Sky painted with orange, purple and red. That was the first thing you saw when you slowly opened your eyes. Your whole body was aching, reminding you about the events in the dark city. You were laying on your back on the hard stone floor- Hissing for the pain, you steadily lifted your head to look around. That unique sky had already told you where you were, but you were having a hard time to believe it. You really were at the clock tower. Familiar figure was sitting on the edge of the tower, his back at you. Only when you struggled to get into a half sitting position, he glanced over his shoulder.

"Finally awake, huh?" Axel stood up, made his way over to you and kneeled next to you. "How are you feeling?"

You didn't even dare to look him, feeling simply just too confused and even more… ashamed. You had lied to him for so long, even after gaining his trust. But now Axel knew everything. The fact that he he had saved you even after all of that made you feel even more shitty. What were you going to say? He didn't seem mad, though.

"Why did you save me?" Was only thing you could utter, still keeping your gaze down.

"Why?" He flustered. "Do you even need to ask that?"

Carefully you glanced at him, meeting those emerald eyes of his. He looked more serious than usually, studying you carefully.

"We are friends, right?" He asked quietly, not taking his eyes from yours.

"B-but…" You stuttered, having hard time to believe your ears. "But… I…"

"Lied?" Axel rested his chin on his palm, giving you that teasing look of his. "I know."

"Aren't you mad..? And I'm an enemy of the organization, you-"

"We all have our secrets." He stated. "C'mon, I lie to you all the time!"

"WHAT?"

"Just kidding." He smirked at you, patting your back. "Relax a bit, geez!"

You only scowled at him, waiting for him to continue.

"But yeah, I have to admit that I was a bit mad at first. But what comes to the organization stuff, I've done my part with meddling behind their back… I guess I'm not on anyone's side, to be honest." He shrugged. "So who am I to judge your actions?"

You were beyond relieved. Heavy weight had been lifted from your chest: "He doesn't hate me?" You hadn't expected to see him ever again, but there you were. Talking like nothing had happened.

"But…" He gave you more serious look. "When they told me that you were a spy, I was kind of…" He hesitated before continuing. "I guess I was afraid that you were a total fraud. That all our time together was just a big act. I didn't want to believe it, but I couldn't help but have my suspicions. But your conversation with Saïx reassured me." He added with a grin.

"You heard that?" Suddenly you felt a bit embarrassed. Saïx had been pushing your buttons, luckily you didn't went all over and confessed your fuzzy feelings about Axel in the heat of the battle!

"Yeah." Axel ran his gloved hand through his hair and you could swear you saw him blush a little. "Even I had some mixed feelings at the moment, I had to go after you and Saïx. There was a chance that you were being honest… And there's no way I'm going to lose another friend." He smiled.

If you hadn't been sitting down, that smile he just gave you would have definitely made your knees weak.

"You sure did beat up Saïx pretty bad." Axel chuckled and flopped on the floor next to you. "Luckily I was forced to interfere only after he was gone. Standing up to him- That's one shit storm I'm not ready for yet."

"You would have done that?" You blinked confused, but soon gave him a teasing smirk. "Protected me even if Saïx had gotten best of me?"

"You and your questions..!" Axel dodged the question, just giving a punch on your shoulder. "Just concentrate on resting."

Now he was blushing for sure.


After regaining enough strength, you paid a visit to Yen Sid's tower to meet King Mickey and Riku. No need to mention that Riku wasn't very pleased about your selfish actions, but also relieved that you made out alive.

"So he is on our side?" Riku asked, seemingly suspicious about what you had told him. Axel had told you more about his meddlings against the organization as you had rested, now you were passing the information forward.

"I wouldn't really say he's on our side…" You scratched your head, trying to find better words. "But kind of, yeah. He has his own motives, but he's definitely not against us either."

"Thankfully you were right about him." Riku sighed. "Otherwise this all could have ended very differently."

"You did great job out there." Mickey gave you an encouraging smile. "You have become quite a warrior during all this time."

"Thanks." You smiled awkwardly. "But what's happening now?"

"Now we need to let Sora and others handle out the rest. In the time of conclusion we all will be needed… But now we can't do much else than wait." Riku stated. "You can stay here or find some other place for yourself, I'll find you when we'll need you."


You could tell Riku wasn't very comfortable about the idea of having an organization member around, so you ended up staying in a hotel room in Traverse Town. This way Axel could come for you and you didn't always need to hang out at the clock tower. According to Axel, organization was pretty assured that you were dead- Saïx had given an impression that he had taken care of the business, apparently too embarrassed to admit the way he ended up handling the thing.

"So you two really used to be friends?" You looked at Axel in disbelief. "If he was anything like that he is now… It's very hard for me to imagine you two having anything in common!"

You were in your dimly lit hotel room, talking about this and that. You were sitting on the edge of the bed while Axel leaned against the wall across the room.

"I know, right?" He rolled his eyes. "Things are different now- As a nobodies we drifted apart very quickly."

"No wonder. He's so… blunt. Always pissed off like someone had shoved his claymore up to his ass." Your last sentence made Axel chuckle. "You instead are more like…"

"I'm like what?" He gave you a teasing grin, seemingly very curious about what you had to say.

"Hmm…" You frowned like you were thinking very hard, but just shrugged and flopped on the bed.

"Hey, hey!" Axel flustered, you being secretly proud of yourself for teasing him for a change. "You can't just leave me hanging like that!"

When you still said nothing, laying on your back and staring at the ceiling hands under your head, you heard his footsteps quickly approaching.

"I'm like what?" His head popped into your field of vision. He was leaning over you, determined to get an answer.

"A pain in the ass?" You smirked at him.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." Axel pouted and gestured you to make room for him. "Move."

He flopped on the bed next to you and you two laid there in silence, both staring at the ceiling like it was a starry sky.

"What it's like to have a heart?"

"Huh?" You glanced at him- He really caught you off guard by that question. "Uh… I don't know…"

"What do you mean you don't know?" He frowned, looking a little confused. "You are a full being, so you have a heart."

"Yeah, I do, but…" How you could explain how it felt like? Did it even feel like anything? "If you remember being a full being yourself, don't you remember how it felt like?"

"It's not like that." Axel sighed. "I have memories, but I don't remember how it was like. Those memories are more like a photo book- I can look back to the events and try my best to relive them, but it's still not the same."

"Well… Um… I don't really know how to explain it." You mumbled. "It doesn't actually feel like anything. But it's difficult to say since I don't know how it's like to be without one either. To be honest- I'm not sure if having a heart is that big of a deal." Axel looked at you puzzled, waiting for you to continue. "I mean… I have one and you don't. I still don't see much difference between us. And besides, you are way more humane than many people with hearts I've met during my life. So why it's so important?"

You turned on your side to look at him, only to find your faces only inches away from each other.