recusancy | analysis ; saïx's actions in kh3 ; spoilers

“ well, if i make it back… ”

saïx did everything he did in kh3 — including orchestrating a long con to ensure roxas would have a replica body, and likely looking after xion, too, so he could return them to lea and atone for everything he’d done — under the assumption that he was too far gone to be saved, and that he wasn’t coming back. (paralleling axel’s “just because you have a next life” back in kh2!)

that conversation on the clock tower was absolutely him doing several things (like checking to see if lea remembered xion yet), including lowkey trying to tell lea that he should be prepared in case one of his friends couldn’t be rescued … and while he said roxas’ name, his fading scene made it pretty clear that he actually meant himself.

(that conversation is full of between-the-lines meaning, not just because it’s just how he is, but because with the recusant’s sigil carved into his face, he had to assume his every move was being watched. considering we see the uppers of the real org spying on sora in twilight town, and luxord spying on larxene and demyx, his concerns are completely valid.)

and let’s not forget that his fading scene very directly parallels xion’s death at the end of days, and consider all the implications there — “it was my choice… to go away now.” his decision to be defeated here may have helped complete the χ-blade, but if he chose to actively fight alongside the lights, lea, roxas, or xion likely would have been targeted to die in his place to make him pay for that betrayal.

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