas said, but he'd written that off as Roxas being from some place different than Midgar. Often it was difficult to get the details down when the subject was a play he'd never been.

[oblivions-oath.livejournal.com]

Roxas' peaceful mood shifted when he realized what he'd said aloud. To explain what he'd said would mean telling Zack, fully, about who he was. Maybe it was cruel of him to think so, but he only just felt like he was Roxas to him and not the-boy-who-looks-like-Cloud. He wanted to be just Roxas a little longer, instead of Roxas-the-knockoff-of-Sora.

"Back home, I'm part of another person," Roxas admitted. He drew one knee up to his chest, wrapping his arms around it and laying his cheek on his knee to look up at Zack sideways. "I have a lot of things to explain. I will, someday, but not just yet."

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

He'd already opened his mouth to ask what Roxas meant by that when Roxas finished by saying 'not just yet.'

'Part of another person?' he thought. He wondered if it was anything like how Director Lazard had become part of Angeal. Was Roxas a clone? Questions for another day.

Zack nodded. Those questions would just have to wait for another day.

"Want to head up to the compound and see if there's any breakfast left?"

[oblivions-oath.livejournal.com]

Roxas saw the question on Zack's lips and was glad when he nodded and didn't ask. He'd understood that time back in the rec room and he understood now. Roxas just needed a little more time.

"Yeah, breakfast would be good," he said, smiling. That little workout had left him hungrier than he would have thought.