AN: I wanted to work on nothing but Even Angels Can Be Cruel this summer, but I have failed. I wanted to remake this so badly, because the first version sucked out loud. It's not really an original idea, just how Axel and Roxas met and the eventual future that leads to Axel's demise. Stuff like that. It's just my take on it and what I think happened. I hope you enjoy, and I hope that there are still some fans left over from When Land Meets Sky or Attempted Suicide.

Disclaimer: I don't own it


There was nothing in this world, Axel thought, that wasn't predetermined by whatever being watched over them. Not that he really believed in God or anything. Or, more specifically, not some big all-knowing person sitting in the clouds all day watching. No, if he believe in any sort of God, it would probably be the earth itself. Though, as a Nobody, even that was hard to maintain. The question of God was always present in his mind and more often than was probably necessary he renounced his faith, only to pick it back up again in a few hours. He supposed it wasn't so much fear of not believing, but more like needing something to cling to. Even someone with no heart needed to believe in something.

Everyone else thought he was crazy. If there was a God, they said, he's forsaken us already. Nobody cares about a bunch of Nobodies. But Axel didn't agree. If nobody was watching over them, then it would mean the twelve members would run around crazy all the time, instead of banding together like they had. Something-or, someone-was controlling them in some way. And he just couldn't believe it was Xemnas.

Such were his thoughts as he snuck away from the large skyscraper in the center of The World That Never Was. Any break he could get from the others was a welcome sort of loneliness. He had never been one for company, which didn't matter anyway because they didn't have hearts. Nobody here really liked company. But they endured it for who knew what reasons.

Axel breathed in deeply through his nose as he leaned against the wall, trying to catch the dank smell of mold or the earthy dirt. Nothing; this place was completely scentless.

More like soulless, he thought to himself. That probably wasn't far off the marker. The residents didn't have hearts, and by extension souls. Why should the place they resided in have one?

The redhead kicked the wall he was leaning on, inexplicably angry. He shouldn't be so ungrateful for this place. After all, it was the only place he could go. No other world would accept a Nobody as a resident. But what most would fail to realize is that to reside with your own kind is horribly depressing. Every day, you're reminded of what you are, and what you can never be. It's like lepers all living together in a small house. If they look around, the only thing they see is other lepers. It's a soul-crushing reality; to know very well that you're existence is meaningless and unwanted. But then again, you would need a soul for that to truly apply.

Axel gazed around him, at the tall, seemingly endless buildings around him. This wasn't even a real city. These buildings had no doors to enter. They were only here to make the place seem less empty. But, as any Nobody would tell you, this place would be empty if there were a million people in it. There was just something about the place that was crushing and choking. Soulless, as he had said before. And something with a soul shouldn't exist. So why were they there?

Axel rounded the corner into a particularly small crevice between three buildings, almost like a room. Except, of course, it didn't have a roof. But it still provided some semblance of privacy, which was more than could be said of anywhere else in this place.

He sat in a small corner, frowning in annoyance as his spine was wedged in between two very close buildings. There was very little chance anyone would ever find him here. Then again, there was little chance anyone would come looking for him. He didn't resent them for not doing it, but there was a part of him, a part that could still remember what it was like to be a Somebody, that sort of missed the company of others. It was a weird feeling, and one he would rather be without.

A lot of humans, he'd observed, believed in some sort of God. He was always different, and sometimes he wasn't even one entity, but there was always a presence in their lives regardless. Staring up at the starless sky of The World That Never Was, and the strange heart-shaped moon that never left the sky, Axel couldn't really believe in any sort of God. What kind of God, after all, would allow a place like this to exist?

"Why are we here?" Axel questioned to the darkness, almost to himself. That was the never-ending question, wasn't it? Nobody knew why Nobodies existed. They were just there one day, prepared to do nothing more than steal hearts from those who had them and rightfully deserved them. They were nothing more than glorified thieves, if anything. And even of Xemnas promised them over and over again that once Kingdom Hearts was complete they would all become human, Axel couldn't bring himself to believe that. Neither did the others, he suspected. They were probably all as apathetic to the endeavor as he was. But they all just kept doing what Xemnas asked them to do, simply because everything needed a purpose.

A loud sob broke through the darkness before Axel, startling him out of his depressing thoughts. What could be crying, in this desolate place? He was gripped with a great need to find this thing. He needed to know there was something that could still feel here.

He conjured a small fireball on the tip of his finger and stepped forward slowly, carefully, lest he accidentally crush the thing he was looking for. His eyes scanned the floor for the source of the noise. Even with the light source, it took him a good amount of time to find the thing he was seeking; it was a young boy, lying naked on the ground.

Axel leaned down to inspect the boy. It seemed he hadn't noticed the pyro yet, even with the light source flickering away in the airless space. He didn't seem to be older than late teenage years, but he was still crying like a little kid. Axel reached out the hand that wasn't controlling the fire and laid it on the boy's shoulder. That at last got a reaction out of him; he flinched away.

"Go away," he whispered desperately. "Just go away. I don't want to be eaten…Please…" Axel frowned.

"I'm not going to eat you," he said, scrunching up his nose. "Are you a new Nobody?"

"No…body…?" The boy said slowly, as if he didn't understand the words. At least he had stopped crying for the moment. "I…I don't know…"

"Can you remember anything?" He asked impatiently. That was usually the first order of business; find out if they remembered anything. If they didn't, take them to Xemnas. "Do you know your name?"

"I…I can't remember anything…"

"Your name," Axel repeated. Even if the new ones couldn't remember anything about their previous life, they usually had a name at least.

"Roxas," he said; it was the only thing he said with any certainty. "Who are you?"

Ignoring the question, Axel hauled the young boy to his feet roughly and set him upright unsteadily. The boy swayed, and Axel had to keep a hand on him to make sure he didn't fall. Taking in Roxas' naked state, Axel groaned and pulled off his cloak and draped it over the boy's shoulders. It was huge on him.

It took a few moments for the blonde boy to get the hang of walking, but after some prompting he was able to follow unsteadily after Axel. He kept his face turned down and seemed like he was desperately trying not to cry. Axel fell back into step with him to help a little more. He felt a little pity for the boy. Being a newbie wasn't good here.

The blonde boy tripped over seemingly nothing, and clung to Axel's arm for less than a second before falling on all four and dry heaving. Tears began to fall down his face again, and he whimpered with the effort of trying to keep them silent. Axel kneeled down next to him, intending to haul him up again, but was stopped when he said,

"When…when does it stop…hurting here?"

Axel frowned, taken aback by the question. As far as he knew, the transition wasn't painful. Or at least, it wasn't that painful.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. "It might never stop." A particularly loud sob ripped through the air and the boy wrapped his arms around himself.

"It feels like I'm being ripped in half," he whispered. "Death can't be this painful…why am I not dead?"

Axel didn't have an answer to that either.

He gently helped the boy to his feet and supported him a little more on the journey to the large building in which Xemnas resided. He would know what to do with the brat.

As they waited for the elevator inside, Roxas slid to the floor and buried his head in his knees. He was panting as if out of breath. The tears were gone again, but the look of pain on his face hadn't faded. Axel felt pity for him again. What must it have been like to wake in a new place, in terrible pain, with no idea what was going to happen to you or even why you were still alive? It must have been awful.

He wanted to do something to comfort the boy, but he didn't think it was a very good idea. Nobodies weren't the best confidantes.

When the elevator finally arrived, Axel helped Roxas get into it. Once inside, he simply curled into a ball again in the corner. When the door closed, it was silent save for the labored breathing. While the elevator made it's slow descent, Axel sat down next to the small blonde. He didn't seem to notice.

Axel cleared his throat. "My…my name's Axel," he said, almost reluctantly. He couldn't understand it, but he felt the overwhelming need to help this boy. He glanced over and found a small smile gracing the boy's lips through the pain.

"Thanks," he said quietly. They sat in silence for a time until Roxas said, "What's going to happen to me?"

Axel could barely remember when he joined the Organization, so he simply shook his head. He didn't know what Xemnas would do to him. But, since it involved Xemnas, he could probably say it wouldn't be all that great.

The doors opened to reveal a long white hallway with a door at the end. Axel helped Roxas to stand and gave him a small push out of the elevator. The blonde looked back, eyes wide with horror. Axel shook his head.

"I can't go with you," he said regretfully. "Xemnas might get angry if I do. You're gonna have to do this alone." The boy's chin wobbled, but he nodded and made his slow way down the hallway. Axel was able to see him knock on the door before he allowed the doors to close.

He leaned back on the whitewashed walls of the elevator and sighed. What was that boy doing to him?