I waited until I could no longer hear Arieth's footsteps, and then I reached under my pillow. I stroked the small box; its blue paint was worn and chipped. I felt the tears coming again as I held the box to my chest. The ring clinked loudly against it, and I closed my eyes, trying to forget.
'He's alright, I will open my eyes to find him here, laughing…' I thought to myself, but I knew it was a lie. I stroked the box one last time as I placed it underneath the pillow. There was another knock on the door, and it was louder than Arieth's. I sighed as I stumbled out of bed towards the door. It opened easily, and I looked into the brown haired person's face. Sora was another of the lost chicks of the war. Only he knew that his lover was alive. He smiled at me, and he shifted his weight to the other foot. We were work partners, but that was all. I nodded to him, and I shut the door.
"Hurry up Rox! Aerith wants us to weed the garden today! he called from behind the wooden barrier. I hurriedly threw on my work clothes, and I ignored the sharp twinge my heart gave t he sound of that nickname. I walked out of my room, past Sora and his happiness, and into the kitchen. Aerith turned and gave me a sandwich, and then she sighed, watching Sora almost fall down the stairs.
"Be careful, you two!" she said, and with that, we were out in the war wrecked world. Sora seemed to ignore that the garden was completely full of weeds as he chatted about the only things that kept him happy. He was chatting about his Fiancé stuck in the complete opposite of the country when he suddenly changed the conversation He must have noticed that my expression darkened as he kept rambling on about his Riku. I closed my eyes, and I gripped the ring tightly, my thoughts a thousand miles away. I bent over to scoop up some of dead weeds when a memory of the last time I saw Axel hit me in the face. I froze for a few seconds before continuing my job. Things like this happened normally after the nightmares, and I had learned to ignore it.

It seemed like forever until I noticed that I could still feel pain. It almost felt like someone was carrying me on a rough stretcher…
"Hey, son, you coming around?" asked a strange voice. I groaned as the world came back into focus, and I looked blearily around for a familiar face. I jolted upright as I noticed someone was missing.
"Roxas!" I called, but I fell back into the stretcher. A man with a bandaged eye and a scar below his one visible eye was watching me carefully. There was a blonde and a bluette also, but there was no Roxas. The blue person came over, and he had the bridge of nis nose wrapped. His eyes were a strange yellow, and a dark man with silver hair came into the …tent? Cave? I had no idea where we were. I was only glad to get out of the weather outside…it must have been raining, for I was cold and wet.
"Easy, son, you were hit pretty badly…" said the silver haired man. HE held on tightly to the blue haired man, and I realized that everyone in here were the survivors of the blast. The blonde was crying into the scarred man's chest, and I felt a sudden pang of loss. Where was Roxas?
"Have you seen a blonde? Blue eyes, kinda short? Male?" I asked, and the other blonde caught my eye. The group of survivors looked between them as they nodded no.
"I'm Demyx, this is Xigbar, Saix, and Xemnas." Said the blonde, pointing in order to the scarred man, the blue haired man and the silver haired man. I nodded, my eyes half lidded as I started at the ceiling of our hideout.
"Axel." I said, and with that, I noticed something important. The blue box was gone, and the ring I wore always was gone. I started to panic, clawing at my clothes, looking between all the survivors.
"Did any of you guys see a ring on a chain? A blue box?" I asked, and they all nodded no again. I felt my heart plummet then rise as I realized this meant that Roxas was alive. I fell back asleep to the sounds of the rain and Demyx's crying.
It took two years for us to find out where Roxas was. Our group was known as the only survivors, so we were pretty famous. We had to kept away from a lot of the towns, for the warring country couldn't keep their solders away. We had to leave our 'bunker' after we had all healed enough to move. The place was crawling with enemy soldiers. We have wandered ever since. I just hope Roxas stays where he is. I know he has missed me, and I only hope he will want me back.
"Axel! Common, slowpoke! Only a few more minutes until you can see the bomb sight!!" called Xigbar. He was carrying Demyx in his arms, and if I wasn't used to it, I would of thought Demyx was dead. When that man slept, he slept hard. No pun intended.

"Roxas! Lunchtime!" said Sora. He straightened up, and he walked to the house. I let him go, and I waited until he was out of sight to set off down the road, towards our old house. It was nothing more than a pile of decaying boards, metal and everything, but every once in a while, I would pull out objects worth carrying home. I picked through the wood and metal, searching aimlessly. I wasn't paying attention at all when I heard running footsteps behind me. I stood up quickly, getting into my fighting stance. After the first robber, I learned self defense on my own. I caught sight of a group of people walking past, and the straggling man at he end of the odd parade made my heart stop. I dropped my stance, and I took a small step forward.
"Ax…axel?" I whispered, my voice giving out on me. I hadn't used it in two years, and the one time I wanted to say something, it had failed me. The man in the front was holding a person close to his heart, and I realized it was a blonde man. Tears gathered in my eyes as I watched the red head, recognizing his face. I felt hope, love and frustration gather in my heart as I stepped forward, calling out as loudly as I could.
"AXEL!!!" I called. The red head stopped, and he slowly spun towards me. I stood up tall, tears pouring down my face, and Axel walked towards me. I flung myself towards him, and he caught me in a bear hug, spinning me around with joy.
"Roxas!" he said, and I felt his tears on my throat. I hugged him tighter, hoping this was not a dream. I hated my nightmares. HE set me down carefully, mussing up my hair. He got down on one knee, and in front of everyone, asked the one question I had waited two years for.
"Will you marry me?"