A/N: It has been a long few months. I'm sorry about the whole not updating thing. I, um, kind of got sucked into a new/old fandom? (A few years ago I was really into FullMetal Alchemist, and then that wore off, and now I've suddenly gotten myself drawn back in. So, yeah, blame FMA for my latest disappearance. Now if only I could write those characters...)

Warnings: You know what I said about having no qualms with being evil? Yeah. That still stands.

Disclaimer: Squaresoft and Disney: jointly owning my soul since 2002. (Holy shit that's NINE YEARS.)

Summary: AU. Axel/Roxas. He wanted an ending. He got Axel instead.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Here I Go (So Dishonestly)

Axel looked surprised to see him. Roxas supposed he should have expected that, since he'd been out on his false missions every day for the better part of a week, but it was still sort of painful. Had he really been paying that little attention to his boyfriend?

"That was a pretty short mission," Axel said eventually, his voice entirely too even. "Xemnas finally going easy on you?"

Roxas snorted. "Does that man know the meaning of sympathy?" he asked. "Just because it was short doesn't mean it wasn't a pain in the ass. Honestly, I think he expected it to take longer than it did."

"So you're done for the day then?" There was no masking the hope in Axel's voice. "No more mystery solo missions for a while?"

"No, I don't think so." Roxas smiled, mostly to hide the way his stomach twisted at the half-truth. Part of him was horrified by how easy it seemed to be to do that, but most of him was just relieved. "I've still been forbidden from telling you anything that's been happening though."

"Weird," Axel mused quietly, sliding from the bed and placing the book he'd been reading on the nightstand. "But I guess I can live with it, as long as it's over. So what were you planning on doing for the rest of the day?"

"Well," Roxas said slowly, pretending to think about it as he walked over to the redhead. He put his hands on the taller man's hips and gave him a slow smile. "I was thinking maybe we could make up for lost time? If you're not busy that is."

Axel grinned, so obviously happy about this turn of events that Roxas had to resist the sudden urge to tell him everything and ask the man to come with him. But he couldn't do it. How could he ask Axel to leave everything he knew to go chasing after Roxas' wayward brother? Besides, who's to say Sora would even believe that it was him? He'd been gone for three long years and had a damning tattoo on his wrist-he could be too easily discovered. He could be putting Axel in unnecessary danger, and that wasn't acceptable.

So Roxas moved one hand to curl in the front of Axel's shirt instead, pulling the man down for a long kiss until the urge faded. When they parted, Axel was holding on to him as if afraid he would disappear again.

"Bed?" Roxas asked breathlessly, already taking a half step forward to push Axel in that direction.

"Bed," Axel agreed, smiling again before dipping his head for another kiss. Roxas was more than happy to oblige him. He'd missed this while he was searching for Riku, missed the passion and love that seeped into Axel's every movement and seemed to light Roxas' insides on fire. He wasn't sure how long he was going to be able to live without it.

When they finally made it to the bed, Roxas pulled away and held Axel at bay with a gentle hand on his chest. "I love you," he said gently, smiling softly.

"I love you too," Axel returned, his smile significantly more predatory as he rolled Roxas onto his back. "And I'm going to spend the rest of the day showing you just how much."

xxxxxxx

Hours later, Roxas was sitting up in bed staring blankly at Axel's face. The man was fast asleep, laying flat on his back and snoring softly. One arm was thrown haphazardly across Roxas' side of the bed, the other dangling off the edge. He looked utterly at peace, and Roxas was glad for that, he really was. It was a good memory to take with him.

Roxas sighed, long and nearly inaudible even in the quiet room, and got out of bed. His feet didn't make any noise as he walked around, finding and putting on his clothing before walking around to the far side of the bed and staring down at Axel once again.

He should leave his rings. It was only right, he told himself silently, twisting them around his fingers nervously. He was leaving Axel to chase after his past, was unsure if he would ever see the man again. He didn't deserve to keep them.

But Axel would have everything Roxas had collected in the entire time he'd been with the Organization, and these would be all Roxas would have left. He couldn't part with them. Instead he lifted Axel's dangling arm, crossing it against his chest, and leaned down to leave a brief kiss.

When he left the room, the door closing with the slighest of noises behind him, he didn't look back. He didn't think he was strong enough for that.

xxxxxxx

"Trouble sleeping again?" Cloud's voice came from nowhere, and Roxas scowled as the taller blond stepped out of the shadows. "It's a bad night for a walk."

"And it's a bad night for you to bother me," Roxas snarled at him, and kept walking. He rolled his eyes when Cloud fell into step with him, but he didn't say anything else.

"It's going to rain soon," Cloud observed after a few long minutes of silence, and sighed when Roxas just grunted in response. "Seems to match your mood, at least. Care to tell a stranger what's bothering you?"

"No," Roxas replied sharply. His mind wandered as they continued walking, and he found himself glancing out of the corner of his eye to consider Cloud. He was dressed differently this time, he noted, decked out in solid black, and his sword was far more visible than before. "...What's your weapon called?" he asked eventually, curious.

"This?" Cloud asked, drawing it from its sheath and holding it in front of him. It wasn't the same one that he'd had before, Roxas noted with interest, and the design was...well, strange. "It's just called the Fusion Sword. There's six separate blades that lock together to form it. I'm, ah, not really good with names." Roxas snorted. "Why don't you have any weapons?"

"I can summon them," Roxas responded shortly.

"Like a keyblade or something, huh?" Cloud asked thoughtfully as he put his weapon away. "Neat ability."

"Yeah, I guess," Roxas muttered, looking up at Cloud again and scowling. "Why are you hanging around me? Don't you have anything better to do?"

"I was going in the same direction as you," Cloud replied, his voice far too calm for Roxas' liking. The guy clearly wasn't put off by his surliness. "I'm just fetching my bike before I head out."

"Out where?"

"Wherever," Cloud shrugged. "Coliseum, maybe. Haven't had a good fight in a while, and there's a tournament coming up soon."

"...Do you think you'll be going by Twilight Town at any point?" Roxas asked. "I'm looking for...uh. A fight of my own, I guess. Not big on heroes. I was going to get on the train, but if you wouldn't mind..."

"I wouldn't mind some company." Cloud smiled at him, a slight quirk of the lips that caught Roxas by surprise. "That is, if you don't mind being nicer."

Roxas grinned back ruefully and shrugged. "If it saves me some munny, I think I can handle it. By the way, my name's..." and here he paused, for only the briefest moment, before making up his mind and saying: "Ven. My name's Ven."

A/N: I'm sorry about the shortness of this chapter, but the first part was supposed to be a lot longer and, uh, pornier...but I can't remember when I was last in the mood to write porn SO. Yeah.