A/N: Hey all. (smiles) Yes, I know I've been doing a lot of KH2 AkuRoku stories right now, and not continuing up with 'Demon's World' 'Secret' 'Perfect' or 'The Dark Side of the Moon'. That's because I'm a bit of a deadend writer's block for like, all of them. I will be updating, since it's summer time now and I'm off school. But yeah, this little oneshot was based off of Axel's last scene with us, and the song 'Your Guardian Angel' by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Listen to it; you can see it's an AkuRoku song. (smiles again) Anyhow! Enjoy this oneshot.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (II) Characters and Places belong to Square Enix and Disney.

I will never let you fall. I'll stand up with you forever. I'll be there for you through it all. Even if saving you sends me to heaven...—Your Guardian Angel, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

He lay there dying; watching as his body broke and faded up into the air; hissing as he felt his insides burn painfully from his lack of control on his fire. His eyesight was darkening in the edges, things becoming blurry; yet he still saw it when Sora came to kneel next to him, looking at him with a broken expression that was way too expressive to be Roxas shining through. Roxas had quiet dignity; he'd react little, but he'd react all the same. This overly emotional look Sora gave him...That was all Sora. Not Roxas.

He laughed a little, looking to the side, before he heard his name murmured from the brunette's lips. He looked back, raising an eyebrow, before he smiled. It was tiny, and barely noticeable, but he had the biggest feeling that Sora could see it all the same.

"What were you trying to do?"

"I wanted to see Roxas." He answered it almost immediately, since it was just such an obvious answer to him. "He was...The only one I liked." He smiled a little, looking to the side. "He made me feel...Like I had a heart..."

He remembered when Roxas first came to the Organization. Axel had just finished a mission in Hollow Bastion, soaked down to the bone because Demyx, his partner, had decided to be a smartass and splash water on him. He despised how easily he had done it, too, so he was already in one of his pissed moods when this blonde child comes into the castle with Zexion and Xemnas, and Xemnas introduces him as the final member of the Organization, before placing him in Axel's watch. Why Xemnas had put Roxas in his care, he would never know, but Axel hadn't asked questions; just given Roxas the once over, nodded, before saying he was going to dry off and walked away.

After that their relationship as partners had been rocky. Seeing as Axel had to 'teach him the ways of the Nobody', they had to go on missions together as partners. Meaning that Axel's long time partner Demyx was now in need of a partner. Xemnas had assigned him to be partnered with Zexion, Demyx's long term crush, though, so everything was fine on his end.

On Axel's end, though, things were kind of violent. VIII and XIII were suddenly notorious for their random spurts of energy and fights, usually resulting in the halls of the Castle that Never Was being burned or having large gouges into the walls and floors from chakram and Keyblades. They hadn't been all that close when they first started out, only working together when they needed to. After that, they wouldn't even look at each other because Roxas would just sneer and Axel would make some sort of smartass comment.

When Axel was suddenly assigned to go over to Castle Oblivion to spy on Marluxia, Larxene, Zexion, Lexeaus and Vexen, it had been a much needed break from tearing at each other's throats, so Axel had taken it and left without a word to anyone, pretending that he had gone to Marluxia because he was interested in what they were planning. Roxas had been left in Demyx's care, and the water user had been a little friendlier, calming down Roxas' temper so that he didn't flare up so easily and resort to the use of his Keyblade every time he got pissed off at someone. It was a nice break at first. But then Roxas realized he missed the sarcastic comments and the smartass barbs of wit that Axel spewed out naturally, so he had grown extremely quiet and introverted.

The other members had, of course, heard of what had happened in Castle Oblivion, and the parts that Axel was involved in. The death of Vexen and Zexion were the biggest extremities that Xemnas noticed, and he had asked why he had had to kill them. Axel had replied that Vexen was being a traitor to Marluxia, meaning he was being a traitor to Xemnas. And as for Zexion; he hadn't directly killed him. He had let Riku deal with him, not wanting to dirty his hands with the death of a friend; but Zexion was also a traitor. Things had grown tense between certain members after that; Demyx strained a smile whenever he saw Axel, because he didn't know that Axel hadn't directly killed him; just knew that he was behind it somehow.

Roxas and Axel had become partners again, and Axel seemed to have quieted down after Castle Oblivion, being a little friendlier to Roxas while the blonde just quietly took it in; secretly glad to have the pyro back as his partner. They worked together more fluently than they had in the beginning, and they started to talk more; getting to know a bit more about each other. Roxas would sometimes go to Axel's room in the middle of the night, and ask him strange questions; what was it like to have a heart? Did he remember his Somebody? Did he really want a heart so much? Things like that. Axel had just taken it as childish curiousity, though; he never suspected that Roxas wanted to know the answers to these questions about him.

After a while, the two had grown a lot closer; Axel flirting with Roxas instead of teasing him and Roxas taking it with a point blank attitude. It amused the pyro to no end, and he'd often tease him flirtatiously, making the blonde squirm uncomfortably, unsure of how he should respond. Finally, one day Axel had kissed him quickly on the lips and left to go on a solo mission, leaving Roxas standing there shocked. When the pyro had returned, he had seen Roxas in his room, glaring at him. When Axel had closed the door, the small Key of Destiny was right at him, pinning him to the wall and DEMANDING to know what the hell he had done. Axel had smirked and asked if he wanted him to explain, and when Roxas had nodded, Axel had leaned forward and kissed him properly; fully, hand behind his head and arm wrapped around his waist and everything. He had then pulled back, and whispered it was what those with hearts did when they loved.

Axel explained he did it because he wanted to feel love, even if it was fake. Roxas had taken it, and kissed him back, arms wrapped around his neck. They didn't care if it was faked or not; it was their love.

And after a while, when they started to actually make love to one another—or as Xigbar bluntly stated 'fuck yer brains out but pretend it's love since it's all we got'—Axel had whispered that for the first time in his 'life' he had felt like he had a heart, and Roxas had whispered that he didn't. And it was then that they knew that they were at different levels of development as Nobodies, but they didn't care; Axel loved the feeling of fulfillment and Roxas wanted to feel as if he had a heart just like Axel so he could feel the same as him whenever they reached their peek. It was sometimes awkward when they were partners, because they had to touch then too on missions; cover each other to make sure neither of them died. But they'd get over it; take it as professionals, and when they got back let out all tensions that had grown between them between fleeting kisses, breathy moans and tantalizing touches.

So when Roxas had decided he'd up and leave the Organization to find out why the Keyblade had chosen him, something inside Axel had snapped and he'd gone after the blonde, trying to intervene. He didn't have the heart, too though...And he had watched brokenly as he left.

"That's not true!" He watched as his back had disappeared that night, and for the first time in his entire existence he wanted to cry. "I would."

After that he had done everything—and we mean everything—to try and get Roxas back. He had found him in Twilight Town and tried to convince him to come back; fought him so that he could drag him back. He was even willing to destroy him rather than watch him rejoin with Sora...But he had failed in that, too, and had faded away weakened right before Roxas had disappeared.

After that he hated Sora more than he had before, and he desperately thought and plotted and planned out millions and millions of ideas to get Roxas back, going with the most simple; make Sora turn into a Heartless and gain his Roxas back like that. He was sure it would work...But he had crumpled, because he had seen Roxas so many times in Sora, and so instead he had helped him.

And now, because of his stupid weakness, he was lying there dying. Ironic.

He laughed hoarsely, and his insides, already turning into ash, screamed at him in anger and pain as he did it; telling him to stop or they'd refuse to work for him any longer. "It's kind of...funny," he said, his voice weak and cracking. "You make me feel...The same." His voice had weakened at the end of that sentence, and he would've been ashamed of how he had sounded but he didn't care anymore. "Kairi's in the castle dungeon." He stated, looking at him with determined green eyes, though they were weakening, and something inside Sora cracked inside as he started to hear a soft voice in the back of his mind.

"Now go." He lifted his hand to create a portal, knowing that if he didn't, Sora would be stuck here and all his attempts would be fruitless. Sora watched as he started to disappear, the flames around him smothering out; showing the lack of life in their master.

"Axel..."

The Keyblade bearer thought he saw a smile on Axel's lips as he whispered that, and his eyes closed before he disappeared, fading away.

As he kneeled there, he quietly mourned for the death of the man he had barely known, but had fought beside because he had protected him from falling into the darkness and getting stuck there. He still didn't understand why he did that, though. He wanted to see Roxas? Roxas was that blonde in the picture...Right...?

He felt something whisper in the back of his mind, and his eyes narrowed as he placed a hand by his temple, biting the inside of his cheek. Why was he hearing a voice that he recognized but didn't recognize?

"Well Sora. I guess my summer vacation...Is over."

His eyes widened; who had said that to him? Why had he said that to him?

As the remains of Axel fully disappeared, he heard a broken voice whimper, before a heart wrenching sob filled his mind, and he gripped his head with both hands, squeezing his eyes shut; tears stinging the back of his eyes suddenly, unexplainably and unexpectedly. He thought he had heard 'Axel' in the sobbing or the shrieking or the crying or whatever you wanted to call it, and he had the distinct, distant feeling that he knew who that voice belonged to.

But then, after a few minutes it quieted, and he slowly removed his hands, opening his eyes as he wiped the tears that had somehow escaped tightly closed lids off his cheeks, standing up and looking at the portal that Axel had left behind. His heart wrenched as he thought of Axel and he frowned in confusion; why was he reacting like that? So strongly to a guy he didn't even know?

I know him.

His eyes widened, before quickly shook his head, looking back at Donald and Goofy as they walked up on either side of him, before looking at the portal. "...Let's go."