Outside, the sun shone down on the campus, but a cold breeze cut through Axel's lack of a jacket. All around him, students traveled in currents. Axel felt as though he stood in the center of everything. For a moment, he recalled the feeling of being locked in a bubble with tunnel vision—the way he normally felt—and attributed the strange sensation of being part of everything to the withdrawal. He wasn't sure whether to blame Zexion, Saïx, and Vexen, because after all, the feeling at once terrified and excited him.

"Aren't you cold?" Xion asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Cold?" Axel laughed. "Do I look cold to you?"

Xion squinted at him for a moment. Her hand shot out and latched onto his arm. He instinctively tried to pull out of her grasp, but she kept her hold. Laughing, she proclaimed, "You're shivering, Axel."

He gave a weak smile. "Yeah, well . . . That's not because of the cold."

Xion withdrew her hand. "Axel, you don't seem like the type of guy who gets nervous that easily."

"I'm not nervous," Axel sighed, stretching his arms over his head. "I'm just—" He stopped himself from blaming everything on his meds once again. He could just hear Saïx's reaction: Axel, I'm starting to think you have a fixation. "I'm just not used to being this close to pretty girls."

Xion punched him on the arm. "Seriously," she said, grinning as her face went red, "stop, or I'm going to think you're flirting with me."

"Aww, no way," Axel replied. "I'm not flirting. I'm just possessed by the sight of your beauty."

Xion's eyes went wide, and Axel clarified, "I'm just kidding, Xion. God. Give a guy a chance like that, he'll take it whether he wants you or not."

She fell silent. The two of them turned a corner and walked through a closed-off area behind the student center. Axel took a deep breath, preparing to ask his next question. He decided he must have to be a masochist to even want to bring it up.

"So speaking of that, how are things between you and—Roxas?" He stumbled on Roxas's name, remembering his hardly formal introduction to Xion's boyfriend.

"Not bad," Xion said, still looking at the sidewalk.

"He's not—" Axel began, meaning to ask whether Roxas was still trying to make sure Xion stayed away from him. But if he talked shit on Roxas, he realized, Roxas could tell Xion all about their meeting in the infirmary not so long ago.

"He's not what?" Xion asked.

"Oh, I, uh, forgot what I was saying," Axel amended. "Never mind."

A small smile spread across Xion's face. "You're so weird, Axel," she laughed.

"Wow, I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not."

"I'll leave that part up to you."

They stopped at the edge of the fountain that split the center of the campus's main courtyard. Axel braced his hands against the edge, leaning toward the water. Before he could say anything else, Xion spoke again.

"Roxas is a good person, but . . ."

Axel waited for her to finish her sentence. When she didn't, he asked, "But what?"

"I don't know," Xion laughed. "You probably don't want to hear about it. You hardly know me, after all."

"No, it's fine," Axel said a little too quickly. "Talk about whatever you want. I'll listen."

"Sometimes I wonder if he's seeing Naminé." Whispering the words, Xion lowered herself down onto the edge of the fountain next to him.

"Naminé," Axel repeated. "You mean that girl who came looking for you that day—the one who was wearing all white."

"Yes, that's her."

Axel blinked. "Well, okay, I see where you're coming from, but it's totally normal. A long time ago I thought my ex-girlfriend was flirting with one of my closer friends, yeah? But I totally just made the whole thing up, because I was scared to lose her. You know what I mean?"

Slowly, Xion nodded. "I know. You're right. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, that's okay," Axel reassured her.

"What about you?" she asked after a moment of silence. "Have you . . . moved on? From your ex-girlfriend, I mean?"

Axel snorted into his hand. "Um, that's hard to answer. I mean, yeah, we're not dating, but no, because it all just happened so fast. It's hard to get over someone when they disappear that quickly. You start seeing them in places they're not."

Xion laughed. "You make it sound like you've seen a ghost."

"Maybe it's just—" Axel broke off midsentence. Oh, right, it's "just" the medication, he thought. Yeah, mention that to Xion, that'll make her happy.

"Maybe it's just what?" Xion murmured.

"You know," he said indistinctly, waving his hand in the air, "I mean it's just one of those . . . things that goes wrong in your head when you break up with someone, or have a falling-out, or whatever."

"I wouldn't know." Xion shrugged.

"You wouldn't know? You've never, ever, not in your life, lost a friend or broken up with anyone?" Axel demanded, his eyes widening.

"Not that badly," Xion answered almost sheepishly, casting a glance up at him.

"I guess that's a good thing," Axel said, running a hand through his hair. "If I could go back and redo those moments, I would."

The two of them fell silent for a few minutes, letting the campus's usual background noises of students talking and moving from place to place take over. Axel had just drifted off into his thoughts, ceasing to pay attention to the world around him, when a voice interrupted them.

"Xion!" it called out. "What are you doing? I thought you were supposed to be working!"

Axel snapped back to reality and saw none other than Xion's boyfriend, Roxas, standing a few feet in front of them. He resisted the urge to shove the guy aside and keep walking.

"I finished work a while ago," Xion answered easily, a smile surfacing on her face. "I was just walking to my next class."

Roxas's eyes flicked back and forth between Xion and Axel. Axel could see the suspicion flashing clearly in his eyes. Don't you dare say anything, Axel pleaded silently.

At first, Roxas just shrugged. But soon enough he opened his mouth and said, "I just didn't expect you to want the company of an addict like him."

"What . . . ?" Xion began, but Axel had already decided to interrupt her question. He flew at Roxas, one hand clenched into a fist and extended out in front of him. His fist collided directly with its target—Roxas's face.

A crack split the air, and blood spattered Axel's hand. Roxas shouted and stumbled backward, trying to cover his face. Axel shifted, preparing for a counterattack, before realizing that Roxas was backing away from him. He barely had time to wonder why on earth Roxas would refuse to fight back, because one of the campus security guards was already on his way to where the three of them stood.

And it dawned on him. He turned, slowly, to see Xion's stunned, terrified expression, her eyes going from Roxas to Axel and back again. He'd lost all three rounds this time—Roxas looked like the victim, now Xion had to know, and security was on its way. He had no alibi and no way out.

"Hey, you," the security guard snapped. He was a tall, thin man with sloping shoulders, graying hair pulled back into a ponytail, and sunglasses masking his eyes. "What do you think you're doing, starting fights in the middle of campus?"

"I didn't—He called me—" Axel began, stopping midsentence when he realized for the second time that what Roxas had said about him was completely true, and provided no excuse.

"He called you a name? And you think that's a defense? As if," the security guard scoffed. "What grade d'ya think you're in, first?"

"I swear I—" Axel began.

"You're coming with me," the security guard commanded, taking hold of Axel's arm. Axel glared at Roxas, who continued to hold his hands over the curtain of blood on his face. "And you, too," the security guard added with a jerk of his head in Roxas's direction. "Keep your head up. Try not to bleed everywhere."

Axel glanced back at Xion one more time before the guard dragged him away. Her mouth hung open, and her eyes were wide. He swallowed hard and called over his shoulder, "Xion, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" But she showed no visible reaction at the words.

"This is what happens when people like you try to steal other guys' girlfriends," Roxas muttered a few feet away from him. "They just end up doing stupid shit and shooting themselves in the foot."

"You—" Axel began.

"I wouldn't talk anymore," Roxas said. You've already done enough damage, don't you think?"

He turned around to catch up with the security guard again.

A/N: My old note here said sorry about Akuroku here. Someone on AO3 reminded me that them being enemies is Weird. Edited, and dw they'll come around. Like all the way around.

Also updating these on FFN is really annoying and I have no time for it honestly. :(