A/N: So given the AMV was well received, how about more? I started over various points in time 4 other Zee and Axel videos (and actually a few jokey shipping videos, heh) and just maybe got inspiration for a 5th . They're all shorter than Lights though, that one is a special one since it's Zee's/Xirxel's main theme song, but for other ones I make the songs will be cut down to a reasonable length. Someone pick a number between 1 and 5 and that'll choose which AMV gets worked on next! I've been working hard to get these chapters out at a more regular rate for you guys too ^_^ anyway, hope you enjoy!

Chapter XIII: Days Unforgotten

It's time to come clean
and make sense of everything
it's time that we found out who we are
cause when I'm standing here in the dark
I see your face in every star

"Did you know about the animal, Axel?"

Saix stood in Axel's room, who was paying the berserker little mind as he lounged casually on his bed.

"What's it matter?" Axel shot back, staring at the ceiling.

"It matters because that means you too will face punishment if you knew and willingly harbored that rogue swine with Number IX." Saix continued.

"So, maybe I did." Axel replied snidely.

"You're off track." Saix said, quieting his voice a bit, but in doing so somehow was more threatening than he already was. Maybe it's because Axel knew this went beyond the pig just now, and thus he sat up quickly.

"I am not!" Axel insisted with stark diligence, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed, now facing Saix with a hardened look.

"All you do in your spare time is entertain that dullard with childish things." He droned on, "Hardly would have any time to get any real work done."

Axel was speechless but didn't let his hard face drop despite his silence, he knew exactly what 'real work' Saix was referring to here and he was growing less enthused about it as the days went on. Saix caught Axel right where he intended to, but what happened next, he would never have anticipated. Axel looked around nervously, before continuing the conversation a little quieter.

"You've got it wrong, pal. I don't like Xirena at all." Axel spoke, "She's literally too dumb to function but I have to play the nice guy..."

"Why's that?" Saix immediately questioned.

"I was nice to her in front of everyone else one or two times so I figured I can't just blow off the girl, even if I can't stand her. Consider it part of my job, I'm a bit of an espionage agent, aren't I?" Axel chuckled, "Who knows, maybe her cooperation could come in handy... somehow!"

"I...doubt that." Saix was now the one shocked but not willing to show it, "But fine... do as you please as long as it doesn't interfere."

Saix quickly turned to leave, but as he did, he heard his former best friend call from behind him.

"I haven't forgotten!"

Saix took his exit, and Axel wanted to take an exit too right about then – right out the window, that is. Axel just told one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, lie of his life to Saix. No, with that thought reconsidered, it was the biggest lie of his life – both his human life and his Nobody life. Axel's mind had jumped to the quickest escape route and taking that lazy way he did had it's consequences, especially if word got back to Xirena about this. So he had his own secret work with Saix to keep on the down-low, but now had to make sure his lie doesn't get back around and spread that he dislikes her. It would be next to impossible to justify that to Xirena.

What a mess this ginger went and got himself into. This could never be undone.

"I wish we got to go to Wonderland..."

Xirena was strolling by herself, or so it seemed. After she'd spoken a muffled oink was heard and Sunny emerged over her mother's shoulder. Saix had sent Xirena out on a solo mission as a form of punishment, but little did he know that Sunny was still around, so Xirena was never quite alone, but the company of a coworker is always preferred to solo work. Going to Wonderland on her own for recon wouldn't have been so bad, though, it would've given her plenty of time to look for those roses to show to Axel.

But unfortunately, her recon mission was in the abysmal Agrabah, which meant she just had to wander around and hope to find something important or another member in the dreaded Arabian heat. Even though the "alone" part of his punishment wasn't as potent as he expected it to be, Saix still nailed it on being punishing.

"Agrabah is no fun..." Zee complained.

Zee and her pig companion trudged through the sands surrounding the main area, as they'd already scanned through the city. Sunny had about enough though and poked her mother's neck with her wet nose repeatedly in an attempt to urge Xirena to go home already.

"You really think we did enough work?" Xirena asked, head turned towards Sunny as far as she could. Sunny snorted in approval, "Well, I guess if you say so! Let's go home."

Back in the Gray Area, Xirena sat by herself. Either nobody else had returned yet or they were off doing their own thing, so Xirena decided to wait for Axel there. She knew he was likely still out working since she stopped at her own room to put Sunny in bed and knocked on Axel's door while she was in the area, and obviously didn't receive an answer. A long time had passed before a dark corridor appeared and the familiar, but very tired looking, ginger emerged from the darkness. Xirena immediately sprung up from the couch and sped over to greet him.

"Hiya!" She said enthusiastically.

"Hey there." He responded.

"Can we talk about love now?!" She asked with the same enthuse as her greeting, barely able to contain herself.

"Well let's go back to the room first!" Axel laughed, "You don't expect to stand here and get into that subject, eh?"

Xirena agreed with a nod and a giggle. The pair headed back to Xirena's room where they could have the required privacy. Zee immediately plopped down on her bed with a 'whoomph' noise as she hit the cushy mattress, but Axel remained standing for now. He hummed to himself, then raised his hand to stroke his chin, then he ended up starting to pace a bit – how would he do this?

"Well..." He finally said something to the expectant Zee after what felt like hours of silence, "Obviously it's a human emotion, a strong one at that. Really strong. You can love people, places, things... just about anything."

"Uh huh..." Xirena said, following along intently.

"Emotion itself is hard to explain since, y'know, you just FEEL it – and we can't really do that," He continued, "Love is when you really really really like something a lot. Like... dancing! You really like dancing, right?"

"Yeah! It's my favorite thing!" She exclaimed.

"Boom! You love dancing." Axel went on, "When you love someone or something, you just know it. I guess you could say something being your favorite means you love it, yeah."

"This is making sense, I think!"

"Haha! Good, good. Now... Love between people? That's a way more complex thing. You can love a person... BUT," He paused and halting his pacing, "You can also be in love with a person. And that's something stronger than just liking someone, or them just being your favorite. Something way more deep than friendship."

"Oh... ok..." Now Xirena was losing it a bit, but she still tried her best.

"People in love have a special connection that they don't share with anyone else. For example... For whatever reason that you do, you could say that you love Rex because he's your good friend, but more like how you'd love a friend or family member. You're not in love with Rex."

Thankfully. Axel thought.

"That makes sense." Xirena spoke, "But I like you better, you're my favorite, so do I love you?"

"Well, that's up to you to decide really." Axel laughed, "We're great friends and if you like me better than him then yeah I'd say you love me."

"Cool!"

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway... another thing people IN love do is physical stuff." Axel began his next point, "Like they hug, hold hands..."

"But we've done both of those." Xirena quickly cut him off. He abruptly sat down next to her and they faced one another.

"Well... good friends sometimes do those things too." His justification was swift, but a fumble followed, "People in love also kiss and hav-"

He stopped himself before he could even get close to that topic. No way. NO WAY. Thankfully, Xirena didn't question why he stopped talking and latched onto the word 'kiss' instead. This 'kiss' business was an alien concept to her.

"What is kiss?" She bluntly asked.

"Err," Axel choked, "A kiss is something you kinda just have to DO. Explaining it is... weird."

Silence fell and the two Nobodies stared into each others eyes, both brimming with various feelings left unsaid. Axel had a sudden urge then and that was the moment, it had to be, there was no more perfect a set up than this for Axel! Yet second by second passed... and passed and passed and passed. When he saw Xirena's eyes begin to narrow and her head tilt, however, Axel knew the key moment was gone. The red haired man had waited too long and his perfect moment slipped away like leaves in an impotent Autumn breeze.

"I... I think I get it." Xirena spoke, sealing the deal on the moment being gone, "So, love is an important thing?"

"Very important."

"Hmm I see..." She murmured, but quickly perked back up, "You know what I love?!"

"What's that?"

"When we make wishes!" She excitedly revealed, "I already picked mine out, let's do it now!"

"Hah, if you insist..."

The pair turned towards the window and to the empty sky beyond it. With a deep sigh, Xirena closed her eyes and sent her wish out into the universe. Axel did the same, following up with a large, loud yawn.

"Listen, work today was pretty tiring Zee... I think I gotta hit the hay a little earlier than usual." Axel said apologetically.

"Oh ok." Xirena said, "Don't hit it too hard, I don't want you to get hurt."

Axel laughed quietly as he rose from her bed to leave, with Xirena following his foot steps to the door. The man was decently pleased with how the whole 'love' thing went, it could've been far more disastrous and awkward so he at least had that off his shoulders. Yet here again Axel stood right before Xirena's door with his hand about to grasp the knob when a fire rose inside him again, that urge from mere moments ago... this time, however, he decided to handle things differently.

"Think fast!" He exclaimed.

He spun around at the speed of light and did it. Axel swiftly planted a kiss on Xirena's cheek.

"I- uh- Wha-?" Xirena stammered, stumbling backwards a tad.

Axel laughed yet again and put his hand on her head, partly to re-balance her and also to pat her on the head in the way he always did.

"G'Night, Zee." He coolly said, and with that, he left – left with a sense of unparalleled satisfaction.

Xirena was stunned out of her tiny mind and her hands flew to the cheek he had kissed where she pawed at the area oddly. Her breath grew as rapid as a rabbit's as she tried to process this split-second action. Sunny stirred in her sleep and awoke, wondering what her mother was fussing about. Xirena's ears perked up, hearing Sunny's quiet grunting that had indicated she'd woken up.

"Sunny!" Xirena exclaimed, spinning around – the hem of her coat floating as she did, "A-Axel just gave me a kiss! On the cheek! Right here!"

Sunny's prominent nostrils flared and her eyes filled with fire as Xirena pointed to the exact spot where he lips met her face. It's been well established that Sunny wasn't the Dancing Flame's biggest fan, and that she would do anything to protect her mother from being hurt by anybody. Sunny didn't want to see Zee get her non-heart broken by a stupid boy potentially playing around with her. Despite all the great times between the pair of Nobodies Sunny had witnessed, nothing would convince her to step down on how protective she could be of Zee.

"Ohh, don't look at me like that..." Xirena timidly spoke, "It was nice and I liked it!"

Sunny harshly rolled her piggy eyes and let out a piggy groan. Xirena was calming down at this point, but her mind was still working overtime. Her feet began to make her pace too, like Axel had done before – she was close to a possible conclusion. A thought then came to her that sent her into such a sudden halt that she almost fell.

"Wait!" She shouted, the loudness irritating the just-woken-up-pig, "Axel said people in love kiss each other! That's what people in love do!? Do friends kiss each other?"

That man being in love with her mother? Sunny was growing more displeased with each word that spilled forth from Xirena's mouth. Xirena had finally shut up, her panic replaced by a peaceful smile.

"Y'know Sunny," Xirena began as she headed towards her bed, "My wish tonight was to someday experience a kiss."

Axel was knocking her wishes out like crazy. First he granted her wish for food when she was hungry, and now he had granted her wish to be kissed too. As Xirena laid herself down to sleep and Sunny hopped up and laid on her stomach, Xirena began to wonder just what other of her wishes would come true... and which ones Axel would make come true.