[ Lea opens his mouth to defend himself, and then hastily shuts it, so hard the click of his teeth is audible.

The King is right. He'd meant to be honest with Ventus, to try to lay his cards on the table, to be transparent with him about what was going on and what they'd need to do. He'd meant to just tell him the truth.

(Maybe there was a part of him that wanted to, somehow, make up for what he'd done to Roxas. For lying, and keeping secrets. The memory of what Axel had once spat at Roxas - The truth isn't going to make you feel better! - still hangs on his lips like poison. And maybe, even deeper down, there was a part of Lea desperate to know Ven's history, to separate him from the boy he had known, and loved before he knew he could love again. To mark him as separate.)

But he'd messed it up, said too much too fast, or too ungently, or maybe there was just no way to say it the right way at all. Maybe he had no business speaking to Ventus at all about such matters, not while he was still so clumsy with emotions. Going from feeling nothing to feeling so much in such a short span of time had warped him, maybe.

Lea is out of practice at being human.

So, he shoves down his initial defensiveness; shoves down his anger and shame at having to be reminded not to pry, like an overeager, under-tactful child. Shoves down even the strange rush of near-confusion at having someone try to empathize with him, for the first time since... probably since he lost his heart. Shoves it down and counts to ten in his head before he trusts himself to speak. ]


I understand. You're right, I made a mistake. I didn't realize exactly what I was dealing with.