Alright, I finally got something written again for this story! Ugh I have had some bad writers block for this story, but I managed to get this done. I know it's a bit short, but it's the best I could do for right now.
Enjoy!


Ch.12 Nightmare

Axel, Roxas, and Maxine had their ice cream up on the clock tower, having a small little chat about things. Afterwards they headed back the the Castle that Never Was. Roxas had gone to fill out his mission report and Axel was heading down the hallway, with Maxine trailing right behind him.

"So what are you doing now?" Maxine asked.

"I told you already, I have to check in with the boss and then I have a lot of paperwork to fill out," Axel explained.

Maxine frowned, "But I wanted to play...I haven't seen you in a really, really, really long time."

Axel let out a small sigh as he turned around to look at Maxine, he had to keep reminding himself that for was brave as Maxine was, she was still just a five year old girl, "I know. I really need to get some work done, but once that's all done, we can play maybe tomorrow, okay?"

Maxine's frown immediately disappeared and she was smiling again, "Alright! See you tomorrow then!" And with that Maxine head off towards her room.

Axel chuckled a little as he continued on his way, "I'll never understand where she gets all that energy."

Later that night Axel was fast asleep in his bed, or he was until he felt someone pushing arm. With a groan he opened his eyes to see Maxine standing in front of his bed, with big wide eyes. She was holding her pillow tightly her in arms.

"Maxine? What are… you doing here?" Axel asked with a yawn as he looked at his clock to see the time. The clock read 1:23AM. He looked back at Maxine, "Why are you up this late?"

"I… I had a bad dream…" Maxine muttered as she stared down at the ground. "It was really scary."

Axel looked at Maxine, it almost looked as if she was about to start crying. Axel sat up and placed a hand on Maxine's head, "Can you tell me what happened?"

Maxine sniffled a little before nodded, "There was a lot of Heartless. Really big scary ones. They kept chasing me. I kept running..but…. But…" Maxine's eyes started to tear up, "It was really scary."

Axel sighed. It never had once occurred to him that Maxine would get nightmares. Maxine always seemed so brave and strong even though she was just a kid. But that was the thing Axel had to remind himself, that she was just a little kid. Now here she was, clearly frightened from the Heartless, probably from having to go out and fight them all the time. Possibly also from being killed from them, though Axel still wasn't sure if Maxine really remembered what happened then.

The memories of that certain feeling returned again. The feeling of regret. He regretted ever letting her go out a mission. He regretted ever letting her go and fight the Heartless. She was way too young to be doing stuff like that, no matter how brave she was. She was still just a little girl at the end of the day.

"Axel?" Maxine spoke up again, gripping her pillow tighter. "Can I stay here? I'm too scared to be alone…"

Axel nodded and scootched over so Maxine could climb up onto the bed. As soon as she was up on the bed, Axel patted her head again, "Don't worry Maxine. I won't let the Heartless get you. Or the nightmares."

Maxine smiled as she hugged Axel, "Thank you Axel. You're a awesome big brother."

Axel's eyes widened, he knew that he felt like a big brother to Maxine, but he didn't know that she saw him as one. "You see me as a big brother?"

Maxine nodded as she let go of Axel, "Yeah! You taught me how to fight. You give me piggyback rides. But don't worry, you are still my best friend too."

"Thanks kid," Axel said with a small smile as he ruffled Maxine's hair, "Now how about we get some sleep."

"Okay!" Maxine said and with that she laid down on the bed and closed her eyes.

Axel pulled the covers up over her before he laid back down. Axel didn't fall right back asleep though. He stared up at the ceiling, thinking over things. After a few minutes of thinking Axel finally came to a conclusion.

"That's it…" Axel thought to himself, "I don't want Maxine to go on more missions. If I can't always be there for her...I don't want anything to happen to her. She's too young to be doing stuff like this...She needs to spend more time having fun like a kid should… Or really the Nobody of a kid…" The memories of regret and guilt came back again. Axel had failed to protect her once, but he was going to make sure he didn't fail again.


So yeah, just a short little chapter. But I will try my best to get more written for this soon. But I also have all my other stories to work on. Still trying to rotate around to getting all of them at least a little worked on.

Hope you all enjoyed! See you next time!