It was cold, colder than the coldest cold that ever coldly froze on ice. It's obviously like that everyday in Antarctica. But that's a different story for a different night, perhaps a rainy one. Our night's cold story is much, much different.

The night was also cold there, but it had a nice smell in the air. Somewhat of pine needles and fireplaces. It gave one a warm feeling to smell it. Unless you were Axel. Alone, cold. Confused and defenseless. Barely living, quite literally. He didn't even know what he was. He was just a single person in a crowd of many, on the edge of death's blade, about to fall off.

You could tell from the air of joy around that it was Christmas Eve, and Christmas itself was drawing closer by the moment. He lifted an arm, and stared at it, as if he had never seen it before. And he most certainly hadn't. He was new to the world, heartless, seemingly soulless. A nobody.

He pushed himself back to lean against the wall, apparently oblivious to the freezing air around him. And nobody cared. Everyone else carried on with their lives, ignorant of his flickering life as if they didn't want to see something like him on the night before one of their life's happiest moment of joy.

He looked to the side- and saw her. She was a sad little thing, with short grubby hair and dirty, grimy clothes. She only had one shoe, for the other had been stolen by boys who couldn't find a better toy to use. She sat, shaking by the wall of a house, near tears.

The girl put a hand in her pocket and pulled out one of the only things left in her life that was important: a match. Her memories seemed to shout to Axel- A girl getting tossed onto the street, followed by a loud voice, "Don't come back until you sell them ALL!".

He clumsily stood up, and picked up a dirty bunch of clothes discovered under the snow, ages lost and long time forgotten. He wrapped himself in it, and slowly walked over to the girl, but stopped at her actions. She had the match out in her hands, cupped as if her life solely depended on the life of the flame.

Her face brightened as she looked from the flames to the house. She grasped onto the wall, as if she could see through it, almost laughing in her sweet joy.

Axel leaned against the wall, watching the poor girl. Possibly she was delusional. Or maybe for her, her life was indeed passing by her eyes, and she was reminiscing the better times, if there were any.

Her flame died. The sparkle in her eyes vanished and was replaced by determination as she lit one more match. Again, she stared into the house, her eyes running along the wall, as if she was watching something run toward her. And again, the flame flickered and vanished.

She gasped, and pulled all of her candles out, lighting them all, as if she needed them more than anything in her life. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she stared into the house. Axel slowly walked over to her, unsure of how he could help this one so much more unfortunate than all the others, merrily celebrating without knowledge of a girl wishing to be with them.

The girl turned to Axel, and her eyes widened in shock, surprise... happiness. Axel took off the blanket of cloathing and held it out to her, but in mistaking this for open arms, the girl dove into his arms. The Nobody slowly bent to his knees, the girl's cold body lying against his own. There was no need to check. Her life had faded away in the sole moment of joy in her life. The poor Matchstick girl had finally became an Angel.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the story The Little Matchstick Girl and I don't own Kingdom hearts II.