My submission for the 2016 KH Worlds Connected fan zine on tumblr, with "Time" as the theme - make sure to also go check out my collab partner, xxrei42xx's blog to see their amazing fanart for this piece!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor any of the characters/locations therein.

There was a certain time of day, when the late afternoon sun struck the top of the clock tower at just the right angle, that the city below them looked like it was on fire.

It would sting a bit when the images hit him, tendrils of some half-forgotten nostalgia tickling at his mind. He could clearly see the rooftops of Twilight Town stretching out before him; a sight he'd seen every day for years. But sometimes, just sometimes, when he blinked against the setting sun, he would open his eyes back up and see a place lined with flowers instead of trolley tracks.

He would be younger then – impossibly so – and his heart would still be beating its phantom rhythm inside the hollow cage of his ribs. The shock of hair at his side would be rainy blue instead of golden blond or deepest black. The laughter would be softer, the eyes more mischievous.

"You're such a dork, Lea…"

And then everything would be burning.

Even in the vision behind his eyelids, he would feel the ground shaking beneath him as the city, the whole world tore itself apart from the inside out. Plumes of smoke rising to the heavens, flakes of ash filling his lungs as he took in quick, frightened breaths – he could taste it in the back of his throat, smell it all around him. A terrified shout of his name and suddenly there would be desperate fingers clutching onto his own and then they were running. Through the alleyways, away from the flames and the cracking of the pavement, towards the promise of safety within the still-standing castle…

"Axel?"

Abruptly, he found himself back on top of the clock tower, looking out over Twilight Town at the reddening horizon.

He sniffed. The scent of fire still lingered in his nose. Blinking hard to bring himself all the way back, he turned his head to focus on the twin pairs of blues eyes peering at him. They sat in silence for a moment, watching each other.

It'd been strong that time; just how long had he been out of it?

"Huh?" he croaked, tongue thick. He swallowed. "'Sup?"

It was Xion that spoke up this time – Roxas having been the one to break him from his revere. "Are you okay? You've been awfully quiet."

Roxas nodded beside her, eyes wide and curious as if waiting for someone to tell him whether he should be concerned or not. Axel found himself idly thinking how adorable they both were. Always looking to him for social cues, for explanations, for the 'go ahead' – a stark reminder of himself from a decade ago, back before the city of gardens fell to the engulfing shadows.

His fingers twitched at the feeling of Isa's frantic hand in his own, tingling his skin from somewhere in another life.

He nodded once he realized he still hadn't actually answered them. "Yeah, I'm good, just tired." He made a show of stretching his arms above his head and rolling his shoulders back to pop them. A plastic grin formed along his face.

His lie was met with disbelieving stares and he hastened to poke the blond beside him roughly in the shoulder. "Don't give me that look, I missed out on valuable nap time today!"

And just like that, the subject was dropped, with Roxas squawking indignantly and Xion stifling a giggle behind her hand.

The rest of the late afternoon passed in easy banter. Axel spent the last of his pocket munny on a second round of ice cream to make up for worrying his friends, and the blond and black-haired Key-wielders filled the silence with an account of that day's mission. He listened intently, letting his second ice cream bar melt down to the stick without even so much as looking at it. If his voice seemed ever so slightly strained or his smile didn't quite reach his eyes, no one seemed to notice.

They didn't return to the Castle That Never Was until the red of the sunset had long since faded out into antiqued bronze. They were greeted in the entryway by a harsh, golden glare – eyes hollow where they had once been blue and vibrant – and Axel felt his skin crawl.

Almost instinctively he moved to push Roxas and Xion just a bit further behind him, but Saix simply watched as they approached.

"The Superior has been waiting to speak with you, Axel," he monotoned. Yellow eyes flicked down to appraise the shorter Nobodys at Axel's back before returning their icy disdain to his face. "You're late."

Axel jerked to a halt on the stairs, a flash of white teeth in a grin painting itself across the backs of his eyelids.

"Geez, Isa, you're such a slowpoke!"

"Says the guy always late for school because he can't wake up on time."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up and eat your ice cream before it melts…"

Flowers in a courtyard, ice cream and cheerful banter on the edge of a fountain basin, an endless summer in a city of light.

By the time Axel reopened his eyes, the shadow of his childhood friend had already swept past them all and down the stairs.

Something twisted inside his empty chest and suddenly Axel found himself surging up the remainder of the staircase like cinders on the wind, each of his hands clutching one of his charges' with a touch of desperation he was sure he shouldn't be able to feel. Neither Roxas nor Xion had even bothered to question him when he'd reached down to capture their gloved fingers between his own. He didn't even remember doing it, himself.

The cracking of far-away pavement sounded in his ears as he tugged his current best friends towards his part of the sleeping quarters; ghostly heat from flames beyond his command chased at his heels. He set his jaw against the shriek of burning houses that only he could hear.

Not again. Never again.

I'll die before I lose everything again…

It wasn't until he was safely back in his room, with Roxas and Xion curled up on either side of him and the glowing sky of Twilight Town finally replaced with an endless void outside his window, that the feeling of decade-old fire stopped licking at his skin.

(Go and check out Rei's tumblr to see the absolutely gorgeous other half of this collaboration!

And be sure to visit the KH Worlds Connected blog to show support for all the other talented artists and authors~)