Been away for a long time and I only come back with a oneshot done on a whim with a silly ship? Sorry guys, I'm the worst.

Disclaimer don't own. blah blah.

"Namine."

She looked up from the sketchpad with eyes as blue as the noontime sky. The black edges of the portal twisted against the white of the walls, leaving sickening etchings on the back of her eyelids every time she blinked. A cloaked figure stepped through the dark gate, hood pulled low over his eyes. Namine's fingers clenched around a green pencil until the man lowered his hood, revealing fire-red hair.

"Oh, Axel. It's you," she said, a smile softening her face.

"Worried it wouldn't be?" he asked, crossing to a seat beside her and throwing himself in it. He slouched over the arm and let his head roll back. His limbs went lax as tension drained from him, but the little crease between his eyebrows remained. The Roxas Crease.

"Saix has been…difficult," Namine said. "I'm suspicious that he thinks I'm a verbal punching bag whenever he has a bad day."

"Just draw him falling in a hole or something." Silence stretched away from him, broken only by her brief giggle. Namine debated asking him what Roxas did, what he said now. But no, he was Sora, not Roxas, and this distinction made her return to her sketchbook with questions unvoiced. The quiet companionship was a welcome change from the other members. The plethora of psychopathy was exhausting after a while. Axel never wanted anything. Simply a place to hide away and be at peace for a time. Namine sympathized.

"Got you something," he said. She looked up in surprise as he opened a small portal and shoved his arm in up to his shoulder. He dug around for a bit before pulling out a handful of paint tubes and some brushes. Namine's eyes lit up with joy she wasn't supposed to feel as he set them on the table in a messy pile.

"You shouldn't have!" Namine crowed, leaping up to throw her arms around him, falling in his lap in the process. Axel tensed before patting her shoulder with a stiff hand.

"Don't, uh, mention it," he said as she flounced over to the table to investigate her spoils.

"You are officially my favorite," she said, squirting a blob of yellow on a scrap sheet of paper and crossing to the wall. She loaded the brush and started painting a giant yellow sun. The color was much more vibrant than her pencils, giving the room the brilliance Namine craved.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Axel asked as she worked. Namine glanced behind her and nodded.

"Of course."

"You think…you think we don't really have hearts?" he asked. Namine paused, the brush bristles hovering over the wall. What to say? Namine couldn't deny the joy she felt as Axel's thoughtfulness. The fact that he was thoughtful at all said something. She stepped away from the wall to look at all the things she'd drawn there. Sora, Donald, and Goofy graced the space in various ways, and they gave her hope. The Organization threw off anxiety and fear. DiZ…DiZ was complicated.

And then there was Roxas. Roxas made her feel many things. Namine glanced back at Axel, who was staring at her with a curious intensity as he waited for her answer. She beckoned, and he rose to join her at the wall.

"Is it Roxas?" she asked.

"Isn't it always?" he responded, gazing at image of XIII. Namine touched his arm, and he looked down at her with a gaze that reminded her of the deepest ocean crevice, secrets included.

"All I know is that I feel like I have a heart," she said. "I feel like you do, too. Even if we're just pretending, it's better than nothing at all."

"I guess," he said. He looked back at scribbled Roxas, unconvinced. Struck with an idea, Namine took his hand and guided him back to the table. He trailed behind her like a kite tail at the mercy of a storm. With soft hands, she unzipped his coat down to his ribs and pushed it down over his left shoulder, exposing his chest. She squeezed out a glob of red paint, loaded her brush, and set the bristles against his skin. She laced the fingers of her free hand through his as she pulled the brush along in two strokes, drawing a dripping heart on his bare chest.

"Namine," he said. The intensity of his eyes took her breath away.

"Axel."

"You know if I could love, I'd love Roxas, right?"

"Then we have something in common," Namine said.

"I guess so," he replied. He took the brush out of her hand, set it on the table, and took her other hand. "Is that enough to connect?"

"It's enough for a small comfort," Namine said. Axel leaned down as she rose on her tiptoes. Her lips collided with his, soft but desperate. She wondered if her heart would be thundering, if she had one. As her hands tangled in hair she could have sworn was blonde and his bleeding heart smeared against her white dress, she clung to their single connection and gave him a shadow of all the love she couldn't possibly have. And for just a moment, everything was a twist of Axel, Roxas, and light.