A/N: Hiya! This is a fic for a tumblr Secret Santa group I'm a part of. I'm sooooo sorry it's not fluffy or romancey like you probably wanted, Serah, but hopefully you enjoy it anyway! I tried to write fluff, but it just wouldn't come out. I had planned for a different story entirely, but it didn't fit your requests quite right, and honestly it was quite angsty. It is implied AkuRoku, especially on Axel's part, but as it follows the game events quite strictly, the romance aspect is very subdued and not given in action between the two boys.

A/N2: This two-part story is a result of...I don't know, really. My friend gave me a handful of one word prompts to help me get started, and this first one is based on "Fear". The second chapter, a continuation, is based on the word "Wish". Honestly, I think the first chapter is better than the second despite its length, but I'll let my readers be the judge of that. But anyway. This story is, like I said in the summary, a fic that follows Axel's thoughts and actions during the recorded events in KH2 cutscenes as well as a bit that I added (and it could easily be canon) in the second chapter. I really couldn't find genres that really fit the story, so I tried my best. Anyway, I'll stop talking for now. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its associated characters and plots. But oh, I wish I did.


Fear

"Roxas. All right. Fight, fight, fight…You really don't remember. It's me. You know, Axel." Axel pushed his hood back, shaking his red spikes free of its black confines. At the complete lack of recognition from the blonde boy before him, his body felt cold. He forced himself to keep speaking. "Talk about blank with a capital "B". Man oh man, even the Dusks aren't gonna crack this one." The kid had no idea what Axel was talking about, and said as much. But he'd made a promise to always bring his friends back, no matter what. So that's what he would do. Maybe later Roxas would remember, and everything would be fine again. "You're coming with me, conscious or not. Then you'll hear the story."

Axel forced himself to fight his loved one. Something like this has happened before, he told himself. You may not remember, but I'm sure it has. We just have to do it again. It'll be better in the long run. He couldn't bring himself to use his full strength, but he had worn Roxas down, unused to such fighting as the boy was. He could easily knock him out and take him back to the Organization. But then DiZ interfered, and he lost track of Roxas temporarily.

He tracked the boy down again, though it wasn't too difficult, given the copycat town's small size. But now it was more important than ever to bring Roxas back. "Look at what it's come to," he told Roxas. "I've been given these icky orders to destroy you, if you refuse to come back with me." And it was true. His higher ups felt that it was best to eliminate the boy if he was no longer of use to them, given his betrayal some months ago.

"We're…best friends, right?" Roxas responded, hesitant.

"Well yeah, but I'm not getting turned into a Dusk for…" Suddenly Axel registered the words he'd just heard. "Wait a sec, you remember now?!" He remembers me! I knew he would with just a little time. But of course, if he wasn't thorough, his superiors would have his hide. So he asked the easiest question he could think of. "What's our boss's name?" Roxas stared at him for a second before flicking his eyes to the stick on the ground near him. With that, Axel realized that the blonde had no idea, and he was crushed all over again. "Can't believe this," he sighed.

Trying to process this new low, he sent a few Nobodies after the boy. He leaned against the wall and allowed himself to brood. Roxas lied to me? I can't believe it. His assertion of being friends, appearing to remember, it was all just a trick? How could he do that? The Roxas I knew would never do that to me. Then he noticed that the sound of combat had stopped. Time to face him myself, I guess. Axel summoned his chakrams and swung his arm back to strike. Then suddenly, Roxas disappeared. He looked around, but there was no sign of him. Dammit! DiZ must've stopped time and allowed Roxas to escape me again.

"The Roxas that I know is long gone. Fine, I see how it is." Axel felt hollow. His greatest fear had come true, from his most important person. Forgotten… His beloved had completely forgotten who he was. There wasn't even a trace of a memory in the kid's mind. "I want everyone I meet to remember me. Inside people's memories, I can live forever." Had that been such a shallow wish? Was this his punishment for saying such irresponsible things? It was just that he'd always been afraid of leaving no mark, of disappearing from the world with no one to notice his passing. And now, the one thing he'd been most scared of had come to pass. Roxas didn't know who he was anymore.

Fine then. If that was the way things were, then he'd change too. No more of this. It was too painful to deal with. He'd become a demon, and destroy first Roxas, then himself. Maybe they'd have better luck in another life.

"I'm SO FLATTERED! But you're too late!" Axel confronted Roxas for the last time. This was it. He'd take them both out right here, in a storm of flame. He summoned his chakrams one final time, and looked up with a dark grin sliding across his face.

Time to face your demons, Roxas.