A/N: This story essentially stemmed from my binge-watching of the Rocky movies.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

A gloved right-hook catches me square in the temple and I feel my guard drop as I start to reel. All I see is white and I'm pretty sure I'm lying flat on my back right now. I vaguely hear the referee start the count when my vision fades back to my eyes.

Yup, here I am. Knocked down, again, in the fourteenth round of this Cruiserweight Championship. I'm pretty sure my left eye is swollen shut and I've suffered from multiple concussions just in the last two rounds.

"One! Two!"

Dammit. I did not come this far just to lose. Me, an amateur boxer, finally got a shot at this coveted Championship, I'll be damned if I go down just one round away from making it. Even if I lose, to go all the way with the Champion, Vanitas, who has never let a fight extend past the fifth round, would be enough to cement my professional boxing career.

Get up, Roxas. Dammit what are you doing! Everyone's here watching me. All my friends, my family, and even her. I'm not going to lose here. But… I can't bring my body to move. The round is over, time is up. If I can just lug my ass up, then I'll go back to my corner and I'll have some time to recuperate before the final round.

"Three! Four!"

Roxas! Get up! I find the strength somewhere in my body and it's all I can to place my gloves under me and start to push up. That's when I noticed her, standing ringside with my coach, Axel.

Namine.

My inspiration, the reason I fight. I'm here because of her. She pushed me, she has been with me every step of the way. I'm going to win. For her.

With her blonde hair and her pale white dress, she looks like an angel standing before me. Pure beauty and pure perfection in my eyes. My blue eyes—well, eye—meets her own, and I can see that they're puffy and red from the tears that are streaming down her face.

She never wanted me to fight, she was always scared I'd get hurt. Damn was she right. My body feels like it's on fire. Every punch and blow I've taken tonight feels just as raw as when first hit. But in this moment, I remember telling her,

"Babe, you know me. Pain is just a mindset."

Dumbass. Pain is not a mindset. Pain is real. You are feeling it right now. You are in pain. You are losing this damn fight, and the love of your life is standing there crying because she's scared you're not going to walk right after this. Prove her wrong. Stand up, and finish this fight.

For Namine.

"Five! Six!"

The ref's yelling snaps me back to reality, and with new-found strength, I start to rise.

"Seven! Eight!"

Even though I'm now at my feet, I need to keep my balance long enough for the ref to believe I'm ok to continue this fight.

"Nine!"

I lock eyes with the ref, and with as much assurance as I can muster, I nod. For a split second, it seems as he may still count me out, costing me the match, but something amazing happens.

He nods back.

Hell yeah, baby! I'm still in this! I still have a chance. Sure I'll probably get my lights knocked out in this final round, but I made it to the final round. And that's all that matters.

The bell rings and with relief, I stumble back to my corner. Immediately, I am greeted by my coach, Axel, and my aides who quickly go to work on icing my fresh bruises and cleaning my bloodied face. I can't see out of my left eye anymore so I squint at Axel as he rambles off about how I'm doing fine and how he's so proud of me and yada yada yada. But I'm no longer listening to him. I'm searching the outside of the ring for her.

Through my mouth-guard that's now pooling with blood, I choke out her name,

"N-Namine. Bring her."

Axel acknowledges this and I see him beckon towards someone to the right while I rest my head back in exhaustion. Soon after, Namine is now in the ring, crouching next to me while I sit on the bench, the aides still tirelessly working to help me in any way they can.

"Hey, babe." I say through a tired smile. "How do I look?"

At this, she does a half laugh, half sob, and through her tears chokes out,

"You look perfect, Roxas. I'm so proud of you." Tears stream down her cheeks.

"Namine?"

"Yes?"

"Pain isn't a mindset. This was a stupid idea. I wasn't ready to fight."

I'm surprised when the solemn tears on Namine's face harden, and she looks at me with a grave expression. She positions herself in front of me, still crouching, and she places her soft hands on my bruised shoulders.

"Don't." She starts. And I realize this is the first time in a while where I've seen her so serious. "Don't you dare. Roxas, I am so proud of you for what you did today. Regardless if you get knocked out in this last round or if the judges decide you lost, you're a winner in my eyes."

If both my eyes worked, then tears would be streaming out of both of them instead of just the one. I probably look like a blubbering idiot right now. I feel Namine kiss my forehead, and instantly the warmth of her lips spreads through my body.

"Sorry to interrupt," Axel interjects, placing his hand on my yellow shorts, "but we're not going to win the decision, buddy."

A melancholy tone surrounds my corner at the thought that we're going to lose regardless. I turn my blurred vision to Namine and to my surprise, she's looking at me with that same, serious expression. Then, she hugs me. And even though it hurts, the fact that I'm embracing the girl who I love is enough for me to get over it.

"It's ok, Roxas. You don't need to prove anything else." She whispers in my ear.

The warning bell sounds, signaling I have thirty seconds before the start of the final round. Namine gives me a quick peck on the lips and with red eyes, leaves the ring. I notice Axel start to leave the ring, his face full of pity as he knows that regardless of the hard-fought battle, we lose either way.

Unless—

I grab Axel's wrist just as one of his legs are through the ropes and tug on it lightly so he'll come in closer.

"What is it, champ?"

I glance over to Namine one more time, her hands together and her eyes closed as she utters a silent prayer for me.

Looking back at the coach who's been there for me since I was picking fights in high school, with determination in my voice I tell him,

"We're winning this. I'm going for the knock-out."

His expression is that of total disbelief as told by his eyes widening twice their size.

"Roxas, I'm sorry man, but there's no— "

"We're winning this." I grit.

Axel's face turns from frantic to a look of understanding, and he crouches down one more time in the way he's done right before every significant moment in every match since fighting in the underground circuit.

"You bet your ass we are." And we both smile at each other. "You hurt his left side late in the seventh. He's been protecting that side ever since. You need to goad him to drop his guard. It's going to hurt like hell, Roxas. Take those jabs, avoid those hooks, and when the time is right, slip the jab and go for it."

"You got it, coach." Axel looks at me with a worried look before he steps out of the ring, and I know then, I was wrong earlier.

This has got to be the dumbest idea I've had.

The bell rings and begrudgingly, I make my way to the center of the ring, meeting up with the man who I've gone the limit with. Both of us are battered and bruised, my eye swollen from his nasty right-hook and his ribs completely purple from my devastating body hooks.

"Alright gentlemen," the ref begins. "This is it. Make sure you keep the blows…"

His voice fades away as I stare at the Champion, Vanitas. His pure amber eyes meet my open blue eye, and in that moment, there's a sort of mutual respect from us both. Neither of us thought that I'd still be standing this far along.

"Touch gloves and let's end this." The referee's voice comes back into focus.

I hold my white gloves, now stained with blood, out in a gesture of good sportsmanship. Instead of meeting his black gloves mid-way, Vanitas just turns away and goes back into his corner ready to start, his black spiky hair bouncing with sweat.

As I walk slowly back to my corner, I glance over ringside to see Namine still there, still praying. Her eyes are now open as she looks at me with hope. With my face still towards my corner, I place one gloved hand up to my lips, and blow her a kiss, something I did to her during fights to let her know:

I'm going to win this.

We had this reoccurring joke, her and I. If she caught the kiss and placed it to her side, then she knew that I was going to get my lights knocked out and it was hopeless to think otherwise. If she caught it and place it to her lips, I knew she was still rooting for me and believed in me to pull out a win despite how bad things looked.

Namine caught my kiss, and as if in slow motion, she brought it to her lips.

That's all the motivation I needed to knock this bastard's block off.

The bell rings and both of us come out with our guard up, covering our faces. Vanitas goes for a quick right jab and I'm too winded to avoid it. Another jab comes and I take it square in the nose, my arms providing little protection. Vanitas then starts throwing combos of jabs and quick, light strikes. Even though I'm in the center of the ring getting pummeled, I just need to hang on until my opening comes.

I notice Vanitas cock his right arm back, no doubt trying to finish this with his signature right-hook. I bring my arms up to defend and at the last second, I duck. The hook misses me, but his left uppercut didn't. I'm caught square in the jaw and I stumble backwards, my ears ringing.

Through faded vision, I see the blur of Vanitas in front of me advancing. His red and black shorts molded together in my vision, and if it wasn't for his piercing amber eyes, I wouldn't have been able to regain focus. I bring my guard up just in time to defend a series of quick jabs, and I then notice that the left arm used to defend his injured ribs is now free from his side.

Now's my chance.

I wait for the coming jab that would have clocked me if it wasn't for his pure anger misguiding the punch, and then I move. I swiftly slip his jab to the right and I bring my right fist in a hook directly towards his body. I see him notice what I'm doing because he attempts to bring his arm back to defend. Too late. I land my punch and Vanitas sends a spray of spit behind me.

The crowd goes crazy as Vanitas and I square up, all of the momentum with me now. He goes for another jab, and this time I slip left, my left hand simultaneously going for a hook to the chin that ultimately lands. The Champion is now staggering, his left ribs probably broken. This is my chance.

I let go two quick jabs of my own, and I should've known he wasn't done yet when I saw a high-speed right-hook come out of nowhere.

"Roxas!" I hear Namine's voice and as if by her willing, I dodge the hook, his arm grazing the blonde spikes sticking above my head.

Once I'm under his hook, I let another demonic right hook to his left ribs, hearing them crack even further once I connect. Vanitas's arms fly wildly in an attempt to guard but it's too late. Namine's with me.

Straightening, I let loose a barrage of combination full of jabs and hooks that aren't necessarily knock-out blows, but are enough to break him down. Soon after, Vanitas's guard is down, his arms hanging feebly by his sides. I see the effort it takes for him to let loose one last right-hook, but it's over.

I'm going for it. Help me out Namine.

I sway my head backwards, narrowly dodging what would have been his victory. Instantly in a flash, I send a left jab quickly followed by a right jab both to the chin, stunning my opponent once more.

"Roxas! Finish it!" I hear Axel roar over the scream of spectators.

Not giving him time to recover, I take Axel's advice and I launch a huge left-hook, my hips torqueing to send my whole weight behind my punch.

What happened next I'll never forget.

I connected my hook, and the Champion went down, his body a lump of battered flesh on the canvas. The crowd goes wild, seeing Vanitas hit the floor for the first time in twenty-two undefeated fights.

"One! Two!"

The entire arena starts counting along, and I shoot a look towards Namine's direction. There she is, tears of pride in her eyes as she counts along to the referee, now at five.

"Five! Six! Seven!"

The count is a mere formality at the moment because Vanitas is laying in the center of the ring's floor, totally out cold. I'm impressed with myself to be honest.

"Eight! Nine!"

I wait for that penultimate number, the number that will signify my—no, Namine and I's—victory.

"Ten!"

And then it's over. Axel and my team rush into the ring as I fall to my knees in disbelief. We did it. I feel a pair of hands on my shoulder and I recognize them as Axel's, who helps pull me up to my feet, wrapping my sore arm around his shoulders. A mass of news reporters floods the ring, all of them snapping pictures of Vanitas, now awake but still winded, and me, the new Champion.

In all the confusion, I look for Namine, and it isn't until Riku, my sparring partner, ushers her into me. I wrap a sweaty hand around her waist and I kiss her deeply. She's probably going to be mad at the fact that I just threw my bloody, sweaty self onto her, but I'll handle that later.

I feel her kiss me back when I taste the salt of tears running down her face. She wraps her arms around my neck and continues to kiss me passionately, disregarding all the media around us.

"You did it." She cries through a smile.

"We did it."

In time, people will ask me what I cherish most from that night. In all honesty, it won't be the belt finally being wrapped around my waist. It won't be finally defecting from my diet and eating some of Namine's home-made sea-salt ice cream. It won't be the eventual twenty-four wins in a row that that victory paved the way for.

What I'll respond with to that question time and time again, will be just me kissing my love in the middle of that ring for what felt like an eternity.

A/N: I really loved writing this One-Shot just because I finally got to write a fight scene. Please let me know if you guys liked it! The ending is a little rushed because I tried to emulate the ending from the first Rocky movie where it's all a blur but I don't think it came out too well. As always, I take requests in my Private Messages, please Read & Review! -Aj