"You and the kid picked one hell of a time to have your first fight," Axel said as he and Jasmine had dinner together, later on, that night.

Jasmine sighed heavily and pushed back her empty plate of food. "I know," she replied. "Trust me, this wasn't what I wanted. Also," she cleared her throat and gave Axel a small smile. "I appreciate you waiting until after I ate to mention the whole Ven situation."

Axel finished off his glass of wine and said, "Of course. You're on a mission and I know you're stressed. You need to take care of yourself and make sure that you do the bare minimum – which is to eat. This is not an easy job."

Jasmine pulled her bangs out of her face and huffed. "You're telling me. Sometimes, when I'm around Naminé, Roxas, and the others, I think they think my job is just this fun adventure when in reality, this shit is hard. I would rather be in school right now."

Axel shrugged his shoulders. "That's where you should be. Most people who join are in their mid-twenties after they've lived life a little and can make the decision for themselves."

"But I know you want to know what's going on," Jasmine said, redirecting the conversation.

"Well duh, what the hell happened with you guys? You were fine and dandy before this."

Jasmine glanced at the restaurant patrons around her and Axel, looking at the other people dining on the patio with them, making sure that no one she knew was nearby.

"Honestly, I don't really know. We were having a conversation about Noctis and out of nowhere he got really weird about the whole friends with benefits situation."

"In what way?" Axel asked curiously.

This was the part that was unclear, even to her. "He kind of made it seem like I was just a body – which I understand because we're not dating and just hooking up – but it was just so gross in how he said it. He also alluded to this idea that I was just hooking up with him to pass the time until Riku comes back."

Axel's eyes widened and he leaned back in his chair. "Wow. That's…a lot."

"If I wanted to be back with one of my exes, I'd just get back together with them" she continued. "But it just felt like he was projecting so I called him out on it."

The redhead drummed his fingers against the tabletop, wracking his brain for answers. "So, did you guys talk it out?"

"He apologized over text and he came by my hotel room to work it out," Jasmine replied.

"Sooo…" he drew out. "Did you?"

Jasmine shook her head to say no. "I told him that I didn't want to keep sleeping with him."

"Ouch," Axel winced.

"I decided to listen to you," she began, staring right into Axel's vivid green eyes. "I have WAY too much on my plate. I can't keep sleeping with Ven when I have to deal with Noctis. And, if Ven is right and Noctis likes me or whatever, I think it's best I deal with that head-on, work it out, and then see where things lie with me and Ven."

Axel appeared genuinely surprised, impressed by Jasmine's maturity. "I'm proud of you, Cat-Eyes. You're cutting out the bullshit and actually trying to make your life less messy."

"It's too stressful. Not that I don't care about Ven," she clarified. "But there's just too much going on."

"That's putting it mildly."

"Noctis wants me to come with him when he goes to rescue his father," Jasmine announced, shifting in her seat uncomfortably. "Ven thinks it's a bit more than that. He swears that Noctis wants me to – and I can't believe I'm even saying this – go off with him and eventually marry him."

Axel scoffed. "He probably does," he chuckled, earning a look of horror from the raven-haired girl in front of him. "Haven't you heard of a queen's candidate?"

"No, not at all," Jasmine said flatly.

"From what little bit I know, his fiancé was killed sometime during their war," he explained. "Noctis doesn't have anyone else to replace her and you're the only somewhat viable candidate. Believe it or not, that's most likely why he wants you to come along."

"That's what Ven said."

"And I'd bet he's right. Noctis probably wants someone he's comfortable with - a friend - that he sees possibly growing with him. A queen's candidate is someone in the running to ascend the throne with the upcoming king. Usually, there's more than one and there's no guarantee that you'd be the one he picked unless there was no one else – which there isn't."

"But that's not how I feel about Noctis," Jasmine protested. "I've tried to keep it strictly business with him the entire time. We've never been on a date, kissed, or anything else."

"Listen, kid, the way their sort view relationships is different from how you and I do. Most people that high up don't love the people they're married to. They're lucky if they even like each other. I'm pretty confident that the prince will ask once you get back."

Jasmine slumped back in her chair. To hear this from Ven, and now Axel, it made it seem like this was now a very real possibility.

"Here's the bright side," Axel said with a smirk. "Money? He's got that. Security? He's the strongest in SOLDIER right now and his team is solid. If you could handle not being in love with him, popping out a son, and taking a gamble on growing to love him in the future, you'd be set for the rest of your life."

"Axel, this is ridiculous," Jasmine groaned.

"But," Axel said, his voice taking a more serious tone, "I would bet that Ignis would shit his pants if he found out that's what Noctis wanted."

"Why do you say that?"

"He's been watching you like a hawk since you moved in," Axel replied. "His job is to keep the prince on the straight and narrow so he can be a good king. But even though you don't see it – from your end anyway – the prince is more fond of you than what Ignis would like. Without being harsh, you're a distraction. And I think that if you were being honest with yourself if you guys didn't have all this baggage, I could see you and the prince having a 'slip up' if you know what I mean."

Jasmine rolled her eyes and sighed. Though she often downplayed it for the sake of keeping her relationship with Noctis as platonic as possible, she had openly admitted to herself and even Prompto that she found the prince to be handsome. He was tall, strong, with handsome features and had an aura that seemed to draw people in. Even though at times his façade slipped, revealing him to be a bit awkward, stubborn, and quirky at times, Noctis was very likable as much as Jasmine hated to admit it.

"Even so, in regard to the whole queen's candidate situation, isn't it Noctis' decision?"

"In theory, yes, but Ignis also has to have a say in it, and, quite frankly, you don't fit the bill."

"That's what I told Ven. I'm not royalty and Ignis is such a stickler about everything."

"Well duh, he's his advisor. Remember that drama from when Ignis tried to put a wedge between you and Noctis?"

Jasmine nodded, recalling that horrible incident and feeling a pit in her stomach.

"Prepare yourself for that," Axel advised. "Talk with Noctis and see what's going on and then make the call."

Jasmine folded her arms over her chest and frowned. 'Maybe it was the right thing to break it off with Ven after all,' she thought to herself. 'If this is an actual thing, this queen's candidate situation, I have to nip it in the bud fast.'

"Ahem," Axel cleared his throat, "but going back to the original issue – you should still talk to Ven when we all get back."

"I kinda have to," she told him, "Ven asked me to see him so we can talk before Noctis leaves."

Axel tilted his head back and stared up at the sky hanging overhead. He stifled a chuckle. It was so obvious, yet Jasmine was missing it entirely. "Tell me again, why won't you date, Ven? Like I said before, you guys are perfect."

"If I'm being honest," Jasmine began slowly, initially not wanting to go down this road for a second time today, "part of me did think about pursuing Ven around the time we hooked up."

Axel slammed his right hand on the table and pointed a finger in her face. "Ha! I knew it!"

"Calm down!" she hushed him. "But I got over it very quickly," Jasmine continued, much to Axel's confusion. "At the time I was still dealing with the Riku situation."

Axel nodded his head in understanding. He sometimes forgot about Jasmine and Riku's relationship, especially because they had been so secretive about it for so long.

"But Ventus was the main one who said that we should just be friends. I can't tell you why, but there's a reason why he never wanted to be more than friends with benefits."

Axel wracked his brain for a possible reason as to why Ventus would be against dating Jasmine. After all, they were as close as can be, clearly attracted to one another, and just seemed to make sense. Whatever reason Ven had for keeping their "relationship" platonic must have been something important for him to turn down Jasmine.

"Did you tell him all that?" Axel asked finally.

Jasmine shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "Yeah. He used to bring up that night in Agrabah and I was always dodging it. He snapped at me earlier asking why I keep avoiding it and I told him exactly what I told you. That's when I made him leave."

"Well, you guys finished the mission, what are you gonna do for the rest of the night? If you have nothing left to do, I suggest that – only if you're in a good place – that you try to talk it out with Ven," Axel suggested. "It's better to have those tough talks early on so that you don't have to worry about it later."

Jasmine mulled over the thought. While Axel did have a good point (among many good points in this conversation), she didn't have the time to sit and talk with Ventus because she had a mini solo mission of her own.

"I can't," she told him. "I have to get some work done. I didn't wanna talk with him earlier and, while I get why he came to see me, it threw me off for the day."

"Didn't you partner up with Terra?" Axel asked the raven-haired girl. "I thought you were supposed to be with your guy?"

Jasmine glared at Axel. "He's not my guy," she corrected. "And it's not like I had to be linked up with Ven for this task. That's just how it usually is. Besides, I like Terra. He's nice, smart and he's easy to work with."

Axel shrugged his shoulders. "Alright. If you ask me, y'all should work it out before you get home. But, you have work to do so I get it."

The redhead called for the check and Jasmine immediately reached into her jeans for her wallet. As soon as she pulled it out, Axel rolled his eyes just as the waitress came by to hand them the bill.

"What are you doing? This is a date," he teased, earning a look of annoyance from Jasmine. Axel turned his attention to the waitress and grinned as he handed her cash for the tab. "It's our first date. She's trying to pay."

The waitress laughed, further adding to Jasmine's embarrassment. "We're NOT on a date," she argued, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks.

"Ignore her," Axel said dismissively. "She's just being shy. And keep the change."

"Umm, excuse me!" Jasmine craned her neck to get the waitresses attention. "Don't listen to him. We're not dating! He's really old and it's gross."

The waitress thanked Axel and left the table, giggling to herself and muttering "how cute" before she disappeared.

"I hate you so much right now," Jasmine grumbled as she tried to hide her blush.

Axel snickered, relishing the rare moment of seeing Jasmine visibly embarrassed. "You'll get over it."

Author's Note: Hi guys! I hope you've been safe and sound. It seems like every 20 seconds I look at the news and there's always worse news than before. I just hope that, at some point, things get better for everyone across the board. These are sad times.

But, getting away from all that, I wanted to thank all of you for reading, faving, or reviewing the chapter.

rawrrbreee: Thank you! Ugh I swear I was really banking on both those games but the show must go on. But yeah, I did reread Heartbreakers and my God…it was so much. But those were different times, even for fanfiction. As for Riku, it just shows that he and Jasmine are more alike than they think they are. In regard to Roxas, well…that situation will come to head at some point.

Arika Koski: Yes, that's definitely part of it. I'm not sure if you're familiar with my other stories or even this series (totally cool if you aren't, I'm happy to have you as a reader), but they usually start off fairly tame but there's more than cussing in it for sure. Thanks for the question!

Hopefuldreamer1991: I know! I missed them too. They will be featured a lot more in this story going forward (without Jasmine being part of the conversation). As for your question, I do have something planned for them in regard to the SOLDIER situation. We just haven't gotten that far yet. It's a little ambitious, but that will come up again even if it takes another story to get through that plot. OMG I love that you reread it. Oddly enough, around that time of year I do get messages about that chapter in particular. I'm just happy that you guys liked it so much.

Now that all that is out of the way, I'm going to close this chapter out. The next one should be significantly longer (I know I keep saying that but I genuinely need to set up other moving parts of the story before I get to it). I hope you guys enjoyed it. Let me know what you think in a review or a PM and I promise I'll get back to you.

Take care everyone!