Heartmaker

by Besket

Author's Notes: Nothing to say. (grins) Just look back at the prologue.

Warning: Other than what I already said in the prologue, (and I do hate repeating myself,) there might be slight confusion. . . but not really. I think you're all smart enough to figure out the entire story very easily, I mean. . . it's not like I'm hiding anything. The plot is so predictable.

Disclaimer: I'm a lazy-ass, so I'll shorten this one. I don't own anything. I don't even own the whole storyline of this story, as mentioned last chapter. So don't sue me, because I'm not stealing.

Chapter One – Wake Up!

Mmmm.

Augh, who's poking me?

Mn. . .

. . . Aw, just a little longer, I went to bed kinda late last night. . .

Ehh. . . wait. . . what's that smell?

That. . . smells really good. . .

Whoa, now I'm hungry. Give me food!

I cracked my eyes open, slowly. I was met with a sea of green, only two inches away.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

I attempted to roll out of bed, but someone stopped me. I looked up at the person's face again, and this time it was far enough away for me to recognize it. Plus I was also more awake.

"Axel? What are you doing here?" I asked, confused. He never visited me this early in the morning. He was usually. . . well. . . why couldn't I remember?

"Rise and shine, Demmy!" He laughed, then lifted his hand, which was stopping me from falling off the bed. I yelped as I hit the floor, the sound causing the bowls of water in my room to turn into little hands. They crawled around the room and tried to help me back up, but couldn't, because they were made out of water and were armless hands. Well, that's okay, I can get up myself.

As I was starting to pick myself up, Axel grabbed my hands and yanked me to my feet. "So, Demmy, how about some breakfast? I made you an omelet!" He held up a frying pan, from which the delicious smell from earlier was coming.

Wow, that's so good. . . I could hardly think from the smell, but some part of my brain remained enough for me to remember something. "Wait, around this time of the morning, aren't you. . . usually cooking breakfast for Roxas?" I asked. Yeah, now I remembered! That's what he's usually doing, fattening up the rookie, and getting punched in the face! What is he doing here?

"Yeah, well. . . I guess I am." Axel scratched his head sheepishly. (false. . . false. . . false. . .!) "But, you know. . . last night he got hurt, and he was really mad at me, so. . . I wasn't sure if he wanted to see me yet."

Another part of me was wondering, then why did you come to me? But it was squashed by the delicious smell of the omelet. I mean, Axel wasn't considered one of the better cooks of the Organization for nothing! So I reached my hand out toward the frying pan, a pleading look on my face, and he laughed, transferred the omelet to a plate, and handed me a fork. "Here, enjoy."

I took the plate eagerly, my taste buds already tingling in anticipation, when the fiery bastard swooped forward and planted a kiss on my cheek.

I almost dropped the plate.

Whoa.

Is it just me, or is this room really, really hot? Man, I feel like I'm about to sweat.

I glanced at him, confused. He just laughed again. "Ah, I never get to do that with Roxy. I wanted to see what it was like." Then he nudged me. "Come on, eat, eat, eat!"

I hesitated. Wow. I mean, that was. . . it was like I almost felt something. Hmm. Weird. Well, not much use thinking about it now, right? I lifted my fork and stabbed the omelet.

Heh. That's so good. Mmmm.

As I ate, Axel had materialized another egg from somewhere and was cracking it into the frying pan. I watched as he cooked it without a stove, just with his hands. It was pretty neat, and I kind of wish I had a cool talent like his. Aw, that's just not fair!

I watched as he materialized another fork from somewhere and ate straight from the pan. Heh, knowing him, he was obviously too lazy to get out another plate. As I was finishing my delicious breakfast, he looked over at me, smiling.

"Hey, Demmy," he started, to get my attention. I looked up. "I know you like to visit that underwater world a lot, don't you?"

I blinked. Underwater world? Wha. . . oh! Oh! "You mean Atlantica?" I asked. I couldn't help but grin. I loved that place! Ariel and Flounder were always happy to see me, and Sebastian only used his stern voice with me when I was doing something stupid, like. . . um. . . well, there was that shark incident. . . but, it was okay in the end, because I managed to trap the shark in some hoop thing. It was awesome! I got a stern scolding for it, though. . .

"Yeah, yeah, Atlantica," Axel said, bringing me out of my thoughts. "You like to hang out with the fish and the mer-people there, don't you?"

I nodded. Where was this going?

"I've heard stories about how great their voices are," he continued, "but I've never actually gotten to hear them. And, frankly, I don't really think some half-fish brat could really sing all that great."

Huh? Hey! "Hey, Princess Ariel is not a half-fish brat!" I pouted. "She's really nice, and friendly, and pretty, and- and- and she's got the best voice in Atlantica!" Which was true, by the way!

Axel leaned his entire frontal body back, threw back his head, and laughed. "Alright, alright, take a chill pill," he said, waving his hands at me, "I'm not trying to insult your friend, okay? Besides," at this he shot me a funny look. I drew back slightly. "Besides, you're not even supposed to be able to get all huffy like that."

I wasn't?

Oh, yeah. . . being "huffy" would mean having emotions, huh?

Well. . . well. . .

"Hey, just because we don't have hearts, doesn't mean we can't feel stuff!" I crossed my arms and pouted. "So I can huff as much as I want!"

His laughter died down, and slowly tamed down into a small smile. "Could you say that part again?" he asked, his voice almost a whisper.

"What? 'I can huff as much as I want'?"

"No, before that," he said, waving his hand in a dismissive manner. Wow, he was being. . . strangely patient. Maybe what I said really got to him.

"'Just because we don't have hearts, doesn't mean we can't feel stuff.'" At least, that's what I think I said.

He had on the thinking pose. "Would explain a lot," he muttered to himself.

Hmm, well. It looks like it really did get to him. Wonder why?

"I- I mean," I continued, and he looked up. Eh, what was I going to say again? "I mean, you know, we can feel, right? It's part of what comes from being able to think. It's what sets us apart from Heartless." His face was blank. Gah, guess I wasn't getting my point across. . . "Well, what I'm trying to say is. . . you can feel like you have a heart, right? So, so. . ." Dang, this was really getting awkward. "So, as long as we care, it'll be almost the same, right?"

This was getting a bit creepy. Axel was just standing there, not moving. . . not saying anything. . . I've never seen him so still before. When he finally did look up, I was relieved (false. . . false. . . false. . .!) to see his smirk back. "I'll keep that in mind," he assured me.

Why does that comment make my head spin?

"In the meantime," he said, "about Atlantica. . . could you take me there?"

Huh? Atlantica?

Hey, wait, if he goes, then- !

"You'll drown!" I looked at him as if he were crazy. Actually, that might not be too far from the truth. "Why do you want to go there, anyway?"

"Well, no reason, really," he said, casually. He sent me a strange look. "Just wanted to hear some. . . singing."

I gulped. There was something about the way he said the word, "singing". . . what's going on? Eh? Eh?

"And I was thinking, well. . . you must have some way to breathe down there, right?" He leaned against the wall lazily and crossed his arms. "Show me. What do you do?"

Aw, no. No, please, don't make me do this. It's embarrassing!

Don't look at me like that, either! Don't! Stop! I- arrrgghh!

"Okay, okay, fine. . ." face feeling slightly warm, I reached my hand toward the zipper of my raincoat. Slowly, hesitatingly, I pulled it down.

Ah! This feels so weird! I usually get to do this by myself, before I open a portal to Atlantica. . . but with someone else it's way more awkward! Yikes!

As soon as the zipper was undone, I took the raincoat off.

I feel so exposed, wearing just my pants. . . ack, ack, ack! He's looking at me, too! Eek!

"Um, and then you make a tail. . ." I ran my hand down the area between my legs, fusing them – along with my pants and boots – into a black tail. Axel's eyes followed me the entire time, and I fidgeted a little.

He nodded. "I see how you do it, but. . . well. . ." He stared at his hands, still smiling. Why is that smile making me squirm? "I don't think I have the right kind of magic to do that. . ." He put on an expression that I suppose was supposed to look apologetic, but just made him look even more. . . well. . . whatever he was.

"Oh." My tail flipped around absently as I thought about our situation. "Um, then I'll. . . do it for you." That solves it! Demyx, you are such a genius!

"I'm all yours." He winked at me, then started taking off his raincoat, too.

My eyes followed his zipper as it went down, exposing more of his skin as he went.

Why couldn't I tear my eyes away? Gak! He was going to see me staring! He's going to think I'm some kind of weirdo! Ah! Look away, look away, look away, you idiot!

I still hadn't gotten myself to look away by the time he had thrown the black material off, revealing his freakishly thin – but still somehow very good-looking – frame. He smiled down at me.

Wait, why's he smiling down?

Ack!

I completely forgot! I'm still a mermaid! Erm- merboy! Whatever the term is! I can't stand up!

How am I going to help him like this?

He must have seen me panicking, because he smiled. "Can't reach, can you?" He lay down on the floor and put his legs together. "This makes things easier, doesn't it?"

After I'd gotten over the shock of seeing Axel with his legs together – the guy always stands with them like two feet apart! – I reached a hand forward.

It stopped about half a foot away.

Um. . .

. . . Great. Genius, Demyx. You're so smart you should drown.

I was starting to feel warm again. Shoot! No! Forget censoring! Shit! Shit!

I had to put my hand there!

Axel lifted his head up a bit. "Something wrong?"

Yes! Yes, something was very wrong! Ah! This. . . this is going to feel so weird. . .

I shook my head slowly. "Nothing's wrong. . ." He seemed satisfied by that, and put his head back down.

Well, at least he wasn't going to see me do it. . .

I closed my eyes. Just get it over with, Demyx! You can do it!

I slowly put my hand down.

Ah! Ah! Yikes!

As quickly as I could, I moved my hand down, and watched as Axel's legs became a black tail like mine.

He was chuckling. "Heh, that tickled," he commented. So casually.

I coughed slightly, feeling my throat tickle a bit. "Uhm, now that we can breathe and move freely underwater now. . ." I opened up a portal and was about to climb in, before realizing that the portal might close in on him. I mean, he was the one that wanted to go, so it would be pretty stupid to leave him behind. . .

So I let him go in first. He seemed slightly awkward moving with his arms at first, but he got used to it pretty fast. I jumped in after him.

To Atlantica! Wake up, Princess Ariel! Black-tail Demyx is coming for a visit!

As soon as the portal closed, another Organization XIII member stepped out from behind the corner they had been spying from. The person lifted a hand and whipped off his hood, staring at the disappearing portal.

"What?" Roxas asked, disbelieving. He frowned. "Axel's. . . going somewhere. Without me." The blonde stared at the discarded raincoats that were still on the floor, and his eyes narrowed. "You didn't even make breakfast for me this morning."

He put his hand on his stomach. It grumbled in hunger.

Tailnotes: Just so you know, in this story, mer-people can breathe air as well as water. It seemed like they could do that, since Sora and Ariel could bring their heads above water in Atlantica without having to go down for water, so. . . yeah. (sweatdrops) Well, even if you disagree, just go with it. . . (sweatdrops again)

Listening to Roxas's theme while reading the last scene makes it so much sadder. (sniffs) Poor Roxas. . .