Author Note: Random, stupid oneshot idea popped into my head. Decided to write it out. Enjoy if you can.
Disclaimer: You're all so lucky I don't own it. So, so lucky.
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…« Koi Fish «…
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Roxas felt hot tears stain his cheeks as they glided effortlessly and endlessly down his soft face.
"Why do you have to go, Axel? Can't we just—run like we always did?" Roxas helplessly balled his hands into tight fists, squeezing them tighter and tighter until his knuckles were as white as snow. Shifting his feet closer to Axel, Roxas sobbed softly into the redhead's army uniform. August 13. Axel, along with many other close friends of the blond, was being drafted into the interminable war against the brutal Organization—a group of cloaked rebels who found silent assassinations a favorite nighttime pastime.
Towering over the shaken fifteen-year-old, the redhead wrapped his arms automatically around Roxas's waist, squeezing him close to his lukewarm body.
"I'm here, Rox. I'll always be here no matter what happens out there. I'm here," Axel softly cooed into the blond's ear, tapping playfully on Roxas's chest despite the melancholy situation they were trapped in. Resting his chin on the soft, blond locks of Roxas's unkempt hair, Axel nuzzled him affectionately and blew out a breath he never noticed he was holding.
Axel's softly spoken words seemed to change something in Roxas's breathing. Gasping due to short, abrupt breaths, Roxas's body rattled like loose leaves hanging by a mere stem to a tree.
"I'll come back when we win this war. And then we'll spend the rest of our days sitting by the koi fishpond. Wait for me everyday there. Sound good, kid?" Axel untwined an arm from Roxas's waist and brought it up, tangling his fingers loosely in the younger boy's hair. Carding the blond locks back, Axel bent down swiftly and pecked a gently kiss smack-dab in the middle of Roxas's forehead. Familiar blond bangs floated back down over Roxas's face when Axel removed his hand. Axel smiled with sincerity, trying his hardest to stifle his own uprising of tears.
Roxas pulled away from Axel's comforting figure to look up and meet the novice soldier's acid-green eyes. Faking a smile because Axel tried so hard to bring one to his tear-stained face, Roxas nodded and held back another new set of waterworks. Stiffening and straightening, Axel pushed Roxas back with his trademark grin painted permanently on his face.
The train whistled impatiently. Time was running out. Departure was arriving too quickly for comfort.
"Last call for Twilight Town recruits!" The conductor bellowed in a husky, almost strained, voice. Axel sighed, looking wistfully skyward at the nostalgic sunset sky. Slipping his fingers in the spaces between Roxas's, Axel squeezed tightly, then released. Roxas extended a trembling limb, reaching out to Axel, waiting expectantly for him to grab it immediately. Clinging to Axel's thin wrist, Roxas drew his eyebrows together as he pleaded for Axel to stay.
Futile attempt. Futile attempt. Futile attempt.
Axel peered over his shoulder to catch a last fleeting glimpse of his sobbing friend. His heart plummeted into his gut and he grimaced at how desperately Roxas pleaded. Over and over. Like a broken record.
"Please, Axel, don't go."
Like a broken record. Over and Over.
Tick tock. Time was running out.
"Roxas—I-I have to go. I-I can't—" Axel insisted, raising his voice to emphasize how dead serious he was. Roxas released his grip on the redhead and shrunk back submissively. Then, Roxas nodded. He understood.
"Don't go getting yourself killed, all right? You better return to me, got it memorized?"
Roxas chuckled wryly, tilting his head to the side. The ghost of a smile appeared on across Roxas's lips. Axel shook his head and scoffed, lips peeling back into a toothy grin, chuckling lightly as his feet inched forward toward the military train.
"Yeah. I got it memorized."
Roxas watched, mentally snapping a memorable photograph of the soldier, clad in green and brown, stalking proudly into the open doors of the train without looking back. Roxas twined his hands behind his back, bouncing too and fro on the balls of his heels, faking a pathetic smile.
No more words were spoken from the time Axel boarded to the time the train was just a black speck, hulling thousands of wet-behind-the-ears soldiers out into the war zones. But despite the fact that Axel was gone—for the time being was Roxas knew—the conversation with the redhead replayed over and over in his buzzing mind. And it was enough to fake a smile.
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Roxas waited for three years. He waited every day by the koi fishpond, waiting obediently for the return of the redhead. Sitting by the lonely bench that Axel had always sat with him in, Roxas etched piffle diagrams into the dusty soil beneath him.
After a while, Roxas found inexplicable, childish amusement in a pile of crab grass and the colorful array of pebbles resting beside it. Poking gingerly at each strand of green plant, the blond mindlessly enjoyed a nonsense game he had created out of intense boredom. Fully aware that he was going to make a complete loser out of himself right there and then, Roxas quickly threw away his dignity. Tossing the undersized rocks high into the sky, Roxas smiled quirkily as they landed many feet away from where he intended them to go.
Scoffing at his own stupidity, Roxas settled down, balancing his weight on his sturdy heels. Releasing a tired sigh, Roxas unknowingly chewed on his lower lip, only realizing when he tasted the bitter, metallic taste of iron. Blood. Bringing up a hand to screen his busted lip, Roxas idly wiped at his injury, grimacing when dirt and dust from his hands flaked off into his freshly open flesh.
A small koi fish glided through the water. It's agility and grace was unlike anything Roxas had ever seen. The orange, scaly water critter swam in circles, causing the crystal clear water to fold and lap about by the movement. Smiling and giggling almost to himself, Roxas poked a finger into the cold pond, swirling his appendage around, mimicking the movements of the fish's fragile tail.
The startled fish rocketed back to safety under a rock that was out of reach from Roxas. Sighing in disappointment, Roxas leaned back. Feeling his back make contact with the ground, Roxas kicked off his shoes and sprawled his body out in a freakish posture. For a few, precious hours, Roxas watched mindlessly as the clouds shape-shifted into various shapes across the clear sky, before he succumbed to sleep. His eyes fluttered closed, catching one last fleeting glimpse skyward, before he was completely powerless to open his sleep-gummed eyelids again.
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Heat penetrated Roxas's skin, making the blond hot and bothered. Groaning and propping himself up lazily, Roxas rubbed roughly at his heavy eyes. Flailing his arms in the air, Roxas collided back down with the ground, too tired to get up.
"It's August 13. Where the hell are you, Axel? Hopefully…still alive and kicking," Roxas glumly mused, distractedly raking a numb hand through his messy, dusty hair. Stray particles of pebbles and dirt released their hold on Roxas's clothing as he dusted off his body nonchalantly.
Finally overcome by the urge to see something moving and alive, Roxas reluctantly dragged himself to the edge of the fishpond and peered in. The little fish he had frightened earlier was nowhere in sight, but a bigger fatter one replaced it. Roxas couldn't help but laugh as the fat swimmer propelled itself inch by inch through the water. Roxas cackled uncontrollably as he watched the fat fish with all its glory of disproportionate fins.
Unable to sustain his laughter, Roxas clutched his stomach tightly and leaned deeper into the water, hoping to find something else to entertain him as he waited for Axel. A leaf fell from a tree above and landed on the water's glittering surface. Roxas frowned. The leaf was blocking the view of the handicapped koi fish.
Reaching out a hand to pluck the leave right off the surface, Roxas was shocked to see another hand beat him to it. Startled and confused, Roxas leaned even closer to the pond's edge, ignoring the fact that his knees were just barely grazing its surface. Whirling his head around to glance behind him, Roxas sat back in surprise.
Right on cue, his laidback brain went into overload, filling his thoughts with bits and pieces of a conversation three years ago.
"I'll come back when we win this war. And then we'll spend the rest of our days sitting by the koi fishpond. Wait for me everyday there. Sound good, kid?"
Roxas couldn't help but smile. Three years. Three damn years and finally, finally, it paid off. All the dreams at night. All the memories they shared. In the end, it was all worth it. And it was enough.
Axel extended a long finger and tapped playfully on Roxas's forehead a couple times. Roxas swatted the redhead's hand away with a smile.
A Smile. A real one. Not fake. Not a lie.
"You're expression is such a Kodak moment. I wish I hadn't dropped my camera as I rushed here," Axel pouted, sighed, and lay back with a blank expression. Roxas grinned, quirked an eyebrow at him, and plopped down next to him.
Axel reached out a hand and encompassed Roxas's in it. Sinking deeper into the dirt, the red head rolled his head lazily to the side and faced Roxas.
"Miss me much?"
Roxas rolled his eyes and gently planted a kiss on Axel's cheek.
"Nah. Not really," Roxas playfully lied.
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