Spectrum

An artist does not have merely one or two favorite colors to work with; they have a whole spectrum.

Red

He spotted her curled up on a rock a bit out to sea, staring wistfully towards the sandy shores. To him, so much sand was remotely uninteresting, and it was slightly unsettling to see a young woman gazing so longingly at basically the equivalent of dirt. And then - in the light of the sunset - he spotted a flash of scaly green, and surmised this was the fish princess from the world he was on - Atlantica - with an odd longing for something warm and dry.

Intrigued, Axel leaned lazily against the rock outcropping, wishing the night would cool down faster; as his element was fire, he always carried an internal heat source of sorts that kept him warm at all times, but the extra sun on top of the black, heat-absorbing coat was a bit much - he was considering shedding his coat to further enjoy the cool night air that was bound to come. It was unfortunate enough that he'd been sent to such a world - last he checked, water and fire did not mix - but perhaps it was worth it, if he got to meet the redheaded princess. Princesses were always a thing of mocking curiosity to him; sure, any girl may act all tough and stubborn, but in the end, they were always vain, childish, naïve. In other words, everything that he found easy to mock.

Ariel herself did not notice the redhead until he called out to her, making himself heard over the rush of the sea, "Yo, Princess!"

She flinched, blue eyes wide in panic, spotting the smirking young man waving to her with two fingers. Immediately she felt the urge to flee - as much as she argued with her father, she did know better than to immediately trust a complete stranger, and something about him felt kind of shifty (plus he somehow knew of her rank, that in itself was enough to make her suspicious) - and was just beginning to lower herself into the water when he casually called out again.

"What, leaving already? You're not getting cold fins, are you?"

"I most certainly am not," she found herself arguing, poking her head out from behind the rock, a frown on her face as she chastised the stranger, before ducking behind her rock again. It wasn't until a moment later did she register the oddity of the phrase coming out of a human's mouth, one without any fins or gills or tentacles. In spite of herself, she lifted her head once more, brushing her wet hair out of her eyes. And then she blushed very lightly.

While Her Highness had been in the process of debating whether or not to reveal herself, Axel had grown bored, and decided to spice up the moment with a little flair of himself - and he'd already been thinking of carrying out the idea earlier. He plucked of his gloves, dropping them unceremoniously to the warm sand below him, and was in the process of removing his long, dark coat - which had sucked in more than a fair share of heat during the day - when he heard a squeak coming from the direction of the rock. He chuckled, allowing his cover to drop to the ground, relishing as the salty sea wind played across his now bare torso.

"Ahh, that's more like it." He grinned impishly over at the girl - and in the fading crimson light, he definitely caught a splash of red across her cheeks. (Well all right, maybe it had simply been her hair blowing in her face, but what woman in their right mind wouldn't be blushing around him?) "Why don'tcha swim on over here so we can get properly introduced."

Ariel was - being a mermaid and all - used to naked torsos. (And the material that was covering his legs - pants, she thought - was still there, and thank goodness for that, because she'd heard a number of children's tales when she was younger of what human men kept in their pants. Her curiosity didn't extend to monsters.) But the uncaring way he'd simply removed his clothing right there, right in front of her… well. Any right-minded soul would be appropriately mortified.

Nonetheless, she was still curious. And as anyone who'd ever known her knew, she'd do whatever she could to satiate that curiosity.

So when he invited her closer, her heart did a very distinct ba-thump. Right this moment, she had a very easy way to learn more about humans… Trusting as she was, it did occur for a moment that he might try and hurt her, but she'd yet to see any hooks on his person, so she figured she was fairly safe. As any merperson knew, a hook often meant being dragged relentlessly onto the shore and … discovered.

But he already seemed to know - or at least, have an inkling - of what she was.

After he'd issued his request, he only had to wait a moment before the fish girl slipped herself into the water and swam over to him, emerging at a slightly smaller rock much closer to shore. He almost laughed aloud at the naïve way she'd immediately accepted his presence as benign; she had no idea that he could incinerate her in a second, of course, but she couldn't be that stupid as to think any random guy wouldn't have any weapons on their person unless they visibly acted like a maniac.

Hmm, this was bound to be fun.

As he watched her gracefully pull herself up onto the rock, Axel's eyes finally caught sight of it - the tail. The green fin that made her so much different from him, that could propel her through water, yet never allow her to live properly on land; that made her basically of an entirely different species. Vexen had always been interested in how these creatures functioned properly - and reproduced - but Axel was not too bothered with the mysteries of merfolk. They had to do with water after all; they couldn't be that interesting, considering Demyx.

"So," he drawled, the smirk gracing his lips again, "the name's Axel." He tapped his temple lightly with his index finger. "Got it memorized, Princess?"

"Don't call me Princess." The declaration came out before the introduction - that seemed to be hardly needed in present company - and Ariel watched as surprised flickered briefly across this 'Axel's' face, and then he was relaxed again.

"Very well, Your Highness. Why don't you tell me what I should call you?"

Ariel blew out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through her wet hair again. Axel seemed determined to be purposely infuriating, as if dangling in front of her nose certain information that he shouldn't even know without bothering to tell her where he got it. After a moment of grumpy pouting, the mermaid finally relented. "Ariel. Call me Ariel… please."

"Please, huh?" Now came the mocking. The smirk on Axel's face grew at the sight of frustration on the mermaid's face. He loved provoking others, it gave him a dangerous high - playing with fire, if you will. Which suited him perfectly. "Sure, whatever you say, Princess Ariel." He stooped into a slight bow, the catty grin never leaving his face, his eyes never leaving hers.

She huffed in disgust, but he could tell it was hard for her to stay truly angry when she was so intrigued by his appearance. He saw her eyes move up to his hair, and he almost groaned; here came the question of how he made it defy gravity like that… Finally, she blurted out:

"Can a dingle hopper really do that?" She gestured in amazement to his hair.

A beat.

Axel struggled for words to voice his bewilderment. "… you smokin' the sea weed, kid?" he managed finally. He had absolutely no idea what this "dingle hopper" was; if used in a different context, he'd say it'd sound almost dirty.

She blinked those huge blue eyes. "What?"

"Ugh. Never mind." He ran his fingers through his aforementioned mane, allowing himself another grin. "I s'pose you're gonna ask if it's natural now, huh? Well, yeah, it kind of -"

"I wasn't," she interrupted him, and started twirling a strand of her own violently red hair, grinning at him with a sort of mischievous yet innocent spark.

He was taken aback for words yet again, and squinted at her, frowning slightly. He dictated the awkward silences, the mocking, the fun. He owned the conversation, and did not allow himself to be one-upped by anyone. Especially not a prissy stuck-up Princess.

Though, in all honesty, she didn't seem quite that stuck-up. Just… innocently curious.

Ariel flinched slightly underneath the green stare of his narrowed eyes, but she didn't feel it was quite that unfriendly, so she kept her gaze in place, not allowing herself to back down simply because he felt he needed to establish his control. She'd seen that look enough in Sebastian and Daddy, the look of control, and she didn't much care for it anymore.

And then, he started laughing. And she was decidedly thrown for a loop.

She sat on the rock in silence until his gales subsided, and to the silence he said something even more unexpected:

"I like you, Princess. You're cute."

The mermaid blushed - oh no think of your prince think of your prince - and stammered out, bemused, "Th-thank you?"

"You're welcome." Axel smirked again, before pulling off his dark boots. He flopped them lackadaisically onto the beach, and as he started rolling up his pant legs, he felt her curious gaze on him. He knew she was still quite pink in the face from his previous statement, and he couldn't contain a quiet chuckle. Ahh, control was his again. She may be queen - no, princess - of the water, but he knew how to heat it up, and there was nothing she could do but squirm in the temperature. And he'd love watching her.

As he straightened up again, he gave her a hearty wink before striding into the salty water. While it would have been cold to the normal human being, his body temperature allowed his heat to be sustained, and actually warm a bit of the water around him. Thus he still remained at a comfortable body temperature - even if he was a bit irked by the fact that he was in water. Water was Demyx's element, not his.

Ariel watched him as he neared, her heart pounding again, sure her face was pink again. As one of the princesses of Atlantica, it was beneath her dignity to be treated as such by a human - but she'd never much stood for the laws of courtesy in her home, preferring to do things her way. But no matter how rebellious she could be, there were still certain things ingrained into her mind from childhood: always treat others with dignity, and do NOT let anyone treat you with anything below that. Well, Axel was certainly not being dignified, respectful, or well-mannered… which only made him all the more subject to her curiosity.

He looked like he liked to play. Ariel enjoyed playing, even as a teenager.

So when he finally reached her rock, and ran the back of his fingers lightly across her cheek, she did not reproach him for being too forward - and Sebastian wasn't around to reproach him for her. Sure, she blushed, as any girl would do when put on the spot, human or mermaid; but she did not do the ladylike thing and tell him to back off. Not even with Prince Eric lurking on her mind. After all, they were just playing… right?

It was odd. His hand left a trail of warmth on her cheek, oddly heated. She figured it was simply human hands; they were warmer because they were constantly warmed by the sun. Though, Eric hadn't been this warm when she'd saved him from drowning…

Axel winced at the wetness of her cheek, and quickly shook his fingers in disgust, hoping to get the water off - though his grin betrayed how much fun he was really having. After all, water was very becoming on the fish princess; it sparkled and shimmered on her lithe form in the fading light. And speaking of her form… she was so slender, so thin, and so young. She looked barely older than Naminé or Kairi, seventeen at most. (He could tell by the shell bra, which he was definitely enjoying.) And Lea had been in his early twenties when he lost his heart to the Heartless, making Axel around that age, and placing quite a few years between him and the mermaid.

That was fine by him, though. In fact, it made the predator inside him roar with delight.

The pyro placed one hand on either side of the princess on the rock, making their heads level. It was odd how alike they looked in some ways - both very thin, with eyes like the sea and wild red hair. Ariel's breath caught in her throat, but she couldn't lean back from him (though not for lack of trying; playing is one thing, personal space is another). He was grinning crookedly, and looked as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself. She couldn't say anything, anything at all, as though she'd lost her voice again.

Eventually, he broke the silence. "All this water would normally suck but… today, it's got its perks."

And then his lips were on hers.

In the last flashing moments of the sunset, they were both bathed in red light; Ariel's wild red hair fluttered in the wind, while Axel's swayed lazily, mirroring his personality. When they finally broke apart, they both felt the warmth, the pyro's internal heat spreading to the mermaid and enveloping them in a rosy light.

And for the next couple of weeks - even though they knew they'd probably never see one another again - they couldn't stop seeing in red.

A/N: Well, first chapter of a series of drabbles, complete! I have seven planned (so six more to go) - and possibly two bonus chapters afterwards if this gets enough lovin' - and I have to say I'm excited. I've been planning this for a while now, but only now have I had the muse to launch my diabolical plan.

I didn't expect this chapter in particular to be this long. I didn't expect the characters to get along as well as they did. I was wrong; it was four pages, and they got along famously. (: (I do hope they were in character, however...) In fact, I enjoyed writing Axel/Ariel so much that I might actually write more in the future! However, that's the only look at them that we'll get in this series of drabbles; I don't plan to reuse characters or worlds. So that's also the last glance we'll have at Atlantica as well. But don't fret! I have plenty of fun things planned for Squeenix/Disney pairings (:

I hope whoever reads this enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing this. 'cause it was loads of fun.

I plan to have weekly updates (though the heavens know I have trouble sticking to deadline plans like that). So y'all should review to keep my drive for this going, kay?

I'll finish up with the disclaimer like I usually do. I don't own any Squeenix characters or Disney characters, no matter how much I love them/torture them. Some days I wish I owned them, but alas... no owney for me.

P.S. for the "an artist does not have merely one or two favorite colors to work with; they have a whole spectrum" thing? (Yes, I made that up myself (: ) Umm it's a not-so-subtle reference to the fact that a lot of the stories on fanfiction here involve a lot of the same characters. It's nice to see stories that actually incorporate the Disney characters in a good way - as they do make up over half of both KH and KHII. Not that I'm against a well-written fanfiction with the usual characters, mind. I just like to see a little originality in character usage once in a while, that's all (: Not trying to offend anyone, of course. Use whomoever you'd like when composing your fanfics! -rambling now- all right all right I'm done.