Title: Painting with Red

Song:I Never Knew What Love Meant by Rin'

Roxas-centered

Pairing: Roxas/Xion

Characters: Roxas, Xion, mentions of Sora and Axel

Rating: K

AN: This turned out really short, but hey, it's sweet.

Roxas closed his eyes willing his existence to fade to where it belonged. He expected his consciousness to dissolve into Sora's. He expected to cease to exist, or at least to meet endless darkness. He had not expected to see a small, black-haired girl whose memory had been lost to him until that instant. Before he had time to process the influx of memories, wet streaks rested upon his cheeks. "Xion," he whispered tentatively, as if she were a figment of his imagination that might vanish any moment.

"Roxas, I've missed you," she said in a voice as sweet as honey.

"How is this even possible? I thought you-that I-"

"Would dissolved? I thought so too. But Sora is so selfless that he allows us to remain even though he's unaware of doing so."

"Xion," and his voice was broken, reflecting his still mending equanimity.

"Shh," she cooed approaching him and cuddling him against her. She pet his head as he breathed raggedly into her shoulder. "Everything is fine now. We're fine."

When he'd finally calmed himself, they sat down amid the open darkness, and he leaned his head upon her shoulder without a thought, making her sigh contentedly. "I never dreamed that we could be together like this. It is almost like heaven. Axel always said that only Somebodies got that, though."

"Yeah. Guess we owe that to Sora. He's not the typical Somebody."

"Yeah." They were quiet for a time. "This would be even better if we had some ice cream and a sunset to watch."

"I wonder." She groaned in effort, making him lift his head to stare at her. Her eyes were clenched.

"What are you doing?"

"Seeing if we can make it happen," she said in a voice implying that it should have been obvious.

He chuckled, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "You were the one asking for it." Then she smiled, shoved his side. "Help me!"

He gasped, but did, closing his eyes and visualizing the brilliant view atop the grand clock tower. This was an easy task since all his best memories had occurred there. Stark purples and pinks, vivid oranges and yellow, and plenty of vibrant red. He loved the color red. Somehow it made his chest warm. What had Axel said about it that one time? That it was the color that travels the farthest?

After what felt like a long time, Xion was shaking him. "Look!" When he opened his eyes, there it was, the exact sunset he had been envisioning—with plenty of red. "This really is heaven," Xion murmured, placing her head on his shoulder this time.

"I wish Axel could share this with us."

"Yeah." There was a pause. "Do you remember what he said that one time about love?"

"That it is something you feel for another person. It's like friendship, but different. That it's something you can't explain to someone else. It's just something you know when you've found it."

She gasped. "Wow, that's almost what he said exactly! I thought you had a bad memory, Roxas." She giggled.

"Hey!" He smacked her arm. "That wasn't my fault!"

"I know. I know." She chuckled a few more times. "I still don't really understand it."

"I think I do."

She cocked her head. "You do?"

"The color red."

"Hmm?"

"I think it's the same as the feeling I get from the color red."

"Hmm." She pondered this, staring at the vibrant red surrounding them. Then she started. "Roxas?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I might love you."

"Yeah. I think I love you too."