Artificial Sweetener
by Ky

Summary: Roxas always hated Valentine's Day, until he had someone to share it with.
Genre: General
Rating: G - PG
Warnings: Very mild language.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts II belongs to Square Enix, and I'm not sure who holds the copyright for Conversation Hearts.

Notes: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Valentine's Day was, without a doubt, the worst holiday anyone had ever come up with. At least, it was in Roxas's opinion. It was, of all things, a holiday devoted to love. It was the time of year when people with hearts, living in Worlds that Were, began confessing their undying emotions and decorating every free surface with pink and red and giving each other gifts. School children made lace-trimmed, paper hearts and wrote cheesy poems for their parents. Lovers bought each other candy in heart-shaped tins and boxes. Heart-shaped balloons were tied to the arms of colossal, "squeeze me and I say 'I love you'" teddy bears. Advertisements everywhere proclaimed ridiculously, "Tell her you love her with our line of Valentine's jewelry!" including shimmering diamond hearts on slim gold chains and dangling pink heart earrings.

In its essence, Valentine's Day was a holiday devoted to celebrating the emotions of the heart. On this day of days, everything had a heart, even inanimate objects, and everything was flaunting it.

So, when February 14th rolled around, Roxas decided to stay firmly holed up in his room in the Castle that Never Was. Normally, being stuck in the Castle was the bane of his existence, and he'd take any excuse to get out of it, using portals of darkness to other worlds. But in the other worlds he would normally have visited, everything was aglow with the rosy hue of Valentine's cheer. There were so many couples making out that wherever he went they were almost always underfoot. And he couldn't stand to look at anything heart-shaped any longer. It just served as another reminder of what the people in these worlds had, and what he had not.

Roxas yanked the curtains shut, blocking the glow of Kingdom Hearts that would have shown through his window.

The other members of Organization XIII could remember their others and what it was like to have a heart. Roxas could not. Any memories he had of his life before his non-existence were locked away in some secret file of his mind, one that he couldn't willingly access. All he wanted, especially today, was a heart, and everything that Was took February 14th as the day to mock him.

A knock on the door snapped Roxas out of his reverie. "What?" he demanded.

"It's Axel. Can I come in?"

Roxas opened the door in response, and the tall red-haired Nobody walked into the room. "Hey, I brought you something." Axel took a small, pink and white box out of his coat pocket and placed it in Roxas's hand.

The blonde looked at the frilly-looking designs on the box and the label, Conversation Hearts, with disdain.

"I saw you looked kind-of upset today, so I bought you that. I know it's not exactly like having a real heart, but its close. They're little candies—you can eat 'em—and then it'll be like you have your own heart, inside of you. And you'll feel something, too. The little heart candies, they're sweet, so you'll taste them. So, your heart'll make you feel something, you see?" Axel explained, getting more and more excited the more he talked. "Maybe, after you have a couple of those, you'll even start feeling kind-of sweet yourself. You know, I think this," he pointed to the box of candy, "is even better than having a real heart. All those people out there? They've only got one. One measly little heart, and once it's gone, they're sunk. You? You've got dozens of hearts right here, and they're all yours. You're luckier than any one of them."

Roxas stared at the box for a long time, taking in what his friend had said. Axel frowned at him. "If you don't like them, you can always give them back. Pure sugar, pure oxygen, and a little fire make one hell of a light show."

"No, Axel," Roxas took him by the hand and, tearing open the little box, emptied a few of the heart-shaped candies into his palm. "I was just thinking: 'I'm not the only one who deserves a heart.'"

"Roxas…" for a second, Axel seemed overwhelmed by emotion. But it was only for a brief instant, and the look in his eyes soon faded, replaced by a bright smile and sheer joy. "Okay! All right then! Let's try it, at the same time."

Roxas nodded, smiling as well.

"One, two, three!" Axel counted. When he hit three, the two Nobodies each popped a Conversation Heart into their mouths, grinning even as they felt the sugar dissolve on their tongues.

So what if we don't have hearts, Roxas found himself thinking. We've got each other, and maybe that's better.