Axel lay flat on his back, starring up into the swirling heavens of the world of Betwixt and Between. He had just saved Sora…so technically, to him, he had saved Roxas.

What more could I want as a final action…..?

"AXEL!"

Axel's eyes slowly fluttered open and he turned his head slightly to stare up into Sora's face, which was painted with a heartbreaking expression.

Hmmmmm….I wonder what it feels like…to feel sorrow….and loss. Regret….Love…..?

"Axel…" Sora's voice quivered as it balanced on the edge of cracking into a sobbish state.

Axel forced a smile, even as he slowly started to feel himself fading away. "Hey now….that's what happens when you put your whole being into an attack….not that Nobodies really have beings, but…" He shrugged and averted his eyes back to the swirling ceiling above him, which was slowly collecting pieces of his empty being.

"Axel…..what where you trying to do?" Sora found that half of himself, for whatever reason, wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold Axel, to grab each and every piece of him as he was floating away and slowly piece him back together.

"I wanted….to save Roxas….he was the only one I really liked." Slowly, Axel let his head slump back to his right so that he could stare up into Sora's teary-eyed face. He tried to raise a quivering hand to touch Sora's cheek and then found that he hadn't the strength. His hand flopped down onto his chest.

"Axel…you're fading away…!"

"Roxas was the only one…who made me feel as though I had a heart….you make me feel…the same." As Axel moved his eyes to look at Sora for what he felt would be the last time, he was blinded by a flash of the purest light. His body felt….hot. It was as though the very flames he was famous for were burning inside of him…..Axel felt that there was an inside of him.

Looking around, the spiky red head noted there wasn't much to look at: nothing but a sea of white. Which he noticed, after a quick look down at himself, he blended in perfectly with. His long, black Organization coat had been traded in for a simple white-T, baggy white pants, and bare feet. Without realizing he could actually perform the action, his body sat upright with a start.

"What the--"

"What, is Sora you're new best friend?" A sneering, painfully familiar voice whispered softly into Axel's ear.

His eyes widened and he whipped his head around to stare into the beautiful blueness of Roxas's eyes.

"Ah…ah…Roxas!"

Roxas, too, was clad in the same uniform Axel was, matching perfectly with their white surroundings. He gave Axel his special smile, one Axel had only ever seen Roxas give to him….and yet, it was different. It was no longer empty, as all Nobodies' actions are…it was full of something. Of emotion.

"Roxas, wha--"

"If you're going to say goodbye to me, do it right: say it to me, not to Sora!" There was a hint of bitterness in his voice, but it was mostly playful.

And then, Axel realized it….Bitterness…playfulness….he knew and felt every emotion known to those with Hearts. He knew and felt things that Nobodies weren't made to experience. Axel looked down at his hands for a moment, turning them over and back again as though studying them deeply.

Was this death? But then, why was Roxas here?

Perhaps it's a dream I've created for myself, before I loose the ability with oblivion…..and that's why he's here with me again.

Axel looked up at Roxas, mouth agape and lips tingling with so many questions.

Roxas could only smile, trying not to laugh at his dumbfounded friend.

"C'mon now Axel: you've got an image to uphold! Don't go acting like a monkey on me now!"

"Roxas…how--"

"I told you. If you're going to say goodbye, say it to me not to Sora!" The blue in his eyes twinkled with a fire that made Axel's skin bumpy. "I've already lost too much to that guy….existence….a heart…..I won't give him the satisfaction of having you too."

Roxas offered a painful smile, shifting onto his knees and holding his arms open toward Axel. "C'mon…let me hold you for awhile. We don't have much time.."

As though it were the most natural of things for him to do, Axel collapsed into Roxas's lap, his muscular arms enveloping his best friend's slender waist, draped over his lean hips.

"Roxas….I feel."

"Feel what, Axel?" He took to slowly stroking the flaming spikes that cascaded from his friend's scalp, watching them bend to his palm and then spring back up as his wrist flicked away from his hair, moving back up to continue his rotation.

"I just feel, Roxas. And I don't understand how…we're Nobodies!"

"Perhaps…..Kingdom Hearts felt even we deserved a little forgiveness."

"Kingdom Hearts…." Axel looked up into Roxas's face, sat up slightly so that he was eye level with the blonde haired boy. "What do you mean?"

Shaking his head, he smiled again. "I'm not even sure myself…but….as I saw you fading away before my eyes, Axel…" Roxas's hands flew softly up to frame Axel's face. "…I wanted nothing more than just to hold you and say I'm sorry."

Axel smiled, shook his head and enjoyed the warmth of his cheeks beneath Roxas's hands. He covered the hands of the 13th member of the Organization with his own. "Sorry for what?"

"For leaving you….and for feeling, foolishly, that I wouldn't be missed if I ever disappeared. For not…..being strong enough to come back to you. And for putting you in danger."

Making a sound of what was obvious disapproval, Axel took a tighter grip of Roxas's hands and tugged the boy roughly towards him. Throwing Roxas's hands over his shoulders, Axel, at the same time, brought his long legs up and stationed them on either side of Roxas as the slender boy fell atop the fiery warrior's chest. In what was a very awkward, yet….sensational hug, Axel rested his arms on Roxas's back and began to whisper softly into his ear.

"Man Roxas, you really are empty-headed, just like all Nobodies. I enjoyed our time together enough for the both of us. And I'm in this mess now because I choose to be. What else could I ask for than dying for a friend? For you? Everything that happened to me, I did because I wanted to do it…..for you. Got it memorized?"

Roxas smiled and wrapped his arms more securely around Axel, burying his face into the crook of Axel's neck.

"Yeah…I got it….."

†

Sora's eyes fluttered open in a daze, coming into focus just in time to see that he was clinging to Axel as the last pieces of him faded into darkness. And even though Sora felt sadness in loosing Axel (for whatever reason), he felt as though, in those few minutes of time where he felt he had lost consciousness, he had made closure with someone very, very dear to him.

"Goodbye, Roxas.." Axel's voice echoed amongst the world of Betwixt and Between.

Sora starred down at the shredded pieces of the 8th member of the Organization, and smiled through his tears.

"My name is Sora…..you dummy…."

†he End