A/N: There really aren't many oneshots centered around Axel or Olivia, and they're supposed to be members of the core five. Apparently, they don't even get enough recognition from the game creators themselves. So I decided to make a twoshot based around these two.

This really isn't my best work, but I'm posting it anyway.

A loud bang! surfaced through the frail, crumbling walls of the treehouse.

He pressed his large fists against the side of the wall, breathing heavily as he let another pang of anger escape him. His body shook slightly from the silent sobs that were leaving him, burying his shaggy mess of dark hair by nuzzling his head into his sleeves. His knees buckled beneath him, sending his defeated form to the ground, his face still hidden by his hands.

It hurt so much.

With his eyes still slightly red and his body still trembling, Axel rose to his feet and gazed around at his treehouse. At his home.

At their home.

Axel, Olivia, and Jesse's home. Theirs. They'd built it and designed it themselves, and it had remained untouched since the moment they stepped out. The armour stands, the bookshelves, the oak walls that were plastered with pictures of the Order of the Stone...it was exactly the same.

But to Axel...it wasn't the same. In fact, it was as far from the same as it was possible to get.

Because ever since they stepped out of that treehouse, everything had changed.

If it wasn't due to the fact that he'd just gone through a hell of a long time running for his life and screaming a ton in the process, landing on Lukas every now and then was something that most considered amusing (not including Lukas, of course). But what wasn't amusing was what he was running from.

The Witherstorm. That three-headed monstrosity was clearly unlike anything the world had ever seen. But being some of the only survivors out there, he, Lukas, Petra, Olivia and...Jesse had set out to destroy it.

And they destroyed it all right. The toxic, murky purple that the sky displayed had turned a bright blue that Axel had longed to see for the entirety of the three weeks he'd been away from his home. The grass was back to normal, the animals returning to their appropriate habitats...other than the fact that towns were still in need of a redesign, it was almost normal. The Witherstorm was dead. It was gone.

But so was Jesse.

In the midst of all the chaos, the only person who was brave enough to go into that Witherstorm was Jesse. Even with all its freaky heads, its slimy tentacles, and its earth-quaking roars, she was determined to end it, once and for all.

So in she went.

And out...well, to everyone's absolute horror, she hadn't come back out as herself. She hadn't come back out at all. The only evidence of the girl who'd given her life for the benefit of all was her body, bloody and crippled on the ground.

No one knew what had happened in the Witherstorm, and no one ever would. Seeing the state that Jesse was in at the time, she was certainly in no position to tell them. She'd barely managed to say her final goodbyes before her blood was drained out onto the grass, taking her life with it.

He still heard what she'd said to him moments before they all watched her life spill out in front of her. It repeated in his head, tearing down his walls of sanity and making him cry out in dolor once more. A few tears rolled down his cheeks in a painful, steady stream.

They were crowned the New Order of the Stone, saviors of everyone and defeaters of the Witherstorm. Without her.

It was all a lie.

If only he'd done something different. If only he'd gone with her into the storm. If only he hadn't stolen Ivor's fancy potion. If only he'd been nicer to Lukas. If only he'd helped Petra and Jesse find Ivor back in Endercon. If only he wasn't so useless.

If only a lot of things.

Axel gripped a few tufts of black hair and pulled on them viciously, this time screaming out in anguish and banging on the walls in his grief. It made no difference. He pounded his fists against the wall until his knuckles began to bleed. He brought his bloody hands to either side of his head and slid down the wall into a sitting position.

Well, he couldn't only blame himself. That's not what Jesse would've wanted. He had to partially share the blame with Ivor.

"Ivor." Axel spat the name like venom on his tongue, his voice low and menacing. Just...how could someone be so stupid? As much as he hated to admit it, Axel could confess that he had, in fact, done some pretty idotic things in his life. But what Ivor had done? That was beyond the idiocy limit. As Jesse had once said, he'd "revealed the mistakes of others at the cost of the world itself!"

Idiot.

And Soren! The disappointment strikes once again. He had left Axel, Olivia and Jesse alone with the monstrosity that his command block had created. The nerve of that man.

"Soren, you coward! I can't believe you!"

Heh. Neither could Axel, Jesse.

And then there were the rest of the Order of the Dysfunctional Liars. The remaining Order members, as they soon found out, were just as brave and threatening as a pair of hopped-up ocelots. Which is, to say, not at all.

Well, in all honesty, Axel had to give Magnus some credit. He did give Jesse his armor, after all.

Which led to the fact that the only reason he gave it to her was because he lacked her courage to set off the Formidi-Bomb. Same could be said for Ellegaard, who was just equally as chicken as her teammates. Argh!

And as a result, Magnus lost his life.

Axel huffed an angry breath and inhaled deeply. He buried his face in his hands, massaging his temples with two fingers as he tried to calm his breathing and his frantic heartbeat.

How could he protect everyone and defend the town without the emotional support that his best friend, who had been sent to an early grave, offered? He wasn't the hero that he was cut out to be! Why was it the strongest that had to fall? It would've been so much easier if they just all died in the Witherstorm. He didn't deserve the glory, not when he could even save the one he loved. He didn't deserve the fame. He didn't deserve their admiration, their love, and most importantly, their trust.