"Axel!" He refused to believe what he was seeing, he tried desperately to convince himself that it was some horrible nightmare and he'd wake up any second with his best friend hounding him for how he always talked in his sleep. But as each second passed, that seemed less and less likely.

Roxas ran to where his friend lay in the grass and fell to his knees, watching as the blood started to slowly seep through the black cloak.

"You idiot." He couldn't stop his voice from cracking. He felt sick. This wasn't supposed to happen. It was supposed to be him. Not Axel. Him. "You shouldn't have jumped in front of me."

Axel chuckled weakly, quickly turning into a choked cough. "I wasn't about to stand back and watch you get killed, now was I Rox? What kind of best friend would that make me?"

Roxas laughed sadly, letting the tears run down his cheeks, not caring who saw at that point. He lifted Axel's head until he was resting on his lap and ran his fingers through his friends hair, moving the strands that had fallen in his face.

"Everything's going to be okay Axel, I promise."

The older man shook his head. "Nah." He coughed and groaned in pain. "I think this is the end of the line for me."

Roxas shook his head violently, he wasn't going to believe that. He just wasn't. "Don't talk like that. We can get you help, we can-"

"Roxas." Axel's hand was now on his cheek, wiping away the tears. "It's okay. Things happen." He smiled weakly and a few tears of his own ran down his cheek. Roxas was starting to panic, but tried calming himself for the sake of his friend.

"Don't- don't leave me alone, Axel. You're all I've got."

"Do you ever think about the future?"

Roxas blinked. Why was he asking such bizarre questions at a time like this?

"Of course I do, what does that have to with anything?"

Axel looked past the blonde and up at the sky. He was starting to lose himself. Roxas couldn't let that happen, but he had no idea what he could do for the redhead. He wouldn't make it back to the castle in time and neither of them had a potion on them. He was going to watch his best friend die.

"Was I in it?"

Roxas scoffed, as if the question was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "Axel, you are my future. You're... I wanted to spend every moment of my life with you."

Axel smiled and looked back at the blonde, staring right into those ocean blue eyes. He was getting weaker by the second.

"And you were mine." Axel wrapped an arm around Roxas' neck and brought him within a few inches of his face.

"Let's meet again," he whispered. "In the next life."

"Yeah," Roxas replied. "I'll be waiting."

Axel closed the distance until their lips met in a brief kiss and when they broke apart, Roxas' felt the body in his arms go limp. Tears rolled down his face and he just stared. Stared at the man who he had fallen in love with, stared at the lifeless body, and cried.

He felt the world around him shatter and everything started to cave in on itself. Axel was the best thing about his existence, and without him, it didn't make sense. He was the one who brought him out of his zombie like form when he first joined the organization. Roxas felt himself slipping. Slowly and then all at once.

He felt a hand on his shoulder but he didn't turn to see who it was. "It's time to go," a voice spoke, but he didn't listen. He just wanted to stay there, he didn't care about anything else.

Someone moved to take Axel but Roxas screamed at them. He screamed so loud his throat started to protest in pain. He wasn't going to let go. Not yet.

He heard more voices. And then two hands on his shoulders appeared and the same voice from before. "Sorry kid." The hands pulled him back and forced him away from Axel's body, which started to fade into oblivion once he let go.

No! He didn't want this to happen! Not again! He struggled but whoever was holding him was too strong. "He had to move on Roxas." It was Luxord. He noticed other members of the organization as they watched, many of them looked on with uncaring faces.

He watched as the last of Axel disappeared and he felt his eyes begin to sting, threatening him with more tears. He was gone. Every last bit of him had vanished.

And Roxas would swear that every part of himself had left with him.