Xion had been sitting quietly, hanging on every terrible word with a growing sense of dread as his drew closer to the account's sad conclusion. Sure she knew things, she knew that at some point or other Axel had taken Kairi, she'd had Sora confirm it too, and she wondered whether that was what he meant by 'pointers'.

As deeply and dearly as she loved Axel, she knew that the Axel she knew best wasn't necessarily the one who'd made himself acquainted with the friends she'd made here, Joe especially.

But even with all that new information, even knowing that he must have gone and died helping Sora- because ultimately, that's what what it came down to- Axel shouldn't have gone down to Dusks, no matter how many. Heck, they used Dusks in training exercises! What had happened in between? Was he telling them everything?

She'd fought Axel. She'd fought him when she was at the height of her strength, leeching off Roxas and leaving him to struggle in his missions, and even then she'd come out of that fight the worst off.

"I don't understand," she said quietly, after a little while. "I mean... I understand why but..."

She looked at her feet, suddenly uncertain.

"I don't understand why you couldn't- why you weren't-"