Chapter One

Promises

Maybe she was right. Axel had left for another, and I couldn't do anything about it now. Namine, standing next to me, saying these absurd words that pass through my willing ears as lies, were true. But he had promised me. He even gave me a look in the eyes that could crumble anyone to their knees and beg for forgiveness. Now, looking back at the biggest mistake I had made by refusing it, by finding out that the most important thing just escaped my grasp. Namine was not a liar, so I knew she was telling the truth.

I sat down, my legs swinging off the edge of the sand colored ledge of the clock tower, looking down at Twilight town, Sea Salt Ice cream in my hand. Memories of our previous conversations up here flashed by my mind, Axel even tried holding my hand, but being blind at the time, I refused his touch, his soft caress if his capable hands. I let the ice cream fall to the long distance to the wet gravel path. A tear fell from my blue eyes; Namine had taken a spot next to me, looking down as well.

As if crying could repair the damage he had made to my body now.

Namine looked at me through her light hair, "Are you okay Roxas?"

I looked up at her and smirked darkly, "Does it look like I am?"

She recoiled from my smart-ass remark, "Oh, I'm sorry…"

A sigh escaped my lips, "Namine, I'm sorry."

All she did was nod and look away.

Once again, memories flashed back through my mind. I closed my eyes and released my grip on the edge of the tower. I could feel myself sliding down slowly, then the air rushing past me. Namine's small voice was carried into the wind, making it sound like glass being broken. My golden hair whipped in the wind, almost matching the color of the sky. The sun stood out, the red, glowing sun. The clock tower struck six times, once for every second until I hit the gravel road. Instead of falling down with a splat and a crack, two secure warm arms caught my limp body with a low oomph sound.

I fluttered my eyes open and met a pair of emerald green ones, shining in the red sunlight. They studied my face intently, trying to find the answer to my long fall.

A smile broke across my lips, "Axel…"

Axel's eyes still searched my face. The scent of cinnamon and vanilla wafted around me, which only made me smile wider. "What were you thinking?" He finally asked.

I stared up at his sharp, pale features, his dark tear drop tattoos burned onto his cheeks, right below his green eyes that complimented his red hair. I opened my small mouth to speak, but not finding the words to push out of it.

He let out a sigh, giving me a disapproving look, "If I wouldn't have seen you in time, you could have been dead right now."

The corner of my lips sagged a bit, "I didn't know…I wasn't trying to…"

Axel hushed me, "Don't say anything. Who are you with anyways?"

"Namine."

"Namine?" He looked up at the clock tower, where my perch was. I looked up as well, following his cold gaze. The last thing of Namine I saw was the tail of her white dress as she turned around, walking around the corner of the clock.

After Axel had put me down, I tried going after Namine, but he grabbed my wrist saying that it wasn't a good choice to follow her. Then he offered me something I couldn't resist.

He gave me the look again, his usually hard green eyes softened, "Come back to my apartment Roxas." This isn't the only time he had asked me that question and it isn't the only time I have gone over. We were friends after all…right? So I nodded, smiling widely.

I didn't understand how come I felt good around him when Namine told me that he was already with another and that they were living together. I guess that is just how love works.

Axel's apartment is quaint. Sitting on the second floor I had to climb up a flight of stairs to reach his door. Having a dark color scheme and a mellow mood, I can make myself right at home. Axel opened the forest green door with a golden 8 on it. I stepped through the threshold, smiling at the old scents coming from the apartment.

He closed the door after himself, leaving us in the dark. "What's wrong little man?" Axel asked as he flicked on the living room lights.

My eyes blinked a couple of times to adjust to the bright white lights, "Nothing, it's just that I haven't been here in a long time, you know?" I sat at one of the tall bar stools, leaning against the brown marble.

"I know." He grinned and looked through the fridge. "Want anything?"

I cleared my throat, "Yes, an answer."

Axel looked up with a piece of turkey dangling from his mouth set into a grin, "An answer?" He closed the fridge with his toe, coming to lean on the counter in front of me. "What do you mean Rox?"

My heart gave a little flutter at the sound of my old nickname that we gave each other in sixth grade. I held onto the feeling, the memories. Every time I saw Axel, well since yesterday, my heart skips a beat. I cleared my throat again, "I heard something about you."

"About?" He urged, chewing on the piece of turkey.

I pursed my lips, "Well, I don't know if its true, but I want to make sure." A pause, "Namine told me—"

Axel put his hands up, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, back the hell up, don't you know not to trust that bitch anymore? I thought we went through this already."

It was true. Since that day she lied to us about Sora, we knew not to trust her, but she's my friend. I had to. "Axel, Namine doesn't lie to me. I'm her friend."

He snorted, "I'm your friend too and I still lied to you. That doesn't mean shit Rox." Axel took another bite of his turkey slice.

I watched him chew, "Anyways, she told me, well, after what you said."

Axel stopped chewing and swallowed, looking down at the brown marble then. He had said, the day before, that he loved me. I hadn't returned an answer, much less a glance. The room got awkwardly quiet. I shuffled in my chair and it felt like I was underwater, drowning with silence. I decided to go on, "Well, Namine said that you already found another person to love…?" I looked up through my blonde hair in my eyes.

Axel was still looking down. "That's a fucking lie."

"What?" I asked, not sure I heard him correctly.

He looked up at me, his green eyes liquid. "She's fucking lying. I haven't found anyone and I'm not planning to."

I knew that Namine had a crush on me, but I was starting to think that she had taken it too far. She knew I couldn't love her back. She expected the world, I expected Axel. This was turning into more than a crush, this was now obsession. Trying to ruin my life by telling me that Axel had found someone else to love so I could run into her arms, crying and saying that I loved her? It sickened me. "Ax…" I started.

He shushed me, "Let me finish." His green eyes hardened, making me sit up in my chair. "I know I promised you many things."

I nodded.

"I promised you safety. Safety from what's out there waiting to harm you and if you stood by my side, I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I promised to never hurt you and never lie to you." Axel cracked a smile, "Now I have another."

I smiled, "Another?"

"Yes, another," he mocked my voice. "I promise to love you."

My blue eyes shot up to meet his green ones. "What are you saying Axel?"

His hands reached for mine, throwing the piece of turkey in the sink. "I'm saying that I promise to love you. I have never wanted to love another human being more than I want to love you." He held my small hands in his large ones, playing with my skin until he raised goose bumps.

I knew that my brother Sora and his best friend, now boyfriend, Riku were gay, but I didn't find out that Axel was gay until two days ago, when he admitted that he loved me. Being best friends since middle school, he always struck me as the womanizer, the one with all the girls. I stumbled to catch up to him, "You can't promise something like that Axel."

A dark look swept across his pale face, "I just did." Then, slowly, he leaned across the small space separating us, and placed his warm lips on mine. When our lips touched for the first time, my mind exploded with different feelings and thoughts. Soon I found myself kissing him back, my hand instinctively reaching behind his head to tangle itself in his spiky red hair, as if I have done this many times before, but to tell the truth, this was my first kiss. I felt his lips get more urgent on mine, his hand traveled over my shoulder to grab my neck. Axel pulled us apart many times, just to whisper my name, coming in for another kiss soon after. For the first time, I felt complete. Namine's lie fell onto the floor below, sinking into the linoleum forever.