always

"Why does the sun set red?"

Axel glanced over at Xion, feeling a smile curl his mouth. "Well, funny you should ask—"

"Don't." Roxas held out his gloved hand. "Do not go there, Axel. I've heard this enough. Just—stop."

"What?" Xion blinked, surprised. "I want to know!"

Axel snickered and Roxas's expression and before long the other two were laughing too, the three of them shaking with mirth on top of the Tower.

Axel wondered, briefly, what Siax would think if he saw the three of them together like this. It was a knee-jerk reaction Axel had—to always think of Siax, and everything he represented.

Idlethoughts,Axel sighed internally, notworthmytime.

"I wonder if we'll always be friends." Xion murmured as their laughter dwindled.

Roxas looked over at her, brow furrowing. "Of course we will be, Xion."

Axel swallowed. They were both so innocent—so naively trusting and believing in everything. Maybe because of what they were—Roxas, without his memories, and Xion who was…well, only stolen memories.

It didn't matter. Right now they seemed perfect to Axel, in a way that no other Nobody could be. The light in their eyes had not been dimmed by the oblivion of this twisted kind of afterlife. Something remained in them—if nothing else, it was the will to live with a smile on their face.

"We'll be together," Axel said softly, "in our memories. Got it memorized? In our memories, always."

Xion and Roxas smiled simultaneously, but it was Roxas who spoke.

"Yeah. Always!"

A/N:

Sorry for the shortness!