There was a storm at Castle Oblivion.

Not just any old storm, either. It seemed to me like a full-blown hurricane by the way the wind was howling and the rain was pounding against the windows. Everyone was pretty freaked out about it, though most of them were too proud to admit it. Little did they know that they'd lose that feeling this night.

It all started with me, Roxas:

I was in my room trying to catch some Z's during that monster of a storm, but, of course, my attempts at sleeping were futile at that junction. I wrapped all my blankets around me for warmth and comfort because I wanted to sleep and it was pretty nippy outside, and I managed to grab the remote control from my bedside table. I pressed the power button, but the TV didn't switch on. Crap, the power's out, I thought desolately. Oh well. I opened a drawer in the table, pulled out a lighter, and carefully lit the candle next to my bed. It gave off a sweet, sugary aroma as it started to melt. The light was feeble, but at least my room wasn't pitch black anymore.

I closed my eyes and tried to fall back asleep again. It took some doing to ignore the rain lashing against the walls like several hands knocking on a door all at once, but finally I got exhausted and drifted off into sleep.

It didn't take that long. What seemed like seconds later, I was slapped right out of my sleep by a huge clap of thunder that rang in my ears and seemed to vibrate in my guts, followed very briefly after by a flash of thunder that that lit the room up in a flash of concise light. Of course, this scared the ever-loving tar out of me, and I crawled under the covers and shoved my head under the pillow, whimpering and shivering uncontrollably.

The thunder crashed again, and I mistook it this time for gunfire. I curled up into a ball under my bed, trembling like crazy. I was nearly on the verge of tears; that's how flipping scared I was. Maybe it was some dim memory of my somebody's life, but something deep inside my soul (that didn't actually exist, I might add.) had an unreserved and irrevocably hectic fear of thunderstorms.

My stomach roiled as I imagined blood splattering everywhere when another rumble of thunder shook the castle. I finally let some tears out, burying my face in the pillow to stop my sobbing from echoing beyond my room. Finally I allowed myself to calm down, taking deep breaths to steady my pounding heart and to hold back any more sobs that tried to escape my throat. I wiped the tears from my eyes, and curled up into the fetal position, breathing slowly through my nose and out my mouth to subdue my nausea. I suddenly detested how immature I had been just then; it was only a stupid thunderstorm, after all! Nothing to be afraid of!

I uncurled from the fetal position once my stomach had calmed down and sighed. I was exhausted, but I knew I couldn't get back to sleep. Not alone, at least. That gave me an idea, though. I climbed out of bed, opened my door, and made my way down the long white hall to Axel's room.

The hall was awful scary at night, I now realized. Its usual silence turned from nonchalant to sinister once the sun went down, and my muscles suddenly and impulsively tensed up. I felt as though something could jump out at me any moment and tear my guts out my eye sockets. I shook my head and ignored the sick feeling in my stomach that had sparked up again at the thought.

I had finally made it to the door after what seemed like several hours padding down the hall. VIII, the door read impassively. I turned the knob slowly and inched the door open, just a crack, and peeked in.

I could see Axel's slender shape sprawled out on the bed, his belly rising and falling slowly as he breathed. He mumbled something incoherent in his sleep, snorted, and rolled over onto his side. Well, at least he doesn't snore, I thought to myself as I slowly inched toward the bed, careful not to make too much noise.

I tiptoed to the opposite side of the bed, but my heart sank when I saw that Axel had practically taken up the whole bed. I guess he wasn't willing to share the bed with anyone anytime soon. I didn't feel like sleeping on the floor. It wasn't really worth waking up in the morning with an aching back just to be in the same room with your best friend for security, was it?

I sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, wondering how exactly I was going to go about this. I could just stay on the very edge… but then I might be pushed off the edge, and that would hurt. I could just wake Axel up, and tell him I needed some company… but then he might get ticked at me and send me back to my room, and I didn't want to sleep alone.

A clap of thunder resounded through the castle again, and I stiffened at the sound. Axel didn't stir. Wow… he sure was a heavy sleeper. I finally gave up and flopped down on the bed on the right side, getting as comfortable as I could. Axel liked his bed hard, and I liked my bed soft… like, sink-into-the-mattress-to-the-point-of-no-return soft. So of course I wasn't really comfortable in this bed. I, regardless, grabbed as much blanket as I could and snuggled my head into the pillow, feeling much safer knowing that Axel was there.

I saw lightning flash in the room, even through my closed eyes. My eyes snapped open, and I braced myself for what was coming next, gripping the pillow tightly. I still wasn't used to it. Thunder crashed in the distance, and I jumped and let out a shrill squeak, in spite of myself. I quickly clapped my hand over my mouth in realization of what I'd done. Axel did not hear that, Axel did not hear that, Axel did not hear that…

But, he did. He snorted and I heard him moan a little in dissatisfaction of being woken up. I heard the sheets shuffle slightly, and I heard Axel say, a little distortedly with fatigue, "Roxas…? What… what're you doing in here this late?"

I turned around to face him. Boy, did he look tired. I felt kind of guilty now for letting out that little involuntary whine, but I still said, "I'm sorry. The storm was keeping me awake and… well, I got a little spooked…" I started blushing, embarrassed by my statement.

Before I could continue, Axel finished my sentence. "And you decided to come into my room to sleep with me, because you're too big of a baby to sleep on your own during a little storm."

I blushed even more and looked down, feeling ashamed and infantile. "Basically, yeah…" I stayed silent for a little before saying, "You don't mind, right?"

Axel's condescending expression softened at these words, and his emerald green eyes gave a mischievous sparkle. "Of course not."

My (nonexistent… geez, I'm turning into Xemnas!) heart lightened at these words, and I gave a small grin. "Thanks."

Axel abruptly pounced onto me, putting me into a headlock. I was a little startled at first, but then the shock turned into glee when Axel gave a gruff, "C'mere, you!", and gave me a brief noogie. I laughed, not caring if it was making me look stupid. At least I wasn't scared anymore, and that's all that mattered.

Soon, we both settled down enough to get back to sleep. I myself was exhausted for about the third time that night, and had no trouble going back to sleep.

But the next thing that happened caught me by surprise.


CLIFFHANGER!!! -BUM BUM BUUUUMMMMM-

...Okay, it was a sucky cliffhanger, but it was still a cliffhanger nonetheless.

Hee, liking the fluff so far? ;P I do, too. More fluff shall ensue in later chapters, so don't worry if you didn't get your daily dosage of it just yet.

Anyways, this idea just came randomly to me just a little while ago, and when inspiration strikes, the idea lingers for eternity and will never go away. So, this spawned out of it. Don't worry, this WILL be a multi-chapter story, not a oneshot, so there will be more of this to come. 8DDDDD

Uh, what else? I had a lot of fun writing this! Roxas is so fun to write for. Something tells me he, like me, has an extensive vocabulary that he never uses except through his writing and short bursts of intelligence, so this is why he might seem a teensy bit OOC. Hopefully not too much!

If this gets no reveiws, I think I will cry.

Many thanks!

~UltraVioletSpectrum (aka Mo)