"Lea??" Not one he knew yet, Isa didn't think, but a Lea in distress nonetheless. He ran to the man's side to see if he was- well, alive.
Now heâs imagining things. Heâs imagining things, and pathetic, laying in the grass and dirt because there was nothing else he could do.Â
But that voice canât possibly be here.Â
Isaâs not here, after all.
But thereâs a shadow falling over him, even face down, he can see it. He closes his eyes and turns his head away.Â
âGo away Sora.â Or Riku. Or Kairi. Or - well, he supposes it could be any one of them who might care to bother him. Doesnât matter. He doesnât want to talk to anyone, and theyâre all the same.
âIt didnât work,â he said softly, voice just as hushed. âNothing worked. I couldnât help any of them. It was just me, surviving. Me, lucky.â
No great evils, after him, no heroes to die for. There had only been him, kept whole in the end. What did trying matter, if he didnât get anywhere for it? Hadnât helped SaĂŻx. Hadnât helped Isa. Had just pushed Roxas away.
âEven when I was dying for him, IâŚâ he shakes his head.
Dying for him. Isaâd heard such stories before, from Leas. Lived it himself; the cold, penetrating pain of a chakramâs point in his back, slipping between his ribs, the horrifying sight of the point poking from his chest. Isa understood that pain. Heâd been a Nobody only a handful of weeks before his own Lea had ended that existence, but he understood.
âBut you fought and struggled for them, against impossible odds. It was Xemnasâs fault, not yours.â Isa shook his head Lea. âWhat could you have done? You canât take every ill of the world onto yourself as if youâre a god.â Hypocrite, Isa was, and he knew it. Sometimes it was easier to forgive your own flaws in another person.
âItâs not over yet, Lea. Not by a long shot.â














