Do You Know Why the Sun Sets Red

"Love looks non with the optics, only with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted bullheaded."
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

I've been wanting to do a post about Axel telling Roxas why the dominicus sets red on 24-hour interval 255 ~The Longest Solar day~. The summer solstice, or midsummer, is the longest twenty-four hour period of the year. Why was this scene and so significant that it was chosen to be the very first scene of 358/2 Days? And why was a new scene from KH2FM+ besides included in the opening?

The chapter of the novel where Axel first treated Roxas to ice foam was called "The Beginning of the End". The chapter in the manga where Xion starts remembering her past and runs away is likewise called "The Beginning of the Finish". Xemnas'southward study on Solar day 255 is called "Last Stages". This is also the day we detect out Saïx can't "see" Xion. It had to do with the fact that he was a vessel, though nosotros weren't supposed to know that yet.

Axel gazed out at the sunset, equally ruby as ever. That color yet looked the same to him now as it had when he was human being. Some things didn't change even when you became a Nobody.

"I promise Xion wakes up before long…," Roxas murmured.

That would be nice, Axel thought. If only the three of us could only waste our time talking and laughing together once again…

It really bothered me that both the novels and manga alluded to the fact that Axel's routine of watching the dusk while eating ice foam was related to his human memories, only his canon backstory ignored this completely. It's mentioned on Day 172 ~Sound of the Surf~, later on Xion collapsed and Saïx called her a broken failure.

If you stare at the sunset, the image sticks on the back of your eyelids, and it feels similar you can come across the sunset, even with your eyes close.

A phantom dusk.

The reason the sunset is red… who was it that told me that?

And also on 24-hour interval 96 ~Xion'due south Keyblade~. Axel recalled that somebody else told him why sunsets were scarlet. The red dusk is no incertitude so meaningful of a scene because of the person who originally told him virtually it. It must take been an extremely of import memory to warrant such a prominent scene. This memory might accept been a big reason why Axel changed his heed. He said his memories never did him any skilful the day before he went to Castle Oblivion on Twenty-four hour period 118. But the twenty-four hours after he returned on Solar day 149, he said his memories were too precious to lose.

"You actually okay?"

Roxas lifted his face up. "This kind of affair is—"

"Hm?"

"Information technology's zippo," said Roxas, with a shy grinning.

That reaction was completely different from anything else until at present.

A smile spread across Axel'south face, also, and it brought with it a strange awareness he couldn't retrieve feeling before. "Don't get likewise total of yourself there. Okay, since y'all worked really hard today, you get a advantage," said Axel, and he started walking.

Sunsets are continued to Axel's fondness for sea-common salt ice foam. Axel took Roxas out for water ice foam on the day they met, and also on Day eight ~The Icing on the Cake~, when he first started to remember things afterwards. Everything began on that 24-hour interval.

"—That surprised me…" muttered Roxas, standing upward.

"I was—surprised, too." Xion smiled, in a slightly troubled way.

It never even crossed my listen that someone other than me could use the Keyblade.

The Keyblade sparkled in the palm of Roxas' manus, then vanished as usual. Roxas felt weird. He hadn't idea that something like this could happen; finding out something, and ending the mission on a slightly fun note.

At a time like this—that'due south right.

"Well then Xion, y'all demand a reward."

A like thing happened when Xion became more aware. She spoke to Roxas for the get-go fourth dimension, he was able to see her face, and she used his Keyblade to salvage him from a giant Heartless. They both laughed. He took her to the special spot, and they ate ice foam together. Information technology was the first of their story.

"…Thank you." Terra and Aqua looked at each other in shock. That was the final matter they expected to hear. No dubiousness nearly it—the voice was Ven'due south. It was the showtime discussion he'd spoken.

"Ven!" In nearly-perfect sync, Terra and Aqua both peered into Ven's confront, and the male child glanced back and forth between them with a surprised look of his own.

"…What'due south incorrect with you guys?"

"Ven…!" Aqua hugged Ven tight. And Terra, beside them, kept mussing the boy'due south hair.

"Cutting it out, Terra, Aqua. What gives? Terminate treating me like a little kid!" Ven grumbled. Laughter spilled out of Aqua, then Terra, and finally Ven joined in as well. For the very first time, the Land of Departure echoed with the laughter of all iii apprentices.

Terra and Aqua were merely as surprised by Ven's sudden awareness. They even described his commencement words in the novel. Aqua fed Ven sweets all the time, and they as well sat under the sunset when Terra gave Ventus the wooden Keyblade. Terra had a hard time pronouncing Ventus'south name, and Roxas mispronounced Axel's name in the manga. Axel's red sunset line is just as important every bit Ventus' first words. The WINNER popsicle stick had simply as much sentimental value to Axel as the wooden toy Keyblade did to Ventus.

Solar day 300: No Words

For the showtime fourth dimension in a while, the three of the states met up on the clock belfry. None of the states actually knew what to say. We used to talk each other'south ears off, just I guess those days are gone.

In KH3, the scene where Saïx arrived on the clock tower was framed to look extremely similar to the scene of Roxas's get-go day eating ice foam with Axel, too every bit Day 255.

24-hour interval 300: Us and the Sunset

Author: Xion

We watched the dominicus set today. The iii of the states. I didn't call up we'd e'er exist able to exercise that once more. Information technology'due south like that dream I had—the one where I was by the shore with Roxas and Axel, watching the sun set over the water. I just want to stay with them. Just how? What should I practice?

The symbol on Isa's jacket was a waning crescent moon, the final phase before the darkness of the new moon. Day 321 is called "Waning Power".

Day 352: Us and the Dusk

Me and Xion and Axel had ice cream. The sunset was beautiful. I don't have to write annihilation else down, considering I'll never forget this 24-hour interval.

If Mean solar day 8 could be chosen "the beginning", and Day 255 "the beginning of the end", and so Twenty-four hours 352 ~Sunset~ would be "the end". It was the concluding mean solar day Roxas, Xion, and Axel gathered on the clock tower to watch the sunset together.

Axel stared at him as if trying to figure something out so grinned. "Right, that first week y'all could barely course a sentence. Simply come on, y'all're withal kind of a zombie."

Sitting in silence with anyone else would be unbearably awkward, Roxas thought, only with Axel and Xion, he didn't heed. It was nice, actually, sitting side by side and not proverb annihilation. Because they were inseparable. It gave him the feeling that whether they were together or not, whether they talked or not, everything would be fine.

"Hey, Roxas…"

"Hmm?"

There'due south also this idea of not speaking while watching the sunset that seemed to be important. Day 300 is called "Shutdown". The novel also emphasized that talking wasn't e'er necessary when you are very close to someone. You lot can sit in silence and enjoy their company without it existence awkward. Knowing that they are there is the only thing that matters, even if y'all're apart. That's what it ways to be best friends who are inseparable.

Axel'due south confront was limned with the sunset's glow, his reddish hair shining reddish.

"Bet you don't know why the lord's day sets red." He eyed Roxas mischievously. "You lot see, light is fabricated upwardly of lots of colors. And out of all those colors, red is the one that travels the farthest."

He finished with a boastful grinning.

"Similar I asked! Know-it-all," Roxas retorted, and Axel allow out a low laugh.

Axel wasn't quite himself today, though Roxas couldn't take said exactly what had changed about him. But, that was fun too, and Roxas began to laugh out loud.

The scene where Axel told Roxas about the carmine dusk is actually quite similar to the scenes where Roxas, Xion, and Ventus became more than alarm and started to talk similar normal people.

Axel: I'm deplorable, speak up? Cooouldn't quite catch that.

Roxas: I said…

Axel: Hmm?

Roxas: I could take done that blindfolded.

Axel: Ha ha! I dunno if I want a blindfolded zombie on the loose. All correct, smart aleck, you did adept. And no successful mission is complete without a little icing on the cake. C'mon.

It was an unexpected comment, Axel was a kinda smug about it, and it acquired them both to laugh and have fun. In the manga, Roxas fifty-fifty bought Axel ice cream. Merely he wasn't his usual self that solar day. He was hiding his real feelings from Roxas. He knew it was the kickoff of the end.

Secret Report 3: Experiments of the Eye – Notes on Subject area X, Excerpt one

Cloak-and-dagger Report iii is obtained after immigration Battlegate three at Twilight Boondocks: The Neighborhood / The One-time Mansion.

Subject field was found in the central square soon after dawn. Female person, approximately xv years sometime. Afterwards seven days' observation, she spoke her starting time words, but could not provide a proper name. Subject exhibits signs of profound amnesia, and displays concern for which world this is. Her words suggest that she departed her dwelling world with others, though she cannot think the names of her erstwhile companions. All efforts to explore those memories have met with a rejection response.

Afterwards his initial experiments on me, Ansem the Wise ceased his research into the heart, his hand stayed by some fear I cannot fathom. Even so this new subject is like me: devoid of memories. She is the perfect sample upon which to go along my master's work. She, too, could benefit from it; by traversing the heart, we have a straight path into retentiveness. I myself have begun to reclaim my lost by cheers to these very experiments. Who is she? Whence has she come? These are questions no scientist could ignore.

Subject X took a calendar week to speak their first words. I think Twilight Town might accept been where Isa was taken later on Ansem the Wise found out about the experiments and released the remaining subjects. Maybe later he delved into Isa's middle, the apprentices banished him and took Isa dorsum.

Day 277 ~Searching~

While visiting a globe on a mission, Roxas met the always cryptic Cheshire Cat. Earlier disappearing, the Cheshire Cat responded to Roxas'south questions by proverb that he must follow his middle and decide what to believe in. Would having a heart resolve everything, including Xion'southward predicament? Roxas was left pondering over what he could believe in when he doesn't possess a heart. Roxas and Axel continued their search for Xion.

I think somehow, Lea was able to reunite with Isa in Twilight Boondocks at a later time. This might have been when he awakened his ability to open up night corridors. He was looking at the words "Door to Darkness" when he said he'd bring Isa dorsum in KH3D. Maybe he arrived in Twilight Town simply because he believed, like the Animate being. He had already been released from beingness a examination subject, but he wanted to notice Isa then desperately it opened a nighttime corridor. When Lea finally reunited with Isa, he probably had amnesia and wasn't very lucid.

He hadn't breathed a word to Saïx that Xion was probably with Riku. Just he couldn't have said why he was keeping his suspicions to himself. But that had immune him to suggest looking for her with Roxas. It was a choice, a resolution toward a certain path, and it was as well…what? Friendship? Axel made a wry grimace at the word. His doubts still remained, and he aching over what would be the best course of action. Would he ever find the reply?

In KH3, when Saïx came to the clock tower to discuss Subject Ten, he treated it similar a special place, and fifty-fifty knew Lea already bought an ice cream for him. Only there was never whatever prior indication that he felt that way.

"I've decided! No matter how many times you guys run away, I'll always be there to bring y'all back!" he wished—he shouted, he wailed, he vowed.

"When our globe brutal into darkness, Belle was taken from me. I vowed I would find her once more no thing the toll. I believed I would notice her." The Animate being'due south low, rumbling voice rose. "I volition have her dorsum!"

The Brute had a ferociously stiff centre—its strength of will alone had taken him to Hollow Bastion to save one of the princesses, Belle.

Instead of discussing Bailiwick X, nosotros probably were supposed to get a flashback of Isa being Subject X while they both watched the sunset. Maybe they even took the railroad train to the embankment and watched the sunset there.

Hearing his onetime name, Axel glanced upwards to come across Saïx watching him intently. He remembered existence human. Memories surged inside him, crowding the space in his chest. For Nobodies, memory had all the weight of a centre.

I remember. I won't forget. Just those sunsets with Roxas and Xion were part of his memory. Axel broke away again from Saïx's gaze, looking down at nix.

Then while they were looking at the sunset together, Lea might have been thinking out loud (pun intended), wondering why information technology was red. And Isa surprised him by really telling him why information technology was cerise. The scene would be just like when Roxas started bragging out of nowhere. It would have come equally a shock to Lea, who idea that his friend was "broken" and couldn't speak. Isa was known to make witty quips. Lea would be so happy that he still had his personality that he celebrated with ice foam, which Isa liked to consume. After that day, Isa started remembering things. Lea wished that they could have stayed like that forever. Information technology was 1 of the happiest moments of his life and a very special memory. Just it was the start of the end.

Day 193: Dreams, or Memories?

Author: Xion

I finally wake upwards, just to pass out once again? Why? Because I'm a failure? I dreamt the whole while I was out. Information technology was something nostalgic, but what? Why can't I remember? It could be a key retentivity from my human life. All I tin call up is the sound of waves, gentle, in the distance.

One of Sora'southward "fundamental" memories he needed to wake up was the one Xion had experienced when she complanate again on Twenty-four hour period 193 ~Memories~. Information technology was a memory of Sora sacrificing himself for Kairi.

They sabbatum side by side, eating their ice cream. The sunset was the same beautiful crimson as e'er.

"It's…just something I heard about on the mission today. Um…" Roxas screwed upward his face in concentration. "Practise you lot know what honey is?"

"Beloved is what happens when there's something really special between people."

"More special than friends? Similar…if they're best friends? Inseparable?"

"Well, you lot can care about your friends, but that'southward not exactly it…" Axel paused, groping for words that might make sense to Roxas.

358/2 Days focuses heavily on dreams. There's non a dubiousness in my mind that Nomura was inspired by A Midsummer Night'south Dream with the story of the game. The crimson cherry dusk was there "equally always" on Day 171 ~Love~. I definitely think that Nomura had the thought while writing the story that Axel cherished his memory of Isa and the scarlet sunset so much, because he loved him.

Xemnas: Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind, and convince it to renounce its sense of self.

Lea was the key who helped Isa awaken to self-awareness.

Naminé: Just what…what if he needs those memories in order to wake upward? What if they're the key?

 That central retention helped awaken Axel'south heart.

Xehanort's Report XII

Vanitas can experience some of what Ventus feels, and he says Terra is the central. Ventus has loved Terra similar a real brother e'er since he let him proceed his old wooden Keyblade. It seems we accept plant a loose thread at which we tin tug to unravel Ventus's heart.

And it was able to overwrite whatever bad memories Saïx caused, considering love is blind.

Only then…

It happened every bit soon as she stepped into the station plaza. The earth…tilted. Everything spun and swam and went dark.

What'southward happening? What is this? I don't know…

"Hope." Who are you?

"It'southward my lucky charm. So you have to bring information technology back to me!" Lucky charm…? The seashells……?

"Xion!" That's Roxas. I tin can hear his vocalism. What's happening to me?

Subject X was found in the "primal square". Xion collapsed every bit soon as she entered the station plaza (called Central Station), which is where Axel's special hangout spot is located. I think that twenty-four hours Axel was remembering one of his fundamental memories also. The memory of Lea vowing to find Isa, even using the ability of darkness. And Isa speaking lucidly to him for the start time after he was idea to be "broken". I think this retentiveness is why he was and so upset at Saïx. Information technology was i of his most precious memories.

"Hey, notwithstanding got it memorized? When we first met, the 24-hour interval you got your name—we watched the sunset from here just like this."

Roxas gave a tiny nod. He hadn't thought he would go to have water ice cream here with Axel one more time at the end. He hadn't expected they would get to lookout the sunset together.

The sea-table salt ice foam tasted just like he remembered. The setting sun over Twilight Boondocks was always so serene.

When Roxas met Axel over again after they both disappeared, it'southward similar to the other scenes. Roxas didn't expect to swallow ice cream and watch the sunset together again. In Days, Axel brought up Roxas'south first week equally a zombie, and it seemed to remind him of existence told why sunsets were cerise. In KH2FM+, Axel mentioned the mean solar day they met, and Roxas got his new name.

Xemnas had no scoldings for him, though. Simply an order. "This is our newest member. Take him dorsum to the castle and get him ready, and so bring him to me."

"Huh?" But a dark portal was already swallowing Xemnas upwardly.

Why don't you lot bring him dorsum yourself? Axel had wanted to say, but that wouldn't have gone over well.

Meanwhile, the male child didn't move a muscle.

Axel sighed. "Well, come on." He opened the Corridors of Darkness, merely the kid was as nevertheless equally a zombie.

The novel goes into more detail nearly what Roxas's first day was like. Xemnas came to Twilight Town, asked Axel to get Roxas ready, then bring him dorsum to the castle. Roxas didn't actually talk. The but thing he said was his name. He was staring at Hayner, Pence, and Olette, and Axel noticed they had ice foam. He remembered that he liked it when he was a kid, so he took Roxas to the clock tower before bringing him dorsum. In the opening movie of 358/2 Days, nosotros see the 24-hour interval Axel commencement met Roxas. He watched him consume his ice cream, but he was reluctant to swallow it himself. When he finally scrap into information technology, he recoiled. It was as well salty and he didn't seem to like it.

If he went back and reported that he couldn't notice annihilation, he would have to bargain with those attempts at "personality"—the sneers, the snide remarks, the only trappings of human emotion that Saïx always showed. Not that Saïx was even capable of annoyance or disappointment, of class, what with the lack of a eye and all.

Heading up the slope to the station, Axel bit into the ice cream bar. "This stuff is so salty," he murmured to himself, as he oft did.

I remember Axel was crying considering, just like on "The Longest Day", he was remembering the former Isa who couldn't talk, and suddenly made a witty remark telling him why the dusk was red. It was a happy moment where Isa proved that his mannerly personality was all the same there. He was a playful smart aleck.

Roxas: It's actually salty…only sweet, also.

Axel: Ha ha. Roxas, y'all said the aforementioned exact thing the other day.

Roxas: I did? I don't recall that.

Axel: Hey, what has information technology been, a week since you showed upwardly?

Roxas: Mayhap.

Axel: "Mayhap"? C'mon, you must retrieve that much. Well, that's okay. Today's where information technology all really begins anyway.

That personality was gone. Roxas had someone waiting for him. A place where he belonged. He felt similar he had somewhere to return to when he disappeared, and he would exist reborn in the next life. Axel didn't. The person who was supposed to exist waiting for him, and then they could disappear together, wasn't there. He was going to disappear all by himself, with no side by side life, either. And that's the existent reason he was crying.

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Source: https://nadziejastar.tumblr.com/post/187222075120/if-you-stare-at-the-sunset-the-image-sticks-on

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