[2009] Secret Santa Submissions Part Two

[crimsoncookie]

To: kagome_angel
From: mirrorbrothers

Title: Scheherazade and Little Foxes
Prompt: Devotion, Marluxia/Naminé, Riku/Sora
Word Count: 356
Rating: G
Notes: With apologies to Antoine St. Exupery

Naminé knew the ending already.

One day, though, weeks later, the boy woke up in a distant place, and saw the fox sitting on a log, watching him with big blue eyes.

Sometimes she hadn't. Sometimes he had come and she hadn't had an ending yet, and she'd had to stall and guess and improvise, terrified that it would be wrong, somehow, and he wouldn't come back. And he would never warn her, never tell her why, one day he would just. not. come. Because although he never admitted it he came for the stories, and the stories had failed.

"You!" the boy said. "What are you doing here?"

But she had the ending. And when the ending was told, he would smile, that little condescending smile, and say he would leave her alone for a time, he would mean he would leave her alone forever. So she would begin a new story, and leave it half way through. Then he would come back.

"I followed you," said the fox. "Why should I not follow you? I am your fox, and you are my boy."

Naminé knew the beginning, too. Why not? She had nothing but stories. In his tower was a white room, and inside the white room there was nothing except pictures that made memories, and memories that made stories, and Naminé. So she told the stories. And for one hour a day her white room had flowers.

"I killed you!" the boy said, weeping. "I watched you die! Why do you still follow me?"

Perhaps he was cruel. But no one can help how they're made.

"But I couldn't go away," the fox said. His eyes were sad. "For you have tamed me."

The door opened, and Naminé opened her mouth and he was not there. It was not him at all. It was a boy with big blue eyes, who Namine had never met, but she remembered. The boy said her name. And she did not know this ending, she did not know it at all.

"Once you have tamed something, you can never abandon it, for it will be yours forever."

To: oreo_81369_17
From: kagome_angel

Title: You and Not-You
Wordcount: 766
Characters/Pairings: Axel, Sora, Roxas (kinda), Axel/Roxas
Theme/Genre: AU. Dark.
Rating: R, for graphic violence.
Spoilers: For KH II… though not really. It veers off-course. XD
Notes: This is darker than anything I’ve ever written before, I believe. x.x Beware: graphic violence and gore. Character death. Not sure that this is what my recipient had in mind, but ‘dark abstract’ was one of the options, so this is the result. I am so, SO sorry, oreo_81369_17, if you don’t like this. I re-wrote it eight times before I was happy with it. *headdesk* We get to see here how ruthless Axel can be.

“Are you afraid, Sora?” Axel asks, but he already knows the answer-he can see the fear in those wide blue eyes; can feel it in the air like electricity; can taste it on his tongue, and it’s sweet and bitter at the same time.

Granted, the boy should be afraid: He’s chained down (his struggles are in vain) and the circle of fire around them gives him nowhere to run, even if he could break free from the chains (and he can’t; he won’t).

He could incinerate this boy-turn him to ashes (it’s what he did to those stupid friends of his, Donald and Goofy, though Sora doesn’t know that, and won’t know it). He could, but he won’t. He has something else in mind.

(He’s going to find Roxas.)

“No,” Sora finally answers through clenched teeth, and Axel smiles, because he knows it is a lie. He has to give Sora credit, though-the kid is trying.

“Wrong answer,” Axel sing-songs, fingers touching Sora’s cheek, making Sora flinch. “Roxas wouldn’t be afraid.”

“Roxas,” Sora says, and frowns. “You all keep calling me that, but I’m not Roxas.” There’s an edge of something in his voice, and Axel thinks he almost recognizes it. “I’m not.” Ah, indignation-that’s it.

“No, you’re not,” Axel agrees amicably (Sora won’t find argument with him in regards to that matter), fingers trailing absently (almost tenderly) along Sora’s skin. “But you have him-he’s here, somewhere inside of you. You should give him back, Sora.”

Sora shakes his head, clearly not understanding (or perhaps he simply doesn’t want to understand). “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m just me!”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Axel softly corrects. “You are you and not-you, and I intend to separate the two of you. I want to bring him back.”

“You don’t make any sense,” Sora says weakly, but Axel knows that he makes perfect sense. “Why are you doing this?”

Axel shakes his head and taps Sora’s forehead with an index finger. “So stubborn, like Roxas.” And for a moment, he’s lost in the blue of those eyes. “… I told you already-I want Roxas back.”

“I can’t help you,” Sora insists, but he’s wrong there, too.

“But you can,” Axel replies, and he wills his chakrams to appear-their weight feels comfortable in his hands. This part will be easy, too; it’s all too easy, because Sora trusts entirely too much.

He imagines Roxas remembers the taste of betrayal, bitter and burning like acid. Sora will learn it today, but will not be around (alive) long enough to commit it to memory (got it memorized yet?).

The fear in those eyes becomes greater lightning-quick, and Axel would say that it makes him feel smug-or it would, if he could feel anything at all (and he can’t).

“He’s inside,” Axel repeats, and horror-struck blue-like-the-ocean-blue-like-the-night-sky-blue-like-Roxas’-eyes is lost for a moment behind Sora’s eyelids. When those eyes open again, Axel sees unshed tears.

“Please,” Sora whispers, and Axel shushes him. Time to begin.

The fine points of his chakrams slice through Sora’s clothes easily (like butter), and he touches the skin beneath with hands and cheek and mouth, smiling as Sora trembles.

“He made me feel like I had a heart, you know,” Axel says offhandedly, (not-)feeling the need to break the current one-sided conversation (Sora’s whimpers and pleas and half-sobs are nice and all, but Axel doesn’t like the awkward silence in-between).

Flesh is easier-cleaved than clothing, and Sora’s whimpers become screams, blood flowing freely, dripping onto the ground-drip, drip, drip… the sound is almost as pretty as the screams.

His chakrams tear through muscle and ligaments (which are decidedly trickier), and there’s more blood, spattering on any exposed skin and trickling down, and it’s warm. Sora stops screaming and goes limp at some point-Axel’s not entirely sure when, but he keeps talking anyway, looking into lifeless blue for a moment (but not entirely lifeless, not entirely. Roxas is in there).

“You were the only one I liked,” he says to Roxas now, because Sora can’t hear him any longer.

Bone proves to be even more difficult, but Axel manages, and finally, finally, he touches the heart-feels it pulse feebly beneath his fingers, and stares in wonder, for there is no air moving within Sora’s ruined lungs, and yet, there is still a beating heart.

“Hello, Roxas,” he says, feeling lighter now.

And, amongst the blood and gore and remains of the Keyblade master (Sora is gone, but Roxas is not), he smiles like he means it.

To: punjab_banks
From: oreo_81369_17

Title: Sing-a-long
Word count: 594 (lol the limit is 600 right? haha)
Rating: er...pg? haha
Note: No spoilers! Takes place during 358 but nothing is said~ ♥

Roxas sat on the balcony looking down into the ball room. He was technically supposed to be on a mission in Agrabah but he had overheard the candlestick talking about a “romantic dance between Belle and the Master.” So here he was, watching the Beast stand nervously in the middle of the room as Belle walked toward him. There was a short silence before the Beast mumbled something that made Belle smile and take his hand. The blond watched as they started dancing to soft music filtering in from somewhere. They looked like they were enjoying themselves. If having a heart meant being happy about something as simple as dancing, then Roxas thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have one.

Then the appliances started singing and he thought ‘not if there’s singing involved.’

A little yellow cub chased after a butterfly, fresh from a fight with a couple heartless. Roxas had plenty of time before Xemnas expected him to be back and he wanted to explore this new world. Lush trees and tall grass were everywhere and Roxas thought if he had a heart, he could enjoy it all.

Then two large lions rolled down a hill, tangled together and laughing. The one on top, a girl lion, licked the boy lion’s face and a voice sang out from nowhere. If having a heart caused random voices to sing and lions to reproduce then Roxas thought maybe he could wait.

Roxas was lost. In a garden with a huge fountain. Like huge~. Xemnas had sent him on this mission to find this guy. He was really strong and his heart was fantastic. But he obviously wasn’t here. Just as he was leaving he spotted the guy he was after and dove into some bushes before he was seen. The look on the guy's face was ridiculous. All love struck and goofy. The blond waited until he was far enough away to follow without being spotted before he climbed out of the bush. As he was brushing himself off and preparing the chase, he heard voices. He looked over his shoulder and saw a girl holding a flower and singing. Her voice was accompanied by a few other voices. Curiosity peaked, the blond rustled his way over to watch. Roxas could tell by the emotion in the girl’s voice that whatever she was singing about wasn’t how she really felt. Roxas sighed. He wanted to be able to feel that strongly about something.

Then he spotted where the other voices were coming from and he blinked. Little…stone people. Maybe he didn’t want a heart. They obviously brought crazy things with them. He shook his head and exited through a portal.

The blond sat among the horses, smiling up at the sky and petting a colt absently. The air was nice in Agrabah at night. Roxas leaned all the way back, putting one arm behind his head and sighing. He thought again of how nice it would be to have a heart that he could legitimately feel contentment with and how he would probably come here all the time.

Then the wind rustled and the horses started getting excited. Roxas opened one eye and watched as Aladdin and Jasmine flew overhead on a carpet. A carpet. And they were singing. On a flying carpet. The blond sat up, covering his face and huffing as the horses ran around and kicked up dirt. “That’s it,” he mumbled. “If having a heart makes people sing and causes weird things to happen, then I don’t want one.”

To: lazzchan
From: punjab_banks

Notes: happy holidays lazzzz!!!!! i hope you like these :) and oh yeah, what are you even doing lately? Let’s tallllk

Title: Habit
Wordcount: 265
Rating: G

Riku smiled, smiled a lot. He was smiling in the rain now, even though water was sliding under the cloth and into his eyes.

He was tired. He hadn’t slept for maybe days or weeks. He did try, he lay down every night in the small mansion room, he counted sheep and tried to sleep. And he grinned at a dark ceiling without really knowing it.

Maybe it was left over from his old life. One thing kept from being warm and happy and bored everyday, from being the best and knowing it. He would have picked the mild happiness over a perpetual smile, but who could choose what they kept?

Anyway, he didn’t usually care. Usually, his mind ran on autopilot: here we eat, here we help DiZ, here we fight rogue heartless and nobodies, and it was only in the isolated days of stalking Roxas in the rain that he had time to think. And now, standing up high with rain in his eyes, he thought about how he was grinning even though he was miserable and alone, facing an unknown entity, for a reason he couldn’t quite recall.

It pissed him off, and he couldn’t stop. Old habits, maybe. Or maybe he was crazy. But he wasn’t happy, he hadn’t been, not for ages.

His smile lasted, though, dying only as his face stretched and bulged and then slowly settled in. But it was a relief to have it go, Ansem decided. Thought went with it, and memory. Insomnia, and questions. The worries evaporated with identity, and happiness didn’t matter anymore.

--------

Title: Links
Wordcount: 244
Rating: G
Spoilers: Implied for 358/2 Days

In odd moments - lying under the dock, watching rain sliding down windows - Sora saw things. Just for a second, a girl with black hair might turn in the doorway to stare at him. He would see a scythe, pink paint chipped away to reveal rusting steel.

Lost things, he decided. Maybe Roxas had known what they were for, but no one else now did. No one living, anyway.

The things didn’t hurt him, and they were gone in a flash. But he didn’t like to see them -- his stomach squirmed, and his whole body shuddered, the same involuntary reaction the ghosts of Halloweentown had provoked in him. And what was more, those ghosts had been benign, but these lost things - a clocktower set way out on the ocean, a crayon picture floating, dry, in the shallows - had unpleasant associates. Ideas of forced forgetting and other lives woke in his mind; questions that were too deep for him and inconsistencies that distressed him.

Why and when, and who, these ghosts challenged him, but he did not know.

So he ignored them, and slowly, got used to them. They were disconnected memories, Kairi said, at least, that was a term she had heard one day, when she was all alone.

There weren’t any more shudders or wriggly feelings, he only blinked the image away, and forgot about that part of his life that was drifting somewhere deep.

That life only came in the odd moments, anyway.

To: singwithin
From: lazzchan

Title: Hiding from Yourself
Characters: Roxas and Sora centric (platonic)
Word Count: 473
Rating: G
Notes: I love exploring any sort of odd conversation between Roxas and Sora and so this was fun to write--a bit angsty and then introspective and what I imagine the start of conversations to be like.

It started with that empty notebook and the name Naminé. Sora hated the idea of someone helping him and that he forgot her. There were so many gaps in his memory, but his one simple name slid along his senses.

It was the flavor of an ususual ice cream, the light blue shade reminding him of the ocean back home. Its taste wasn't only bittersweet because of the mixture of salt and cream and sugar, but a memory that sat in the far reaches of his heart and waited to be remembered.

The honey-colored sunlight of Twilight Town made him shade his eyes, not to protect him from the glare, but to search for someone unfairly forgotten.

There was regret from things unknown and things untested-- the memory of glimmering neon lights brought a pang of sadness now instead of anger and distress and hurry, hurry--there's no time, they're after you, you have to move now.

Sora wasn't the type to leave loose ends hanging about and as soon as there was the time and as soon as he thought about it, he went hunting in his own mind for the memories of this, the half-remembered, buried
deep and painful edges of what he barely knew and knew that he should know more of. He hunted until he found the deepest parts of his heart, where Roxas stood, arms crossed over his chest and a stubborn, sullen look on his face as he spotted Sora in front of him.

"Geez, Sora-- did you get lost in your own mind?" The sullen look was gone and a faint, familiar smile was on his face. Sora wrinkled his nose, it was just like him to make fun of himself.

"Your hints weren't very clear," Sora shook his head and held out a hand to his Nobody. This was the first time they were face to face since they fought--since Roxas more or less accepted being a part of Sora.

"Maybe I needed the extra time for you to get here," Roxas murmured, staring at the ground instead of at Sora. "My memories and your heart; it makes it harder, you know. But... that's what we all wanted." He sounded wistful and Sora sighed this time.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize it earlier," he couldn't keep the shame out of his voice if he tried; apologizing to yourself was the hardest thing, after all. You couldn't really lie to yourself for long.

"Idiot," Roxas snorted. "You're here now, aren't you? We'll make up for it as we go along. I know you won't forget me and it's impossible to forget you."

Sora opened his mouth, not sure if that had been intended as an insult or a compliment and Roxas' grin didn't give any hints. Still--"Yeah--let's just start from now and go on from there."

To: nirvana_falling
From singwithin

Title: Restoration
Rating: G
Words: 727

“Oh, my,” said Aerith, surprised. They hadn’t taken more than two steps out of the Gummi ship before they had to stop, blinded by the sudden whiteness and a sharp wind blowing.

She took a careful step forwards, her boots sinking into the snow with a satisfying crunch. It was very cold, and very white, as far as she could see. Mountains rose around them like walls of a fortress.

“I know!” Sora whooped, beaming widely. He was already running ahead of her down the slope. “Oh, man, you’re gonna love it, Aerith, just wait til you see-“

Aerith paused for another moment, gazing out on the landscape. She could see her breath appear like little puffs of smoke. Sora was far below, now, running past discarded banners left by the army, tattered fabric blowing in the wind. She closed her eyes, felt the cold air envelop her, and listened to the sounds of a world quietly healing.

-

They walked along one of the mountain trails, their shoes leaving an imprint alongside the hoofprints and wagon wheel tracks.

“Isn’t it great?” Sora said enthusiastically, possibly for the fifth time. He seized another handful of snow from the side of the road. “Snow is amazing. Does it ever snow in Radiant Gardens?”

“Once, perhaps,” Aerith said slowly, “when I was very young. I never saw snow after that.”

Sora threw the snowball up in the air, letting it fall back into his open hands and fall apart. “What was it like?”

Aerith thought of flowers being buried under snow, of sliding on ice on the streets, when something hit her shoulder, snapping her out of her reverie. She looked down to see snow covering her jacket, looked up to see Sora nonchalantly hiding his hands behind his back.

“Hmm,” said Aerith. She crouched down, the hem of her skirt touching the ground, and picked up some snow of her own, patting it into a round shape. “It was a little like this.”

She straightened up quickly and threw the snowball as hard as she could. Sora tried to dodge, but it still hit him square in the face. He grimaced, spat out some snow, and promptly lobbed another snowball at her, grinning all the while.

Aerith smiled back and caught it unbroken.

Sora whistled, impressed. “You’re good.”

“I know,” said Aerith, serenely.

-

“Okay,” said Sora, “the village is just up ahead.”

They were passing through a stretch of road lined by burned trees, reminders of war and the destruction left by the Heartless. Aerith could see the very tips of roofs in the distance, bare wooden structures stark against the cold, pale sky.

“It’s mostly an army post now, I guess,” Sora said thoughtfully. “But they brought their families up with them. You’ll see. It’s nice."

The not-quite-rebuilt mountain village was surrounded by a stone wall, patched in most places and topped by red tiles, most of which were either chipped or missing. The buildings hadn’t fared much better: most were simple wooden structures, lacking paint, and there were still a few tents scattered around, even in the center of the village.

“This is it,” Sora announced, standing on the edge of an enormous patch of dirt with absolutely nothing growing, except, perhaps, the snow around it. “This spot used to be their gardens, before…” he trailed off.

Aerith shook her head.

“This is a new beginning,” she said, firmly. “There’s no ‘before’. There’s only now. That’s why we came here, remember?”

She pulled off her gloves and dug a hole in the frozen ground before reaching into her pocket and drawing out a small bag of seeds. She shook a few seeds out of the bag, pressing them into the hole.

“There you go,” she said softly.

“Will they really grow from something that small?” Sora said, doubtfully. “I mean, plants, and all those things?”

Aerith pressed her hands to the earth, listening closely as it spoke.

Life, it whispered. Life and peace and prosperity in all the worlds.

I am life, whispered a rougher voice from farther away, like a dragon’s voice. Life for my people. Let me help.

“Yes, they’ll grow,” she agreed. “You’ll see.”

-

“Hey, Aerith,” said Sora, later on, once they were going back to Radiant Gardens. “Thanks for the help.”

“No,” said Aerith, smiling. “Thank you for the snow.”

To: kaos_sparrow
From: nirvana_falling

Title: Small Packages
Wordcount: 503
Rating: pg13
Summary: Ansem introduces the sixth apprentice.

When Ansem announced, casually, over dinner, that he’s found a sixth hand, all five of them were skeptical. It’s not that they didn’t trust Ansem’s judgment in apprentices; after all, they got along just fine, but they’d also been pouring over applications for months. Hell, they even met with King Mickey to see if he knew anyone. There had been no luck on any front.

Besides, as wise as Ansem was, not all of his plans worked out, especially when they weren’t directly related to his work. His last idea, to allow the five apprentices to supervise themselves had lead to Xehanort setting up a miniature fascist state. Not, of course, that anyone other than Aeleus had bothered to listen to him, and that was only because what Aeleus wanted to do magically agreed with what Xehanort wanted him to do. So, really, Aeleus thought, it was perfectly reasonable of them to get together after dinner with a few (yes, stolen) bottles of wine and complain about how much a sixth apprentice would ruin everything.

“Power balances will shift,” Xehanort hissed, leaning against the wall, and narrowing his eyes.

“Don’t worry so much, you little bitch,” Braig cackled. “You know you’re the old man’s favorite. What’re you worryin’ about? Me, now, me he doesn’t like at all, so I gotta watch my back, right?”

“That’s only because you don’t do any work,” Aeleus pointed out, using his glass for emphasis, but when Dilan saw how much wine he had left, he swiped the glass from Aeleus’ hand with a shrug.

“Don’t want it to go to waste.”

“Oh, of course not,” Even muttered, and Aeleus shot him a warning look.

“And, little Even,” Dilan said with a grin, “you’ll get somebody to boss around, since we know Aeleus doesn’t take crap from anyone. Hell, he keeps your sorry ass in line!”

“And yours, too, Dilan,” Aeleus remarks. “Try to be kind. This may not be as bad as we think.” And that would have sounded stupid and corny coming from anyone else, but things always gained a certain gravitas coming from Aeleus, so they dispersed for the night.

The next morning Ansem woke them at what Braig fondly referred to as the asscrack of dawn, and dragged them out to the courtyard.

“This,” he told them with pride Aeleus hoped wouldn’t be unwarranted, “is Ienzo.”

“Um, not to be rude, doc,” Braig began.

“Oh, you’d never dream of that,” Even interrupted.

“Anyway, where is the guy?” The minute that came out of Braig’s mouth he cursed violently and looked down. The other apprentices followed his gaze, and they all froze.

“Little bastard kicked me in the shin!” Braig tried to remain angry, but everyone around him was dissolving into laughter, and he followed suit. “I think I like him,” he choked out, and then clapped Aeleus on the shoulder. “Maybe you were right after all. This won’t be so bad.”

And as it turned out, well, that depends on your definition of ‘bad.'

To: anthraxpretzels
From: kaos_sparrow

Title: Fairytale
Character: Kairi, Sora, Roxas, Riku, Namine
Pairing: Sora/Kairi/Riku, Roxas/Namine
Theme/Genre: Fluff!Romance or Friendship, Nature
Rating: PG-13 to be extra-super-safe
Spoilers?: None. There might be a tiny 358/2 Days reference in there, but not an obvious one.
Additional Notes: It took me one midnight to come up with the idea and write the outline, and three weeks to write the fic.

Once upon a time, a pebble falls into a lake.

Ripples spread out, dancing across the water to the rocky shore where the corner of a blue cloth drapes in the water. At the edge of the damp area a hand is idly sketching on the blanket, tracing designs in drops of sparkling green. On the wrist is a bracelet made of seashells- cream and white with pink, blue, green. A fluttering strand of willow is temporarily tangled in it. The tree is old; its waving fronds create a fragile space. Its trunk is silvery with age. Leaning on it is a boy (man now, but still a boy) with sea-green eyes. He gazes across the water to another time and place, until the person lying asleep next to him flops an arm across his feet. Then he turns his eyes to the girl, and they share a quiet moment of understanding.

This trinity creates a perfect silhouette of now.

Once upon a time, a picture hangs on a wall, enclosed in a plain white frame.

Simple drawings are everywhere around it, childhood’s creations haphazardly placed. They reflect lives, those of friends and other friends, those of enemies and those killed, those who existed long enough to disappear. On these walls are the marks of people and things never to forget. Warm light leads these colors to glow as it softly defines three sleeping bodies with two extra faces that at this time, in this place, are exactly right.

Once upon a time there was a house; once upon a time, it was a home.

To: wishteria
From: anthraxpretzels

Title: Rendezvous
Rating: G
Spoilers: KH2
Warnings: None
Characters: Roxas, Namine
Words: 530

At night, he takes her to places that she had been to, yet had never experienced quite before.

It was difficult, Naminé knew in reflection, to truly know the Worlds when one was focused on one task after another-chaining memories, re-chaining memories, finding the girl from whose heart she emerged...

In between the miscellany of errands and business of the past year, she had never stopped to take in the sights and sounds of the Worlds.

It begins on the occasional midnight, when a tap- tap at Kairi’s window signals the Nobody. Knowing the message is for her, Naminé borrows the body of the Princess of Heart with a small secretive smile, knowing that the girl remains asleep.

She climbs down from the window to find a portal waiting for her, along with a loaned dark coat and a boy with an undeniable grin on his face. It’s funny, the Nobody thinks, as she has never remembered him so happy.

“Come on,” says Roxas, taking her hand. “Let’s get going.”

Over the course of weeks, they journey across the universe. They cross the night desert, sand filling their shoes, for a view of the city from afar. They dance under a golden candelabrum in a magnificently decorated, circular ballroom while the Castle’s inhabitants slept on. They scout Neverland’s night skies, diving occasionally from the sky like kingfishers in flight to simply taste the salt of the ice-cold sea.

When she returns home, she draws each and every World from memory, sketching worlds on paper more beautiful, more real than their pale imitations that she drew from the memories of Sora, still resting in an abandoned Castle Oblivion.

There is beauty in each and every one of these worlds, she learns. Different from the icy, frigid and distant décor of the white Castle in which she rested, or the omniscient, towering structure of the World that Never Was, she finds and discovers jungles, palaces, towns and mountains.

She falls gradually in love with the worlds, and though she knows it is impossible, begins to feel for the boy that guides her through them.

“I’m sorry,” Naminé says quietly one night as they sit on a bright red rooftop, watching Chinese fireworks explode into the sky.

“What for?” Roxas asks from next to her. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s just… After everything that I’ve done to hurt, do I truly deserve to journey out into the worlds I once copied?” She glanced at her sketchpad ruefully, studying a drawing of the Chinese palace with care.

He was silent, looking reflectively into the distance. Turning, Naminé saw a look of simultaneous determination and sadness.

“I think that I can safely say that I’ve done much worse,” replied Roxas. “Hey, there might be even things that I don’t remember mixed in here,” he added, giving his head a tap. “But you never want to worry about that stuff too much. It could be Sora getting to me, but,” Roxas paused, taking her hand.

“You have all the time in the world to help these places.”

So she does, she is able to conclude, as they begin to make their way across the universe.

To: wanderinghiatus
From: wishteria

Title: Close Enough.
Word count: 434
Rating: G
Warnings: No spoilers, only thing that might irk you is a slightly ooc larxene.
Notes: Have a very merry Christmas, wanderinghiatus! <3 Whoa, this turned out something happy towards the end, where the beginning was intended to be horror... weird combination, but anyways, here you are! As for this timeline, it's probably incorrect, as I couldn't be bothered to do my research and make sure everything fit together in a time sense. x)

It's been a year.

Three hundred and sixty five grueling days of intensive and seemingly pointless labour since she's joined their ranks. A few days before she'd have to be sent to Castle Oblivion, with that flower boy Marluxia and those lesser organization members.

Her calloused fingertips are bruised and crammed with dried blood, as everytime she releases a kunai from her hands, it whips across her pointed fingers, fingers that will never truly belong to her. She makes no effort to clean them, as it's not worth the effort and they were bound to get stained again. The terrors relapse every night, occasionally reoccurring. They hit her like the plague and render her feverish and useless until daybreak. Only children called them nightmares. To her, they were far more than childish fears. No, they didn't deserve to be called nightmares.

Twenty one.

Those dreams would count down ominously, presenting her with a number written in scarlet, flashing with an urgency she had learnt to ignore. Three hundred and sixty five days ago, that number had been three hundred and eighty six.

A sadistic smile races across her face as she washes out the blotches in her electric hair, flinching painfully at the irritation that was the Organization's lack of water heaters. Drying herself, she reclothes and heaves on her heavy leather boots that smell of ash and dampness. Footsteps creaking ominously, she conjures a dark void, not knowing exactly where she is going.

Where she has landed- it's covered by a veil of frost and snow, and roofs are adorned with twinkling lights. The air laced with excitement and anticipation spirals around her, and she cannot help but scoff in disgust and pity, for the fact that she was here, in this exact spot, where the heartless had appeared and pulled (her) under. She eyed the area, alert and curious as to whether there was the possibility of a rematch. It wasn't a fair fight last time, after all.

It's the only time of the year that the sadistic elements of her personality are softened. Just a little. Okay, a substantial lot.

Larxene grimaced as she wondered what Marluxia would think of her if he saw her. Screw Marluxia. Her cerulean eyes darted around as lookout, skimming the horizon for any flicker of movement that could possibly been caused by spying organization members or heartless. Pleased with the lack of activity, her shoulders slackened a little, and her lips upturned slightly.

She smiles what looks to be a smile from her heart, but in this occasion that she was lacking one, it was close enough.

To: crazyemosrock
From: wanderinghiatus

Title: Silly Songs with Sora
Word count: 785
Characters: Sora and a few [unexpected] guests ;)
Notes: I hope you can enjoy this little bit of silly fun =P A lot of material was directly taken from the lyrics to the Veggie Tales Song called "Oh Santa!"... most of the wording I changed, but (plz don't sue). ^^'

It's Christmas Eve, and Sora is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus with a plate of cookies.

Sora: "Oh, Santa! I can't wait for you to come, I just can't wait for you to come, and I've got cookies! Three yummy cookies! Just for you for when you come, oh me, for you for when you come... because it's Christmas!"

*Knock-knock-knock*

Sora: "Could that be Santa? Could that be him? Could it be the one who brings presents for a keybearer like me, a good keybearer like me?"

Sora opens the door and is surprised to be greeted not by Santa, but a hooded Nobody!

Sora: "Who are you?"

Demyx: "I'm a Nobody! And I've come to steal your heart, oh yes! I've come to steal your heart, and I've come to take your soul then… dance with water. So stand back, step aside you little boy! And let me in!"

Although somewhat frightened by the intruder, in the spirit of Christmas Sora makes an offering.

Sora: "I'm not a Heartless... I have a heart my black-clad friend, but I do have cookies --three yummy cookies. And I have a soul, but please eat this my misled friend. Take this instead, my dancing friend. They are for Santa, but you may have one."

The Nobody is truly touched by Sora's good will, and graciously accepts one of Sora's freshly baked goods. But Sora, although momentarily distracted, is still excited about seeing Santa.

*Knock-knock-knock*

Sora: "Could that be Santa? Could that be him? Could it be the one who brings presents for a keybearer like me, a good keybearer like me?"

Once again, it is not Santa who has come to Sora's door, but this time a rampant Pyromaniac.

Sora: "Who are you?"

Axel: "I'm a pyro! And I've come to burn your things, oh yes! I've come to burn your things, and I've come to set fire to your puppies. And steal your hair gel. And I've come to... eat your ice cream! And kidnap your friends!"

Although somewhat frightened by the intruder, in the spirit of Christmas Sora makes an offering.

Sora: "I don't have firewood... And I don't have pups, my fiery friend, but I have cookies--two yummy cookies. And I don't have ice cream, but please take this my pyro friend. Eat one of these my tattooed friend. They are for Santa, but you may have one."

The Pyromaniac is also touched by Sora's good will. But Sora's thoughts are still with Santa.

Sora: "Oh, Santa! I can't wait for you to come, I just can't wait for you to come, I've got a cookie! A yummy cookie! Just for you for when you come, oh me, for you for when you come ... because it's Christmas!"

*Knock-knock-knock*

Sora: "Could that be Santa? Could that be him? Could it be the one who brings presents for a keybearer like me, a good keybearer like me?"

Sora is greeted now by a drooling fangirl in a poorly designed cosplay, clasping a battered notebook and pencil in hand, at the ready.

Sora: "Who are you?"

Fangirl: "I'm a fangirl! And I've come to write a ..."

In a fit of terror, the three occupants of Sora’s house slammed the door in this creature’s face, sweating profusely and wishing that some images could simply be permanently erased from one’s mind.

Sora: "Oh, Santa! I can't wait for you to come, I just can't wait for you to come …”

Right at this moment, a round figure in a classic red outfit with a large sack slung over one shoulder entered the scene through the chimney. Sora excitedly burst into song.

Sora: “It's finally Santa! It's finally him! At last, the one who brings presents for a keybearer like me, a good keybearer like me!"

Santa: "I'm Santa! And I've come to bring you gifts, oh yes! I've come to bring you gifts, and I've come to stuff your stockings--oh ho-ho-ho! And I've come to jiggle my belly. And wiggle my nose... Hey, wait a minute! Isn't that my belt? And what are you doing with my boots? So you're the ones!"

Demyx: "Wait a minute, I can explain!"

Axel: "We've changed!"

Santa: "Nobody messes with Santa! You know that don't you!? You've been very naughty! And I've got a list!"

Santa chased the two miscreants out of the house, while Sora looked on. After the three had left, a young girl appeared in the doorway, scratching her head at the confusing sight currently running (and being chased) down the street. Then she spotted the last cookie, forgotten in the chaos.

Kairi: "Did you claim that?"

Sora: "You can have it. Merry Christmas!"

To: kawaiigami
From: crazyemosrock

Title: Hesitance
Word Count: 560
Rating: K+
Spoilers: In a way, for Chain of Memories.
Note: For you kawaiigami!!!

The girl in white flipped through her sketchbook, searching for something. She let another papercut go by unnoticed, even as it barely marked her papers with blood. Why was it so easy for her to bleed when she didn’t have a heart?

“What’s wrong, princess?” A voice called to her from the door. She slowed her page-flipping hands to a stop, finally locating her picture. Turning slowly to face him, she kept her head down as she nodded in response. “I didn’t even ask anything,” the tall man at the door spit out, stepping into the room and walking up to the head of the table.

The girl winced suddenly and clenched her hands. “Nothing,” she whispered, brushing her hair behind her ear. Her fingers stained the blonde strands red. “He can’t remember her,” she added quickly, as the man reached for her sketchbook. His wildly colored hair was a sore to her eyes, seemingly splashing the white walls with its fiery color. It was sharp red, like the blood welling at the tips of her sliced fingers. Her eyes, of course, were only accustomed to the muted colors she experienced day in and day out; white and more soft colors.

“Why not, Naminé?” he asked, turning the pages quickly, taking in the ideas in the pictures she had produced. They were all filled with color, bright and abnormal, and he held back the sudden impulse to set fire to the papers. When he realized that the blonde hadn’t answered, he grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at him. “I’m waiting for an answer and I don’t have all day.”

Naminé struggled with a response, listening to the way Axel’s gloves touched her skin rather than her heart beating loudly in her chest. Her heart, the one that wasn’t supposed to be there. “I-I don’t know,” she stuttered out as his grip on her jaw tightened. She told herself that she was imagining the pain because it wasn’t there and she wasn’t supposed to feel it anyway. No, his fingertips weren’t growing warmer because he wouldn’t harm her, he wasn’t allowed; he wasn’t even supposed to be touching her but that never stopped him before, no.

“Fine,” he muttered, releasing her and walking over to the door. His heavy footsteps echoed after him.

“Axel!” she called out, stopping him where he was. Axel tilted his head to the side, waiting for her to continue. “I’ll try harder,” she mumbled, pressing her fingertips against each other. The pain was hard, almost as hard as it was to bring emotion and memory back into Sora’s heart. Axel left then, the large door shut behind him.

An empty presence filled the room as Naminé took her seat again. She hurriedly scribbled white over the rust marks of her pictures, before finding a clean page. Just as quickly as Axel had come upon the room, she sketched out a new memory, lightly drawing the peach crayon across the page. Even though it was Axel’s duty to return to her room later that night, to check after her and guard her like a dog, the door remained closed and she was not put at ease.

She tried hard to keep her tears from staining the new drawing. Sora would never wake up if Roxas didn’t find his way back.

To: breathless_dawn
From: kawaiigami

Title: Teamwork
Rating: G
Wordcount: 583
Notes: Merry Christmas~ XD I do hope this works--trying out a new genre is always interesting. Many apologies for only being able to work in the first part of the prompt. ;_;
Spoilers: For 358/2 Days.

They make a good team, Roxas thinks.

Even without her Keyblade, Xion is a good fighter, dodging Heartless attacks and weakening them enough with Fire and Blizzard that it only takes a few hits for Roxas to collect the heart. If one of them is hurt she’s quick to use Cure or a Potion to heal them, but even then they move through a crowd of enemies like a pair of Demyx’s Dancers, never getting in each other’s way. Most of the time he doesn’t need to look--he just knows where she is, where she’ll move next.

There are times he thinks it would be okay if they continued like this. Xion’s his best friend (well, one of two), so he won’t complain about covering for her though it means he has to work a little harder; especially if it means an end to the pain in the part of his chest that hurts whenever he thinks too much about the fact that if they’re found out, if she’s deemed useless, she’ll be turned into a Dusk. It’s all he can do, really. Two weeks of her trying to summon the Keyblade at the beginning and end of each mission (with no luck) haven’t changed a thing, and it’s not like he can magic another for her out of thin air.

Today, like all the others, she tries after they’ve gathered the last items and pieces of munny into their backpacks. Again, no Keyblade appears. She lowers her head and sighs, sounding tired, her face scrunched up the way he’d seen some humans’ get before they did what Axel called “crying.” After slinging her pack over her shoulders, she starts to walk up the hill, towards the station, stopping only when Roxas calls out for her to wait.

When she turns around to look at him questioningly, he simply steps forward and wraps his arms around her shoulders, letting his hands rest on her pack. She tenses at first, but then relaxes and leans into him a little, letting her head rest on his shoulder. They stay like that for a few moments, until he hears Xion’s slightly muffled voice telling him that it’s okay, he can let go.

They break apart, Xion smiling up at him. “What was that for?”

Roxas feels his cheeks heat up, so he ducks his head, scuffing the toe of his shoe on the cobblestone pavement. “I--I saw some humans who looked like they were best friends doing it and--”you looked like you needed it.

She’s still smiling when he looks at her again. “Thanks, Roxas.”

Despite the fact that he can feel his cheeks heating up even more, Roxas manages to smile back. “No prob. Race to the clock tower?”

“Okay.” She grins mischievously (not totally unlike Axel, sometimes). “Ready, set, go.” Her words slur together like they’re one before she takes off up Station Hill, laughing, Roxas not far behind.

Later, while they’re laughing with Axel and eating ice cream, he notices that something about the look in her eyes doesn’t match her expression and wonders if it’s because she’s laughing for kind of the same reason he held her earlier--she thinks they need to see her laugh. Roxas figures it’s part of being best friends and a team; just like they help each other on missions, they help each other like this, too.

If so, he thinks, they make a good team.

To: iki_teru
From: breathless_dawn

Title: Of Snowy Afternoons
Word Count: 754
Rating: G
Notes: Merry Christmas iki_teru! Here's some very fluffy Leon/Yuffie for you :) It's my first time ever writing them and I know how much you love them, so I hope I've done them justice *fingers crossed* I hope you enjoy it ♥

Aerith goes a bit overboard decorating the house for the holidays. She manages to scrounge up some holly and mistletoe, and Merlin magics colourful lights up around the eves. It’s not long before it looks like something plucked from a child’s storybook - a red and green whirl of colour and lights, with nearly a foot of snow to complete the picture.

Cid tries to stay out of the house as much as possible, to avoid garland hitting him in the face on the way out the door and the constant jingling coming from the bells Yuffie has tied to her boots. Cloud has disappeared, again, and Leon, who is usually the only male left in the house while Aerith cooks dozens upon dozens of cookies to give out to the residents of the Bastion, and Yuffie bounds around singing off-key Christmas carols, does his best to ignore everything they say.

One day, Aerith suggests that he dress up as Santa Claus and deliver presents on Christmas. “For the children,” she says over her shoulder, while mixing chocolate chips into her cookie batter. Yuffie apparently thinks this is a ridiculous idea because she bursts out laughing as soon as the words leave Aerith’s mouth.

“Can you imagine him dressed in a red suit, letting a bunch of kids sit on his lap?” She laughs again and grins at him, “I think you’d scare them, Squally.” And with that, she takes a handful of chocolate chips and skips out the door. They can hear her jingling all the way down the street. Leon remains silent through this exchange (he thinks it will be safer that way), but takes the opportunity to leave when it presents itself and mumbles something about checking on the Bailey.

“Wait,” Aerith says, taking Yuffie’s coat out of the closet and holding it out to him. He suppresses a sigh and takes it before trudging out the door and into the cold.

The wind whistles around the corners of the buildings and bites at his exposed skin. Chasing Yuffie around in the middle of a snowstorm all afternoon was decidedly not what he had in mind when he left the house. After walking for a few minutes, he finds two small silver bells nestled neatly in the snow - the same ones that had been tied to Yuffie’s boots. He knows she’s around here somewhere, trying to play some sort of joke, and considers abandoning the quest altogether and simply leaving the coat there for her to find. But he also knows there’s a chance she won’t wear it, stubbornly insisting that it wasn’t cold, and Yuffie will inevitably end up with frostbite or pneumonia.

He sighs and begins to wonder idly when he became such a sap, when something cold and wet connects with the side of his head. He whips around to see Yuffie standing precariously on the roof of one of the buildings across the way. “Gotcha!” she calls through cupped hands, grinning.

Leon pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. Because she couldn’t just settle on doing something stupid, she had to do something stupid and dangerous. “Yuffie, get down before you break your neck.”

“Spoil sport!” She pelts another snowball at him. He brushes the snow impatiently from the shoulder of his jacket and stares up at her until she rolls her eyes and neatly somersaults onto the snowy ground. “You know, you need to get a sense of humour, Grumpy-!”

When she wipes the snow from her eyes, Leon raises an eyebrow expectantly at her and a wide grin splits her face. “You asked for it, Squallykins.”

He throws the coat over her head and pushes her lightly into the snow. “That’s Leon.”

***

After twenty minutes of ducking behind walls and throwing countless snowballs at each other, they head for home, soaked and pink in the face. Leon pulls open the door, but Yuffie lingers in the doorway. “Hey, Squall?”

He turns to her. “It’s Le-” But she cuts him off with her lips on his. Her cold fingers brush across his cheek.

It only lasts a moment, but when she pulls back, he can feel his cheeks reddening. “Yuffie…what - ?”

She grins and points at the mistletoe dangling above their heads. “Merry Christmas, Squall,” she singsongs and skips off to her room.

Aerith gives him a knowing smile as he pulls the door closed. “Did you have a nice time?” she asks and he makes a mental note to follow Cid out when he leaves the next morning.

To: lettersandliars
From: iki_teru

Title: Where Land and Sea and Sky Collide
Wordcount: 1,224
Rating: G
Notes: Read this this while listening to Blue October’s “Jump Rope”.

“no fate(for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you” - E. E. Cummings

Those first few days home had been the hardest ever. They were harder, at least in Sora’s opinion, than battling a thousand heartless; or facing down Saïx or Xemnas. It might not have been quite as hard as watching Axel (die) fade away, but it was definitely up there what with the hugging and the crying his parents had done. He tried to push down the horrible guilt that had engulfed him in the form of his mother’s arms as she had sobbed against his collar my boy’s back over and over until it was the only sound he could hear even with his eyes closed.

Now wasn’t the time for those thoughts though, this was time for his friends. Just Kairi, Riku, and himself hanging out like teenagers for the first time since the whole (adventure? journey?) debacle started.

Sora was the first to the island, overachiever that he was, and it was fine with him. A few moments to himself, soaking in the atmosphere he had missed for so long. He yawned, stretched out on the sand, closed his eyes and just listened. Seagulls crying in the distant sky, the rustle of palm leaves caught in the wind, the ocean sighing home, you’re home into his heart.

Home, he smiled, what an amazing notion that was.

“You lazy bum, wake up.”

He sat up with a gasp, turning to see the people he’d been waiting for standing behind him. Kairi was all smiles, rocking on her heels with her hands clasped innocently behind her back. Riku, smirking, shook his head. “Typical.”

“He’s always snoozing down here.” Agreed Kairi.

Feeling just a little offended and trying very hard not to pout, Sora tried to argue, “Not always, I just got home. I have like, a year or something of naps to catch up on.”

“Didn’t nap enough while Naminé fixed your memories? Gosh Sora, you really are turning into a lazy bum.” Riku sat down next to him, bumping shoulders playfully. Sora thought his heart might burst; right there, how long had it been since Riku had teased him so easily?

“Okay, okay, enough with the pick on Sora time. What are we going to do today guys?” Sora leaned back, grinning from ear to ear and just drank in the sight of his friends.

it’s been too long

It was, of course, Kairi that finally voiced an idea. “I’ve got it!” her lips curled into a sweet smile, “I’ll race you!”

The two boys exchanged a flat look, “Really?” They echoed each other.

“Ready, and-“ Kairi took off, leaping over both sets of legs, “go!” She kicked up a fine spray of sand, laughing as she sprinted the length of the beach.

Riku and Sora were still staring at each other, expressions mirror images of shock. “That little sneak.”

“Cheater,” Sora accused once they finally caught up with her.

She shrugged, unaffected, “Not cheating. I took a lady’s head start.”

“Who lied and called you a lady?”

The resulting scuffle would have all three parties questioning how they managed to get so tangled in seaweed when they had been fairly careful to avoid the actual ocean.

---

The trunk of the paopu tree was a comforting weight against his back. Some days Riku felt content enough to just stand there and watch the world he chose revolve around him.

“He’s brooding again,” Kairi stage whispered from over his left shoulder.

“This might be serious, should we call the king?” Sora asked, in an equally loud whisper from his right side.

Riku may have smiled, but only a little, because being happy that your friends are dorks is for saps. “I’m not brooding.”

Kairi sighed, patting him on top of the head, “and now he’s in denial about his brooding. This is getting heavy.”

He tugged at her wrist, pulling her down until her hand rested against his heart. “I’m not brooding.” He reiterated, letting a bit more of that smile bleed through because, really, it was just the three of them and the ocean and sunset.

“So, you’re really happy here?” Sora asked, leaning over to rest his chin on the crown of Riku’s head. He made a snuffling noise and tried to straighten silver strands away from his face.

Riku was quiet for a long moment, running the different words through his head before he voiced them out loud (and thusly, risked putting himself in the same ridiculous category of touchy-feeling-emotion-guy as Sora). What he wanted to say ran along the lines of I’m happy so long as you two are here.

In the end, what he said came out as “This small world, with its predictable patterns, where someones married their everyones.” He turned, trying to look them both in the eye, and smiled. “It’s home, I’m happy because you two are with me.”

And who really cared about the tough guy image anyhow? Having his two best friends collapse on top of him in an awkward group hug was way better.

----

She had her boys back, finally her heart felt whole. School was so much more bearable now that she could look up at any moment and meet Sora’s eyes (they shared a smile, just between them). Lunchtime with the whole group, sitting on top of picnic tables, being surrounded by heartbeats and laughter and smiles. This, Kairi realized, had been the entire point of all their collective hardships.

Which was exactly why she wouldn’t tell them about her nightmares. No, she could already imagine their guilt ridden expressions and they had all been through too much for her to add that to their plates.

She went to bed, patted a hand against her heart “It’s okay. I’m not really alone, you’re with me Naminé.” Kairi tucked herself into bed, faced away from the window, and prayed for a quiet night of rest.

“Ouch.”

“Stupid, you should have let me go first.”

“What? No. You should have let me go first.”

“Your butt’s too big, if I waited for you neither of us would ever get to check on Kairi.”

Kairi sat up, blinked, and looked at her window where one Sora and one Riku were currently wedged. “What are you two doing?”

They both looked up, eyes wide and slightly guilty. “We were worried about you,” Sora explained when he finally managed to dislodge himself from the window. He flopped bonelessly to her bed, head cradled in Kairi’s lap.

“We could tell something was bothering you,” added Riku (who managed to pull himself free with much more poise) he sat next to her, pulled her head against his shoulder, “we could feel it. In our hearts.”

“You were hurting.” Sora squeezed her hand.

“But wouldn’t let us in.” Riku ran a hand through her hair.

“So, we let ourselves in.”

Kairi smiled, unbridled joy flitting through her whole being. “You guys,” and she pulled them closer to her. They fell asleep on her bed, a tangle of limbs.

----

The sun was setting in a gorgeous myriad of colors (“no other world had sunsets like here,” Riku added quietly), the sand was warm and soft, the ocean a quiet backbeat to their own hearts.

“Let’s stay like this, forever.” Kairi said, squeezing the hands still tangled with her own.

“Of course,” Sora grinned.

“Always.” Added Riku.

~Owari~

To: crimsoncookie
From: lettersandliars

Title: in among the secret things
Word Count: 1000
Rating: PG
Spoilers: For Days, vaguely.
Notes: Merry Christmas, crimsoncookie! I hope you like it, Ceci ♥

And after he had lain his hand on mine.
With joyful mien, whence I was comforted,
He led me in among the secret things.
--Dante Aligheri, The Divine Comedy

Axel is not particularly fond of snow. Xion laughs when he shivers, and even with the hood up her smile is incandescent.

"It's not that bad, you know," she says, trailing her fingers across the ground. Axel stares as two lines cross each other and he thinks that maybe she's writing her name, but she sweeps it away and watches the fine powder catch in the wind.

"Not that good, either," he says, and grunts, pushing her out of the path of a Shadow before it lunges at her. They watch the black fade into the snow and she murmurs, "I knew it was there."

"Sure," Axel says, and his chakrams come flying back to him. "I used to know a story about snow, once."

"Really?" she asks, intrigued, "How did it go?" When she walks next to him, their arms brush, just slightly.

"I don't really remember," he says with a sly grin. "It was a very long time ago."

"Maybe not so long," she replies, and they step into darkness.

-

"There was something about a queen, I remember that much." She is a perfect imperfection against the white-washed walls, breaking the monotony of his room, and he looks at her when he speaks, though he can't see her face.

"A good queen?"

"A beautiful one."

"That doesn't answer my question."

He laughs. "Maybe there's not an answer."

"I think there should be," she says seriously, and he feels his throat tighten.

"There was a mirror, too," he continues, "but it never showed the person looking back in it as they should be. And the mirror broke apart and-"

"But what did it show, then?" Xion interrupts, head cocked curiously to the side.

"I don't know," Axel says, and closes his eyes. "A different version of themselves, maybe."

"A variation on a theme," she muses, and Axel freezes.

"Where'd you hear that?" he asks, and she says something about Demyx and music and water. When she asks if he'll keep going, he says, "I really don't remember much more. Maybe next time."

She leaves and he tries hard not to think Roxas, and doesn't even let Sora cross his mind.

-

"What happened after the mirror broke apart?" Axel jumps. She hasn't spoken to him all day, and he hasn't really been thinking about ice queens and magic mirrors under the sweltering Agrabah sun.

"The shards pierced a little boy's body."

"Did he-die?"

"No," Axel says with a slight grin. "This is a magic mirror, remember? It hit him in the eye and in the heart, so that he saw the world differently and felt everything all wrong, too."

"What about the queen?"

"She found the boy and he loved her on sight."

"But he didn't really love her, did he? The mirror made him see something different. What she might have been but wasn't." Axel scuffs his boot against the ground.

"Maybe it was just a different part of what she was."

Xion smiles at him. "You're right. I don't think you know this story well at all."

"Well enough," he argues, and pours sand in her lap.

-

"What's a heart got to do with anything, anyway?" she mumbles, and he lets her rest her head on his shoulder.

-

"So the queen meets the little boy," she prompts and tucks her legs underneath her. "What does she do to him?"

Axel squints one eye open, not bothering to sit up on the bed. "She gives him a kiss."

"Why," Xion says, puzzled. She scoots closer to him on her knees.

"There are a lot of reasons to kiss someone," he murmurs, and he thinks she sees her smile.

"Tell me," she whispers, and he reaches up to push her hood back.

"Once," he swallows, "to shield him from the cold." He feels cool, soft lips at his temple.

"And once to make him forget," and they move south to his eyelid.

"And the third time?" she asks, and her hair brushes his cheek.

"Oh, she doesn't do it a third time. That would kill him."

Xion laughs and presses her mouth against his.

-

"Xigbar calls her poppet," Roxas muses, less than lightly, "and Saix calls her it." He looks at Axel out of the corner of his eye. "What do they know that I don't?"

Axel says nothing, just keeps on walking.

"Or is it what you know?" Roxas's eyes are wide and accusing. Axel flinches and lowers his gaze.

"Right," Roxas says, "That's how it is, then." He turns to leave, but hesitates, chewing on his bottom lip. "You know," he starts, "you're the one who taught us what friends were. Xion and me. You-you never gave me a reason to doubt you." The until now is omitted but present.

"Wait."

He's never noticed how much Roxas looks like her before. Funny, because shouldn't it be the other way around?

-

"Surely someone would have come looking for him," Xion says. Her head is down, and her arms hang limp at her sides.

"Someone did. His best friend, who loved him very much."

"And I guess he fought witches and demons and everything else to get his friend back, right?"

"Yes," Axel replies, and his shoulder bumps against hers. She shudders. "But the boy couldn't leave the snow queen, you see."

"What bound him to her?"

"She promised to let him go if he could spell 'eternity' out of shards of ice," he answers, "but how do you know she wasn't bound to him?"

"Axel," she says softly, looking away.

"And I guess he didn't really want to leave, after all."

"Axel," and this is no longer a time for telling tales. "You know who-what I am."

He nods and doesn't follow her when she walks away.

-

Xion never asks to hear the rest of the story. Happy endings don't suit her, after all; a heart of ice is still better than one that doesn't belong to you.