A/N: This is what my brain produces when I'm trying to study for exams. Not sure whether to put this as Sora/Axel or Roxas/Axel, or if I should label it as angst, because it isn't really, so I won't define it for now. If you know what I should define this as, please tell me.

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New Beginnings

Sora inspected himself in the shop window, ruffling his hair into its new style. His hair had always been spiky, but after the haircut, it seemed to have only one instead of his usual three. Looking himself over, especially checking the new colour of his hair, he nodded. Dyeing his hair blond was a spur of the moment thing, but he didn't look bad, just different. He didn't regret it, though he did regret that he couldn't legally change his identity until he was eighteen, he still had to wait a year, but even so, he had no idea what he would change his name to. His life was just one day at a time, no plans for the future and no dreams or hopes to work towards.

The world moved on around him as he stood there, gazing at his reflection, analyzing his life since he had run away two months before. He had been living on the money he earned from doing whatever jobs he could find around this oddball town. He was living in a run down apartment that had been going cheap because everyone thought that it had been taken over by bugs with little yellow eyes. The local folk called them the 'Heartless' and they were rumoured to wander the streets when it rained, looking for hearts to devour. Sora didn't care. He was just grateful to have a roof over his head.

The sky became overcast with angry dark clouds, but Sora didn't notice at all. He still stood there, long after the last people had hurried away to hide from the rain and the Heartless it brought out. His reflection stared back at him, equally still and face, equally sad. Sora looked down. When he had envisioned a new life, he had not expected this.

'Hey there, Blondie,' called out a voice from behind him.

Startled, Sora crashed back down to earth and found that he wasn't alone, staring at the store window. Now, a person with wild red hair and bright green eyes stood behind him, smiling and seemingly having not a care in the world, as if talking to random people on the street was a normal thing to do. Although, Sora mused, it wouldn't be surprising if it was normal, knowing this town.

'It's gonna rain soon, so you'd better find get moving or the Heartless will take your heart,' joked the redhead, bringing Sora's attention back to the person behind him.

Sora lowered his gaze and looked at the ground, finding a spot on his shoe to focus on, and muttered a barely audible 'they're welcome to it,' before shoving his hands inside his pockets and walking down the road, avoiding any eye contact.

'Whoa there Blondie,' said the red head, reaching out to grab onto Sora's arm, 'why don't I treat you to dinner? You look like you need it'll and stop you from offering yourself to the Heartless. You can't just give up your heart like that you know? It's your most precious possession. Imagine what it would be like to not have a heart.' The man shuddered.

Sora, a little taken aback by the offer and all too aware of his dwindling supply of money, accepted. The red head smiled toothily and grabbed his arm, dragging him to the nearest café.

As they sat down, the red haired man said, 'My name is Axel. That's A-X-E-L, got it memorized?' He waited for a name in return, but it never came.

Sora grunted and stared at the menu he was gripping in his hands, though he was not reading it. He just didn't want to look the red head directly in the eye. There was something about Axel that unsettled him. His cheerfulness and outgoing behaviour reminded him of when he was younger.

His thoughts were interrupted by the waiter asking for their orders.

Axel seemed to know the guy, so Sora just let him order whatever. When the waiter left, Axel plopped his chin in the palm of his hand, his arm propped up on the table. Sora could feel his stare on the top of his head.

'Don't I get a name in return Blondie?'

Sora froze. The sentence 'my name is Sora' on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. He had never really seen himself as 'Sora' ever since he had run away. No, 'Sora' had been left behind on Destiny Islands along with his family, his dreams and him.

'Call me whatever you want,' said Sora eventually, faking nonchalance and acting bored, 'just not Sora.' He added as an afterthought.

Axel's lips quirked upwards. 'Not Sora?' He thought for a few seconds before grabbing his napkin and a pen from inside his jacket and starting to scribble furiously. After a few minutes, he was done. 'Look' he said, shoving the napkin into Sora's line of sight.

At the very top were the words 'NOT SORA' with the 'not' replaced by an 'x'. After that there were different combinations of the letters X, S, O, R and A, most of which were crossed out. That is what most of the napkin was filled with, but in the lower left hand corner, there was a word that had been circled many times over:

ROXAS

'What does that all mean?' he asked, wrinkling his nose in confusion, although he had a sneaking suspicion already as to what it was.

Axel laughed delightedly obviously pleased with himself, 'It's your new name of course! You're not Sora right? Well, 'x' also means 'not', and when you rearrange the letters, you get 'Roxas'!'

Sora thought about it, mulling over the name 'Roxas', before slowly raising his head to look Axel in the eye for the first time. What he saw in those eyes was nothing like what he had imagined. In there he saw childishness, boundless energy and stubbornness, all of which he had had back in Destiny Islands before the incident, but there was also gentleness, intelligence, maturity, a wild streak and extreme protectiveness reflected in those eyes.

'Roxas' murmured Sora, still thinking it over. After a while, he reached a conclusion. For the first time in months, Sora let himself smile. It wasn't anything spectacular, it couldn't even be classified as a smile, just a mere twitching of the lips, but it felt good. It signified a new beginning for him, as Roxas, in this oddball town called The World That Never Was.

The End