The sea glistened brightly that calm summer morning. The waves rolled in and out lazily with the tide, and the water shone a vibrant, almost crystal blue. It was an ideal day for anyone in the kingdom to be out enjoying the water, but no one was here to swim or relax at this particular beach. No person save one.
Axel kicked up a small mound of sand with his bare foot, only to spit and shake his head as the wind blew it right back at him. If anyone else had been around to witness the young prince's blunder, he most certainly would have been embarrassed. But since he was alone, he laughed it off only after a brief, irritated pause, continuing his trek towards the shore. The sand there was wet and more tightly packed; soon it wouldn't be too hot to tread upon, and he wouldn't have to worry about sand in his mouth, eyes, or hair.
It was nice being out there by himself. He felt a bit guilty that he had slipped away from his royal duties, signing a couple of documents and enjoying a mid-afternoon meal with his father. But today was a bit more relaxed than he had known of late, with no more foreign ambassadors to greet, balls to attend, or princesses to turn away. His father would understand that he needed some time alone after all that had been going on. He wouldn't be too heartbroken by the absence.
Though maybe he should have told someone before sneaking down to the beach...
No matter. If anyone asked, Riku could tell them he was indisposed. The silverette was the only one who he trusted with his secret outings, and although the older boy did not approve of it entirely, he held silent for Axel's sake. And the redhead was forever in his gratitude.
"Axel!"
The prince blinked, drawn from his wandering thoughts as he registered the call. Glancing around in the direction of the ocean, a grin drew its way across his face, as a blonde head popped out of the water on his right.
"Axel!"
The redhead took off running toward the water, uncaring even when his clothes soaked through in the water, knee-deep. He waded deeper into the water, until it was up to his shoulders, and the blonde was swimming towards him, jumping out of the water every so often, revealing a glistening, blue tail.
"Oh, Axel! I've missed you so much!"
With no more warning, the other was in front of him, leaping out of the water and into his waiting arms.
"Roxas! I've missed you t- Hey!" The force of the blonde tackling him head on sent them both tumbling back into the water. Axel fell under and almost rolled in the next wave, but Roxas sensed that he was pushing him down and moved off his body, instead moving to wade beside him. The redhead resurfaced with a mighty gasp.
"I'm glad you're happy to see me, but geesh! You could have killed me, you know?"
"I'm sorry!" the mer-boy said earnestly, his face a mixed between humor and worry. He knew Axel was partially just teasing him. "I just haven't seen you in a month! I was beginning to think you forgot about me!"
Axel couldn't help but laugh at him, taking a playful swat at his head.
"I doubt I could forget you, even if I lived a thousand years, Rox." Catching sight of something glimmering just below the surface by his side, Axel grabbed it with both hands, earning a squeak from Roxas. He lifted the end of the heavy scaled tail and held it up out of the water just enough for them both to see. "Case and Point."
Roxas chuckled, though he still looked a bit uncomfortable. Axel released his tail gently, knowing he had grabbed a sensitive part. Most mermaids and mermen apparently had rock-hard sharp scales on their tales, making them efficient and deadly weapons. But Roxas came from a different class of mermen, from a different part of the ocean. His tail was a bit softer, more vulnerable.
The two made their way to shore, casually chatting about recent events in their separate lives. When they reached the sand, Axel laid down beside the other boy and listened raptly, as he ran a hand up and down his arm and stared into the most entrancing blue eyes he had ever seen. Not even the ocean contested their deep, ethereal beauty.
"So my life's been hell. Too busy for my liking," he said, giving the other a small, fond smile. "How about you? What's life like down in the undersea kingdom?"
Roxas rolled his eyes. "The king is making more stupid laws. He's even cracking down on the peasant sector, which is making my parents super cranky. They almost wouldn't let me go out today."
Axel looked worried. "They won't go looking for you, will they? You know if they find you, they'll-"
"Yeah, yeah. I've heard that all before," the boy mimicked back. "'Merfolk who endanger the realm will be exiled.'"
"And that doesn't worry you?"
Roxas shrugged. "Not really. Whatever happens happens, you know?"
The redhead still looked unconvinced, slowly drawing his hand back and away.
"You can't really mean that, Rox. What about your home? And your family?"
The blonde didn't answer, but looked away for a moment. It passed in anxious silence, and when he spoke again, the voice faltered a little.
"They don't really matter to me. As long as I can see you," a hopeless smile turned up to meet him, "As long as I can be near you, even just a little while, I'm happy."
Axel felt a pang in his heart at that. With that came a wave of sadness that washed over him, making him feel colder than even the sea water could. He shook his head with a sigh.
"Roxas...You know I can't. Legs, remember? As long as you are bound to the sea, and I'm bound to the land, we couldn't."
The boy's expression was heartbreaking. "But...Then, if I were exiled, I could be free. And come to see you more often. I could-"
"You'd be eaten in no time." The prince hated saying it, but it was true. From what he'd been told, the merfolk had to travel in groups when they were outside the cities, otherwise dangerous creatures like sharks and whales could pick them off very easily. It was a danger for Roxas to be coming here at all, on his own, without telling anyone. And he knew the merboy was fibbing; his family did mean a lot to him, and he would be sad if he could never see them again. Hell, he was interacting with a human, one of the greatest threats to merfolk of all. He would be lucky if the king didn't have him executed for such treason.
Axel continued, even though he knew he must have sounded so harsh. "Even if you did manage to stay out of danger, I can't come here all the time. I have a duty to my people, my father; I can't give it up for you. For a life I could never live."
The blonde looked down, his eyes close to tears, and Axel let his heart melt, if only for that moment.
"Roxas...It's the truth. Please understand..." When the merboy didn't look at him, he sighed. "I'm sorry." He leaned close and gently pulled the boy in for a kiss. He wanted it to be comforting, but in a way, also final. This was dangerous. He hadn't thought much of it when he met the boy by the shore six years earlier, when they were young. It was a chance meeting, and he never regretted it, or the time they had spent together since, but now he realized that it should have ended that day. He should have brushed it off as a dream, never agreed to met with the curious, bubbly little merboy again. It had only hurt them both in the end...
It was his mistake and his fault. And he would suffer for it, but it pained him to know that Roxas would suffer more. He knew the blonde loved him...
Roxas kissed back desperately, almost latched onto his face, as if holding him there longer would delay the inevitable. He must have known what Axel was trying to say. He just didn't want to admit that it was true, or that it was necessary. He pushed Axel down and held him there, kissing as though the redhead would draw his last breath from his lips.
Finally, the prince found the strength to push him away. Salty tears were spilling over the younger boy's cheeks, and Axel yelped as he felt arms thrown around his neck as he tried to sit up, pulling him back in.
"Roxas, no."
The merboy ignored him, pulling his shirt, his hair, anything. He clung to everything he could to keep the boy from leaving.
"ROXAS, I SAID NO."
The blonde gasped, pulling back, eyes wide. There was irritation on his friend's face, muffled anger in his eyes. So different from the boy he had met and fell in love with, that faithful day...
Slowly, the blonde relaxed his arms and let them fall to the sand beside him. He looked down at Axel with as much hope and pitifulness as he could muster.
"Please, Axel. Please just promise me."
The redhead turned his head away. "No. I can't, Roxas. You should know that."
"No, hear me out! Please! Just come back to the sea! I'll be careful! I won't be cast out! I promise-"
There was a resounding slap as Axel's palm connected with his cheek, and for a few minutes, Roxas was stunned into silence. The other boy, however, was not.
"You can't promise that. Now, you have to stop being silly and just go already. Go back where you belong."
Axel moved away from him and stood on the sand. He looked down at the merboy with as much cold indifference as he could, seeing him rub his cheek and sniffle heavily. He felt like such an ass for being this way, but it was for the best. Obviously Roxas had been deluding himself that this could all work out, and it couldn't. And he had fed that lie. He had loved him back...
It was because he loved him he had to do this. The only way to protect him was to cut him off. Make him never want to see another human again.
As he turned to walk away, he heard shifting on the sand.
"Axel, p-please, wait. I...I love you..."
His heart clenched painfully, but he didn't turn. He had to leave, before he broke down and cried himself.
He took one step after another, away from the water. When he reached the hole in the cliff wall, which led back to town, he turned back, expecting the boy to be gone. But Roxas was still there, following him with his gaze. He couldn't see it from there, but there was no mistake. His head was lowered, but angled straight at him. The merboy was stubborn, refusing to move from that spot.
"Tch." Axel ran all the way back through town. Not once did he answer a greeting, or stop to catch his breath. People looked on in confusion and surprise as their prince ran past. Knowing what his face must have looked like, he wasn't surprised.
He didn't stop at the castle either, even though he was breathless and near fainting. He ran past the greeters, maidservants, and others, until he reached his room. With an anguished cry, he threw the doors open, slammed them again, and threw himself on his bed with a sob.
"Stupid! Stupid!" He yelled, pouding his fist into the soft down, over and over again.
He cried for what seemed like hours, but it couldn't have been that. The sun dipped a little lower in the sky outside his windows, as he saw through the silken curtains, but whenever he mustered the courage and calm to look up and out through the window, he couldn't bring his eyes to meet the sea. It was finally sinking in. He would never see Roxas again. He told himself that, but still...
How could he ever go back there again? Knowing where they had often lain in the sand, laughing and talking until the sun set on that secluded shore. Where he had given his first kiss, a shy and innocent boy then, but so happy that it had been his then best friend, who he trusted and cared for so much. Where Roxas had brought him to explore that cove, or taken him to swim with a small school of bottle-nose dolphins...
Tears continually welled in his eyes now, though he pressed them to the bed and wished with all his might that they would dry and go away. The ocean would always call to him, but he couldn't face it if Roxas was there. How would he ever go back?
"I warned you about this."
The redhead raised his weary head, only to find Riku standing by his window, gazing out it with a cold, emotionless face. The prince growled at his assistant.
"You never told me this would happen."
"But I warned you," he said firmly. "I warned you it was dangerous to get involved with that child. You did not heed my words, and now you have to suffer for it."
"Shut up!" Axel yelled back. Riku was his close friend and most loyal servant, keeping his secret despite his dislike of the situation, but now he was being a downright ass. Inside, Axel knew he was just stating what needed to be said, but he didn't want to hear it right now. He'd already heard it too many times today.
"He's still there, you know."
"What? The prince sat bolt upright. "What do you mean?"
Riku huffed, clearly annoyed with him. "Roxas. He's still there."
Axel scrambled out of bed, almost getting his legs tangled in the messy sheets. He ran to the window beside Riku, glancing at the shore now. Sure enough, he could see the shape of the boy sitting on the sand, still.
"Idiot! He can't just sit there like that!" Axel's was the only window that looked out over the royalty's private beach; the only other windows on that side were too low to see over the natural rock wall that stood between the kingdom and the sea. It shielded them from bad storms and foreign invasion, as it stretched around the castle and almost to where the peasant and lesser nobility beaches were. Regardless, Axel's father allowed men to fish on their beach every now and again, because they were plentiful there, and someone would come across the boy soon. If that happened...
"Where are you going?" Riku asked harshly.
"I have to do something!" he snapped back, ready to burst out the door again. "Someone's going to find him! I can't let that happen!"
"How? Can you protect him forever?"
Axel froze as a hard hand dropped onto his shoulder.
"If you go back out there, all you'll be doing is making this harder. He'll know he has you on a string, and he'll keep doing this. I know. He'll throw himself into danger hoping you'll come and save him. He's desperate."
The redhead snarled. "How would you know? You don't know him at all!"
"I know enough," Riku said, more calmly now. His grip tightened on the prince's shoulder, firm but not painful, and Axel took a deep, calming breath. He was right.
"You're right. You're right, it's just..." He cast a longing glance at the window. "I don't want to hurt him, or let him hurt himself. It's my fault he's like this."
"I don't know about that." Riku took a step closer, finally giving him a more sympathetic look. Not by much, but still. "But what's done is done. Going out there would just be more stupidity added in with everything else you've done."
Axel choked a sad laugh, raising a hand to wipe his forehead. He squeezed, applying soothing pressure.
"I guess."
It wasn't what he wanted, though. He wanted to run back to that shore and hold the boy in his arms. He knew how much Roxas had to be hurting; whether he was in shock or just too stubborn to leave, Axel couldn't guess. Either way, merfolk needed water to breathe, so he couldn't stay up on land for much longer. There was no way Roxas would dry himself out like that. That was a terrible way to die.
Soon, he would leave, and things would go back to the way they should be. Normal, safe...