Author's Note: I didn't really want to create a new story just for another ficlet. So I'm tacking it on here, along with any other AkuRokuAku ficlets I produce. And the title… doesn't really connect. But I think it… fits.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts 2 belongs to Disney and Square-Enix.
For me, again
Axel watched the scene before him with contempt. Roxas, not his Roxas but Roxas nonetheless, was currently having the time of his artificial life with his so-called "friends". There was that short pudgy kid and the brunette dressed in orange, and there was the blond wanna-be-punk with his arm around Roxas' neck.
/Little too close for comfort, kid…/
He briefly contemplated melting the bar of ice cream the kid held in his hand. Not that it'd seem unnatural or anything; it was a rather warm day. The only problem was that all of them had ice cream, including Roxas.
Axel had first heard about sea-salt ice cream from the Superior. Their boss had been ranting about his former master… again… and his weird fascination with the brackish confection. After that particular meeting was adjourned, everyone should have removed "Sea Salt Ice Cream" from their vocabulary.
Therefore, Axel was relatively surprised when he saw the two blue bars in Roxas' hands that day on Memory's Skyscraper.
"I thought I'd try them out. They sounded interesting enough," the blond offered in explanation.
So the two of them, just the two of them, had enjoyed a night together, partaking in a likely forbidden activity. Little things like this, they created bonds among Nobodies.
And because of the seclusion, because it was Roxas, Axel had started reminiscing about what it was like to go to a beach, a bright summer beach that he remembered from his past life. He tried explaining to Roxas that no, beaches weren't all dark spans of nothingness and had laughed at the look of bewilderment the blond had given him.
The best part of that night was the smile that ghosted Roxas' face. Those apathetic lips had really curved upward into a genuine smile when he suggested that maybe, one day, they could go to a real beach together? And they could buy ice cream, too.
Axel held that moment deep in his… well, now there was nothing left of that time. A memory in a nonexistent heart shouldn't exist either.
"Today's the day we hit the beach!"
Axel's attention was drawn back to the unfolding events. Roxas was going to the beach. Without him.
Damn him if he didn't just warp right in front of Roxas and drag him back to the Organization by force. Right now. It'd be so easy; Roxas didn't even remember how to use the Keyblade.
Yet Axel didn't move. He wanted to see that smile again. Even if it was fake. But then, Roxas had always been different. Special. Maybe he did have a heart. Or at least half of a heart. Maybe he could smile. And maybe Axel could replace the old memory with a new one. One that existed. One that was real.
He'd deal with his orders later.
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097: Ice Cream – This relates to a 100 themes Livejournal community. I don't "officially" hold the Axel/Roxas claim nor do I plan on committing. I just felt like doing it. Not that I stuck with the actual theme… It sort of went from "ice cream" to "beach" to "smile".
