Blaming this on someone else. Hey, reviews? Are nice.
Sora's been expecting it for a while—for Axel to find him and try to stop him and take back what he thinks is "his"—so when he rounds the corner in the middle of the night (snuck out of the tent for a walk while his companions sleep), the sound of surprise he makes is for the fact that someone is standing there, not that it's Axel, leaning back against a tree with his arms folded like he's been waiting for the Keybearer to appear.
"He's not coming back, is he?" the man asks, looking at Sora with his acid green eyes that have become the only point of light in the woods. Sora stares back, muscles poised but he doesn't draw his weapon; doesn't make any move at all as his voice replies seemingly of its own volition:
"No." Axel blinks, then unfolds his arms, pushing off from the tree as he looks down, nodding. If Sora didn't know better (didn't know that he had no heart, no soul, no nothing) he would say he sensed longing from him, want and need, and deeper still a calm sense of acceptance.
"I understand," the redhead says with a little laugh, hollow like the rest of him as he looks back up at the boy, still posed for battle but no longer expectant. A smirk draws itself across his mouth. "Still, there's something I want to see."
Sora feels like he's woken when he notices how close Axel's gotten—how close he's i getting /i to him, each second bringing him closer still until he feels a hand cupping his cheek and those bright green eyes are filling his vision until they're all he can see.
For a second Sora feels indignant and angry that this man he barely knows has stolen his first kiss (because the ones from his mother and father and Kairi when they were kids don't count) but it's only for a second and then he knows, he i knows /i , and then the part of himself he never knew he had is telling him to kiss back with all his might and one of his hands has traveled up on its own to grab hold of Axel's collar, pulling him further in until everything feels perfect.
Almost surprisingly, it's Axel who pulls away. He watches Sora with that same sense of longing and wanting (Sora wonders if lacking a heart is merely wanting, wanting and never getting) but the acceptance is growing as his smirk fades to a smile before either of them realize it.
"I understand," he says again, releasing his hold on Sora almost the same instant the brunet releases his hold on Axel, "Sora." And then the darkness behind him gets even darker and Sora watches his acid green eyes until only blackness remains.