Title: WINNER

Summary: Sometimes, he wonders if there's even a reason left for him to fight. Post-3D, KHIII speculation.

Pairing: Axel/Aqua (well technically Lea/Aqua but everyone calls Lea Axel in 3D SO IT'S OKAY)

Theme: Sorry (84)

Warnings: Spoilers for Dream Drop Distance.

Aqua – sorry, Master Aqua – is the worst teacher ever, and that is a fact.

"You're holding your Keyblade wrong, Axel."

"No I am not!" Was there even a wrong way to hold it? "And it's Lea!"

Aqua sighed at me heavily. Her Keyblade – Stormfall – vanished in a flash of light as she made her way over to me. Why? What had I done wrong now? Hell, if little dorky Roxas could use a Keyblade, and he was barely tall enough to reach my chest, then surely I would do better?

"Hold out your hand."

Instead, I stuck out my tongue. Childish, I know, but I couldn't help myself. I was just so sick and tired of this. Of everything. But mainly the Keyblade.

Learning how to wield the Keyblade was way way wayyyy harder than what everyone else made it out to be, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit jealous of Sora, especially with how quickly he (apparently) mastered it. Explained why Roxas was so frickin' good, but still! I'd been practising for the past three months, and I'd only just learnt all of the basic spells, along with the first three levels of Fire. Aqua had said that she wanted me to learn the first two levels of each spell, along with Reflect, Curaga, and Triple Firaga, as well as the weird barrier thing her and Riku used as a shield. Did she consider me to be some kind of magic whiz kid?

Well, I wasn't.

I could tell that Aqua barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She yanked my aching hand out without warning, apparently ready to give me a tongue lashing for holding it wrong again, but instead she frowned.

"Your hand's bleeding?" she said, sounding confused.

I glanced down. Oh, yeah. That'd be from why Kairi 'accidentally' hit me yesterday, while we were training together. I think that she still wanted to get vengeance on me for the whole kidnapping thing. Couldn't blame her, really. The friction of the handle must have been rubbing against the open cuts. "Eh, that was Kairi. Don't worry."

I looked back up to Aqua, only to glance back down again once I felt something soft and prickling. The green light of a Cure spell faded away from my hand, stitching up the several cuts and washing all of the blood off magically (and it also fixed clothing, as I learnt the other day after a stray Poison spell; seriously though, how was I meant to know that Poison ate through cloth?). "...You didn't have to do that."

"Well," Aqua began, still looking at me in that condescending way that she always did (although I don't think she ever meant to; it was just something that she did naturally), "I wanted to. If the blood had gotten worse, then the handle would have been slippery, and you wouldn't be able to hold it."

"Not that I could in the first place," I grumbled to myself.

"Lea." Aqua had her hands on her hips. Oh Darkness. "I said that you didn't hold it correctly. You're doing better than Terra did, at first."

I didn't miss the saddened look at Terra's name, but I didn't mention it. She respected my space whenever I talked about Roxas or Xion, after all. It was like some kind of mutual thing we had between us; we could talk about our lost friends, but never ask the other about them. Too painful.

Damn, having a heart really sucked; just thinking of those two made my heart sink. Thinking of Isa just ripped it into a thousand broken shards, which was... I couldn't even describe it, it was that awful.

"Well, yeah, but you've been training for your whole life."

"Not until I was five," Aqua said firmly. "And I wasn't allowed a proper Keyblade until I was twelve; Master Eraqus made us train with wooden Keyblades."

Yeah, because that was supposed to make me feel so much better.

"I'm kinda twenty-six."

"Better late than never." Aqua gave me some strange look – pity? Damn it, I didn't need any pity! - before Stormfall appeared in a flourish of rose petals and light. "Now, let's get back to training."

Whaaaatttttt. We'd been training for three hours straight. Even the Organization let us have breaks every hour! Sheesh! "Aqua, can't we take a break?" I whined.

"No," came the cross reply. "Now, perform a Blizzard spell."

"Why would I ever need a Blizzard spell?"

"Why do you use Fire spells?"

...Oh. She had me there.

I grumbled some curses underneath my breath, but whipped out my Keyblade all-the-same, pointing it at some poor rock on the beach. How did Aqua say to do it again..?

Before I could make sense of it, a huge chunk of ice shot out from my Keyblade (which I was still too lazy to name) and shattered upon hitting the rock. I glanced over to Aqua with a nervous chuckle. Was it meant to shatter?

Actually, she looked impressed. Kind of. Maybe. I don't know. It was gone, at any rate. "...That was a Blizzaga spell. I said Blizzard."

"But c'mon! The stronger the better, right?"

"Blizzaga takes longer to reload than Blizzard. Sometimes, multiple Blizzard spells are better than a single Blizzaga spell and Blizzaga takes up more room in the command deck."

Because I had totally asked for that lecture.

Aqua threw an ether over herself. Suddenly, she pointed her Keyblade at me and shouted, "Thundaga!"

I barely leapt out of the way as a huge bolt of lightning crashed down on the sand, reducing it to a nice fuzzy spot of black. "Good reaction." Now she sounded impressed. For what? Trying to sneak up on me?

"The hell?"

Another Thundaga spell. Oh c- "Stop it!" I totally did not squeak as the thunder flashed a metre away from me.

Much to my surprise, she let out a loud laugh, the sound ringing through the empty islands. "Not until you get better! The enemy will show no pity!"

Oh, two could play at that game. "Firaga!"

She cartwheeled out of the way of the roaring fire (how the heck did she cartwheel?) before leaping into the air. Fire surrounded her, crackling as she spun towards me. She was using a Fire Surge!?

OH THAT WAS SO NOT FAIR SHE HADN'T TAUGHT ME HOW TO DODGE THAT.

I scrambled out of the way from my position on the sand. She landed just before me, grinning. The flames circling around her whispered away into the sea air.

"You kind of need to stand up."

I stood up, ignoring the hand that she offered to help.

Aqua looked a bit insulted, but went on, "I need to teach you how to dodge properly. How athletic are you?"

"Pretty?" I said, uncertain of where this was going. I ran for the track team wayyyy back at school (but that was ages ago), and as for the Organization... well.

"You shouldn't roll," she said. "You'll fall over." I glared at her as she sniggered, actually sniggered at me. Or giggled. But I preferred to call it a snigger, thank you very much.

"So... what else is there?"

"Well, Terra slided, but that was because he had two left feet." She had a fond smile on her face. "Couldn't even roll like Ven did. Anyway. Should we try cartwheels?"

Oh no. "That's for girls."

"Because Xehanort is going to take time to notice that you're a bit feminine," she said lightly. "Look... you already have hips to make a girl jealous."

"Aqua!"

"And legs."

"Stop it!"

Her face fell. "You can't hold your Keyblade correctly, so the Keyblade would slip out of your hands. Maybe I should just make you roll after all..." She gave me a quick one-over, sighing heavily. "No, you're too tall. It would take too long for you to recover."

"And then Xehanort would be able to attack."

She nodded grimly. "Exactly."

"He'd probably make me his final vessel or something."

I knew immediately that I'd said the wrong thing. Aqua suddenly paled, before she grabbed my hand firmly, eyes blazing as she glared up at me.

"Don't you ever," she hissed. "Say that again. None of us are becoming his vessel, you hear me? Not Sora, not me, and especially not you."

She was pretty passionate about that. But why 'especially' not me? "Well, why not? I was in the Organization, and everyone else is part of his vessels."

"You can use that exact same logic for Ienzo and the others. Stop it."

I was more surprised that she knew Ienzo and Dilan and all, but I'd save that for another time. And, yet again, she had me. Aqua tended to do that a lot. Even more than Isa had.

Isa.

I looked away, not wanting to look at Aqua. Suddenly, she looked far too similar to him; same teasing grin, same colour of hair, same... everything. And I was never going to get the real Isa back, was I? He was... he was with Xehanort now.

I would make him pay. Make him pay for taking away everyone I'd ever loved. At least the others had each other; Sora and Riku and Kairi all had each other, and Aqua probably had Master Yen Sid and Mickey. What about me? Who did I have? For all of my efforts to try and save the people I cared – no, care – about... I was left with no one. Roxas was Sora. Xion was gone. Isa... I'd never get him back again. He'd die first, and it was all because of Xehanort. Why was I even fighting? Just... just what was the point? I didn't see it. Sure, we'd save the worlds, but what about me? What would I get?

Nothing, that's what.

I knew that it was selfish, but I couldn't care less.

Aqua's concerned voice drifted into my thoughts, cutting them off. "-You okay?"

I looked up, forcing a smile. It felt fake on my own lips. "Yeah. Just thinking."

She didn't look convinced; her frown went deeper. She looked like a child, and that's when I remembered; she wasn't some old woman who'd lived her own life. Not really. She was nineteen, twenty? A lot younger than me, at least, and she'd spent ten years in the realm of darkness, and she'd come back alive, beaming light everywhere she looked.

Yeah, maybe I was jealous. She'd been enveloped in darkness, and hey, she's fine. Me? Touched it, and lost my heart.

Something's just a bit unfair.

"Lea-" She shifted on her feet, looking unsure of what to say. She fingered something star-shaped in her pockets. "-You do know that you can talk to me if you want to, right?"

"Heh. Can't get enough of my big mouth, huh?"

She crossed her arms, sounding irritated. "Ugh- stop joking around! I'm being serious! You always look so... so... sad whenever you think no one's looking."

Huh? Where the heck did that come from? "I'm fine."

Aqua went on as if I hadn't spoken. Rude. "And it's not like you really have anyone to talk to, either, because at least I have Master Yen Sid and Mickey. But what about you? I never really see you talk to anyone, apart from Riku occasionally."

Riku? That'd make sense. We tended to talk to each other, and he did sometimes take me for training, whenever it was Aqua's turn to teach Kairi; we were both in similar situations. Tallest, fallen in darkness, awkward third wheel to the obvious romance in front of them, brotherly figure (although Roxas had called me a mother, once. I'd smacked him for that; and of course, Xigbar had overheard, and processed to call me a mama bear for the next few weeks), best friend of a spiky-haired squirt... yeah, we were pretty similar. So we'd hang out and chat whenever Sora popped off to Traverse Town (the dream one, for whatever reason; he said he had some friends there) and Kairi was busy getting trained by Aqua. I liked him.

"So?" I spat, a bit more venomously then I'd intended. "Not everyone needs to be surrounded by people. Maybe I prefer being by myself."

Aqua wasn't the least bit fazed by my tone. "But maybe you don't. Everyone needs a shoulder to lean on whenever they're feeling weak. I understand that you're missing your friends – I miss Ven and Terra, too – but you will get them back."

"I know that."

"Do you?"

I froze.

"You don't act like you do. You act like you just want to mope around all day."

I didn't-! I whirled around to face him, feeling the anger course through me. How dare she judge me!? "I don't mope around all day! At least your best friend isn't one of Xehanort's vessels!"

"Terra is Xehanort!"

"Well, so is Isa! Isa's Xehanort, too!" Speaking it aloud seemed to bring it crashing down on me; Isa was gone. He was gone. I'd always pushed it to the back of my head, telling the thoughts to come back another day, but... I couldn't run away. My hands shook – out of fury or fear, I don't know – as I continued, "At least you're gonna get your friends back! You'll get Ven back, along with Terra, but what's going to happen to Roxas!? To Xion!? Roxas is Ven, and Xion is Roxas! I'll lose everyone I've ever cared about!"

"You weren't trapped in darkness for twelve years!" Aqua near screamed. Her hand continued to clench the thing in her pocket tightly, as if it was a lifeline. Probably some stupid good-luck charm or something. It wasn't like they ever did anything.

I ignored the WINNER stick suddenly evident in my pocket as Aqua went on, "Do you even know how horrible it was, to wander there, with nowhere to go, no one to find, and the whole time, I had to fight the Heartless, not knowing if I would ever get out of that hell? You don't! You have-"

"-At least you still had your heart! It was..." There were so many words that I could have used. Hell. Horrid. Empty. "It was like you were just... just... nothing... nothing mattered or... or anything."

I didn't even know where we were going with this. All of the energy drained out of me, gone as soon as it had come. I flopped down onto the sand, staring at the waves, calling my Keyblade away in a burst of fire. The sun was starting to set, beams of twilight and orange dancing on the water surface like flickering flames. There was a sudden sickness in my stomach. I glanced down to my boots.

I was surprised when Aqua sat down beside me. Her hand awkwardly rested on my arm. "...Sorry. I..."

I waved her off. "It's fine. I kinda overreacted, didn't I?"

She smiled, hesitantly. "That goes for both of us."

The beach descended into silence. The only sound was of the seagulls crowing loudly, flapping their white wings as they raced along the blazing water. It was peaceful.

We were sitting there for a long time before Aqua's hand slipped from my arm down to my hand. She squeezed it gently.

I squeezed back, smiling.

Maybe things could be all right.

For a second, I almost believed that.

A/N: So.

I think it's safe to say that I'm not going to do this within the time limit.

ALSO THE BIT AT THE END IS PLATONIC.

JUST SAYING.

Also Aqua is OOC but I do imagine that she'd be a bit more icy and sarcastic and stuff after twelve years in the realm of darkness.

OH and I hate having Lea/Axel saying 'Got it memorized?' because it is so undeniably cheesy and stupid and the amount of people who make him say it constantly in fanfictions and put it in their favourite quotes section drives me up the wall. I don't mind him saying it in normal conditions. This is not a normal condition. This is a 'Lea-and-Aqua-are-angsting-their-pants-off' condition. So, therefore, the usage of that quote is invalid.

ALSO Lea in BbS says 'Get it memorized' and I was SO ANNOYED when in 3D Lea said 'GOT it memorized?' instead. It just annoyed me so much and I don't even know why, it just does, gahhhh. DX

Headcanon time! After 3D, Kairi and Lea both get trained by Riku, Master Yen Sid, and Aqua (when they eventually rescue her, and in my headcanon Yen Sid sends Riku into the realm of darkness to get her about a week after 3D), occasionally swapping around since each Master is best at a different thing (like speed or magic). Sora's just goofing around and also training (since he's taking the exam alongside Kairi and Lea), but he doesn't have any one set Master, and he often goes to the dream Traverse Town to visit the TWEWY guys. And Xehanort's just waiting for the right time to strike and steal someone to use as a vessel? Hmm I don't know kind of forgot about him.

Finally; it will most likely be Axel/Aqua for the first ten prompts, and then I'll switch for another couple, but we'll see.

LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE W00T.

Also; hope that everyone is enjoying themselves and looking forward to Christmas! Goodness knows that everyone deserves to be happy at this time of year. :)

Complete: 2/100.