A/N: I don't own anything else than the idea for the story.

Have fun!

I actually got the idea once while listening to the rain hit the roof. It sounded a bit like someone walking at there... Creepy...

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How much do you care?

Practice and Changes

Axel and Demyx were on a roof (like in Traverse Town in KH I). They were fighting against two enemies. The first one, who was against Axel, was a man with a gun. Demyx was fighting against a dog like creature. Suddenly Axel fell to his back and started to slide down towards the railing, the bad guy over him. Demyx got freaked out, shot the dog like creature off with a blast of water and went after his friend.

Demyx jumped and crashed with the bad guy. He managed to get the bad guy off of Axel but he also fell over the railing while Axel was able to stay on the roof. Demyx screamed but suddenly the falling stopped. He blinked few times to realize that the roof, dark sky, the baddies and everything else had changed. He was lying on a floor in a white room and Axel didn't look too happy.

"This was the fucking fourth time we went through that!" Axel shouted while storming to his friend. Demyx gulped and stood up. They were at the training area (like in the Power Puff Girls show, part Bubblevicious). "Why the hell you keep doing that? I could've handled that bastard!" Axel shouted in anger. Demyx whimpered a little and closed his eyes.

This had been their fourth time up on the same level. The whole system had unknown number of levels on the training. Demyx and Axel had decided to work the whole thing together and they had managed to get to the tenth level. For the past week they had gone through the one and same part with same result each and every time: The bad guy would knock Axel down and Demyx would jump on the bad guy and get over the railing.

Demyx sighed, held back the tears and kept on listening to Axel's shouting. Xigbar was watching in the next room. He was actually supervising the practice and had decided to let the younger Nobodies handle the fight on their own. Eventually Demyx had it.

"I just try to get us through that! You always fall for the same baddie!" Demyx shouted back at Axel. "Why can't you guys just let me fall so I can handle it off?" Demyx yelled while starting to cry.

"Because you're gonna die on that." Axel stated. "And why the fuck you don't let me handle that bastard on my own, huh? Why the hell you come bother my fight?" Axel shouted at Demyx. Demyx flinched a little but stared back at Axel.

"Fine! I've had it! You can handle that on your own! I'm not gonna help you anymore!" Demyx shouted, turned around and stormed out of the room. Axel walked out of the room after him and watched Demyx storm off.

Axel chuckled a little. "He'll come back. He always does that." He said while he shook his head. Xigbar was quiet but nodded his agreement. Whenever Demyx got angry he would be back to his normal self by the next day. "Thanks for the practice. I guess we'll come back tomorrow, right?" Axel said while looking at Xigbar who just nodded and the two Nobodies left the room.

Next day rose quite quickly. By the time Axel and Xigbar came to the training area, Demyx was already waiting for them. He didn't say a word but did glare at Axel. "How about we just forget yesterday and try to get this through?" Axel asked with a nervous chuckle. Demyx snorted and shook his head.

"Forget it, Axel. I'm handling that level on my own." Demyx stated and looked at Xigbar. "From here on, I'll go alone." Xigbar was a little surprised and looked at Axel who also looked quite stunned. "You got a problem with that?" Demyx asked challengingly. Axel flinched a little but shook his head. "Good, I'll go first." Demyx said and walked straight to the room. Axel just watched quite shocked and went next to Xigbar to watch how it would go for Demyx. Before Demyx closed the door, he peeked back at the two and stated: "Oh, and let me fall if I'm up for it. You'll be surprised."

Axel just shrugged and Xigbar put the practice level on working. Demyx closed his eyes and waited until the program was fully running. When he opened his eyes he was standing on the same roof than yesterday.

Demyx didn't wait. He created two swords out of water and started to walk towards the peak of the roof. From behind the two chimneys came the man and the dog. Demyx just smirked and sped up. The dog jumped at him but Demyx side-stepped and hit other one of the swords through the dog while he used the other to block the gun shots. After that he came close enough to the man which he killed with one strike.

Axel watched quite awed at the show. Even Xigbar was quite shocked. "I never knew he could do that..." Axel whispered in shock.

Demyx was walking forward and was prepared for anything. They had never got further from that part so Demyx had no idea of what was coming next. He had left the two swords back at the first roof but created two new swords for his protection.

Suddenly someone attacked from behind and Demyx started to slide towards the railing. "I'm not gonna go alone." Demyx muttered, called out a water-whip and hit it on the enemy. They both fell over the railing but Demyx smirked, put his hands behind his back and suddenly called out a water-pillar. The pillar engulfed Demyx and raised him back up to the roof. Demyx only smirked and continued his way towards the end of the level.

After two next enemies and several more roofs, Demyx reached the end of the level. There had only been two close calls where the bad guy had managed to rip a small wound to Demyx's arm. But Demyx ignored it. He leaned against a wall while the room returned white. Without a word Demyx walked out of the room.

He only nodded towards the room and stated: "Your turn." Axel blinked few times before he realized what Demyx was meaning. He walked to the room to take his turn on the same level. Demyx was quiet and leaned against the wall next to the door. "He's gonna fail..." Demyx muttered quietly and closed his eyes.

It didn't take long before Axel came out fuming with rage. He hadn't been able to get through the two bad guys in the start. Demyx didn't say a word but walked back to the training room. "Get the next stage ready!" He nearly commanded. Axel stared more than shocked at his friend.

"You're not gonna do that, are you?" Axel asked from Xigbar. Xigbar sighed but started to put the program ready. "But... He..." Axel started but didn't find the right words. Demyx had, after all, got through the earlier level. Sighing, Axel sat down to the chair next to Xigbar.

"I don't like this either, Axel, but I don't have choice. He got through the level ten and he has rights to get to the next stage." Xigbar said sadly. Axel only sighed. He knew that Xigbar was right.

The next stage was a lot harder but Demyx refused to give up. He kept on going the stage again and again just to fail on the same place. This time he was in a quite huge palace which was more or less of a labyrinth. He managed few rooms quite easily but then... Then he got an enemy that he just didn't seem to get handled off. Each time the creature "killed" Demyx, he just stood back up and shouted: "Again!"

Axel was scared for Demyx's life. It was too hard for the Nocturne, who hadn't practiced much alone. And Axel hated to see Demyx being thrown against a wall time after time. "Xigbar, you gotta stop this!" Axel shouted in fear. "He's gonna get himself killed!"

Xigbar sighed. Axel was right about it. The Freeshooter did close the program after the fifth try from the Nocturne. "This is enough for today, Demyx." Xigbar said through the intercom.

Axel didn't wait anymore. He shot up from the chair and ran to the training room. "Demyx?" He asked carefully. Demyx had already stood up but was leaning quite heavily against the wall. "You OK, Dem?" Axel asked worriedly while walking to his friend. Demyx glared at Axel.

"Stay off of me!" Demyx shouted and took a step backwards. Axel was shocked and stopped straight on his track. "I don't want anything to do with you anymore!" Demyx yelled and walked straight past Axel. Axel stared after him more than shocked. Demyx had never been that long angry with anyone.

Demyx stormed straight to his own room. He locked the door, went straight to his bed and started to cry. He hated this but at the same time he had listened long enough of the angry shouting of him failing everything. Demyx had the evening before decided that he'd change. No more would they blame him for failing.

Few hours later Demyx came from his room. He walked to the living room and slumped to the sofa. He watched around without any interest of what others were doing. Sighing, Demyx closed his eyes. Suddenly someone came to bother him. "Demyx?" Zexion asked carefully.

Demyx groaned but opened his eyes none the less. "What you want?" He asked quite rudely. Zexion was a little shocked but covered it up quite quickly.

"I was just wondering if you could help me up with this one translation." Zexion questioned while referring to the thick book. "I found it at my last mission and thought you'd be interested about it." Zexion continued with a slight smile.

"Why should I help? You're the language master here." Demyx answered while rolling his eyes. Zexion flinched. Demyx had never been like that before. He blinked few times, put the book down to the close by table and sat next to the Nocturne.

"Demyx, what's wrong?" Zexion asked carefully. Demyx sighed angrily, stood up and walked away. Zexion stared after him quite shocked. Knowing that he wouldn't find his answers from Demyx, Zexion decided to go and find another member who might be able to help. Axel.

The red head was quite easy to find. He was mostly there were the smoke was coming. This time around it would be his personal training area. Zexion knocked a little hesitantly at the door since it was quite known that the door could be quite hot while Axel was training. Luckily it didn't take long before the fire wielder came to the door. "Yeah, what's up?" Axel asked while motioning Zexion to come in.

Zexion walked inside the room and turned to look at Axel. "Axel, there's something wrong with Demyx. He's not like himself. Do you have any ideas why he is like that?" Zexion asked going straight to the point. Axel sighed quite defeated and sat down to the floor.

"I'm not fully sure but I think it started yesterday. We had a fight since we failed the level again. This time though, Demyx shouted back at me. And today... Well, he truly wasn't himself anymore." Axel tried to explain as well as he could. Zexion listened carefully and nodded once in awhile.

"I might know what's going on." He finally stated. Axel was straight off on beckoning him to tell it out. "I think he finally had enough of others blaming him." Zexion said with a sigh. Axel blinked few times not fully understanding. Zexion sighed. "I'm meaning that you blamed him yesterday for the failing, didn't you?" Zexion asked.

Axel gulped and chuckled little nervously. "It might be like that but..." Axel started. Zexion sighed and rolled his eyes. This was going to take a while to get Axel realize the whole picture.

"But what? As far as I know, Demyx does know how to fight! He just doesn't want to fight! And that's the main difference!" Zexion shouted. He shook his head and took once a deep breath. "I'm meaning that Demyx might have quite good ideas for plans. He just wants people to accept him as he is and not what they want him to be. As simple as that... So what level did you two fail yesterday?"

"The tenth one. The one with the roofs..." Axel answered hesitantly. Zexion thought for a while before Axel continued his explanation. "He kept on jumping on the bad guy that I was fighting with and they fell over the railing..." Axel muttered quietly. Zexion sighed with an amused grin.

"That's the problem. Unlike you, Demyx can make a column of water and bring himself back up. Fire isn't exactly the best thing for the last second savings." Zexion explained. "I'm sure he kept doing that on a purpose. You should know how he is. If alone and ends into a fight, he runs. If with a friend and ends up in a fight against bad guys, he fights. Simple."

Axel looked a little ashamed while he stared at the floor. "So... What should I do about this...?" He finally asked and raised his gaze back to Zexion. Zexion smiled a little and chuckled.

"Simple. You apologize. You explain the reason you always stopped the training when he fell. You show him that you care but most of all, that you trust him. The simple act of affection and care." Zexion explained with a smug smile.

Axel chuckled nervously. "It's easy to say but hard to do. How am I going to show it to him? Demyx isn't going to talk to me. Hell, he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore!" Axel nearly shouted. Zexion sighed sadly.

"That's going to be hard but you should come up with something sooner or later." Zexion stated, nodded to him and walked out of the room. Axel sighed, lay down on the floor and stared at the ceiling. It really would be easier said than done.

Axel lay on the floor for quite some time. He went through anything and everything that could be worth of trying. He thought about taking Demyx out of the castle for a while to Atlantica or somewhere. He thought about baking something for the Nocturne. He thought about taking him up to a concert... He went through everything but each and every little idea he got was shot down quite fast.

If he took Demyx out of the castle, they'd whether get in trouble or then Axel's money wouldn't be enough. He wasn't much of a cook nor did he exactly know what Demyx would like. Neither did he know what would be Demyx's favorite band or if the band would have a concert up on somewhere. Axel sighed sadly. He just couldn't come up with anything that could be worth of showing or giving to the Nocturne. And worst of all was that Demyx wouldn't even talk to him.

Eventually Axel stood up to clean the room and went to shower. After that he walked to the living room to slump down to a sofa. Whole time he tried as hard as he could to find out something that could cheer Demyx up and maybe be enough of saying sorry.

"How can you say to someone that they're perfect the way they are when they're trying to be something different?" Axel thought sadly while closing his eyes. Suddenly something got to his mind and Axel nearly jumped off of the sofa. He rushed to the library and was more than happy when he found the book he was looking for. Grinning happily Axel took the book to his room and started to go through it. He was actually looking for only one thing from there but he knew it to be worth of it.

Once he found what he was looking for, Axel read the writing enough many times that he did memorize it fully. After that he only had one problem anymore. How to get Demyx comply with the plan?

Axel lay down on his bed to ponder about the problem. He just couldn't go and kidnap the poor guy... Or could he? Luckily he got something else in his mind and Axel started to write a short list of what he was up for. Once he was ready, all he could do was to wait to the morning.

When the morning finally came, Axel was first one up... And baking. Luckily he had managed to remember at least one thing that Demyx loved. Cookies. He knew that Demyx was one of few who woke up early in the morning, which gave some help on this. Next thing after that was to wait, once again.

It didn't take long before Demyx did come down to the kitchen. Axel hadn't written any notes since he knew Demyx could recognize his handwriting. Once Demyx came in, Axel acted... He did kidnap Demyx. Demyx fought back but luckily Axel was faster and he did create a dark portal to the place where he had taken Demyx the first night the Nocturne was at the Organization.

Axel had one hand over Demyx's mouth and the other over his chest. "Just calm down, Demmy. I want to show you something." Axel whispered but Demyx fought even harder against his grip. Axel did eventually let go of Demyx and took few fast steps backward to avoid being hit.

"What the hell was that for?" Demyx shouted angrily. Axel chuckled nervously and pointed behind Demyx. Rolling his eyes Demyx turned around. They were at a cliff where was one huge tree growing and there was beautiful sunrise coming up. Demyx stared quietly at the scenery.

"I wasn't sure but I had a feeling you hadn't come here for a long while." Axel said quietly. "Besides, I have something for you." He continued and took a small basket from a small hideout he had close by. Demyx turned to look at Axel little curiously. "These are for you." Axel said while handing the basked to Demyx.

Demyx looked a little suspicious but took the basked and opened it. It was full of cookies. Demyx stared at the contest and looked few times at Axel and back to the basked. "I... I want to say I'm sorry." Axel stammered and carefully led Demyx to the tree. "I... I want things to go back to normal between us, Demyx. You should know that whatever I say in anger I would never mean those things... I'm just frustrated since I want to get through that level and..." Axel tried to continue without finding the right words.

Demyx sighed, took a cookie and gave the next one to Axel. "I know, Ax... I just hate to hear people fighting and... And I thought you guys didn't trust me enough to handle it off..." Demyx whispered sadly.

"I'm sorry, Dem. I just was worried 'bout you. Feared you to die on that darn fall that I kinda forgot your element stuff and all..." Axel said sadly. Demyx nodded. He knew what Axel was meaning at. "Friends?" Axel asked hopefully.

Demyx chuckled and smiled. "Friends before, now and forever." He stated happily while handing next cookie to Axel. Axel smiled happily. "So... You wanna try level ten again with me or...?" Demyx asked a little hesitantly.

"With you of course!" Axel shouted with a wide smile on his face. Demyx smiled too and nodded. "Whenever you're ready, Dem." Axel said with a nod.

After watching the sunrise and eating nearly half of the baked cookies, the two of them returned to the castle... And handled the level ten with ease. In fact, they got further on level eleven than Demyx had managed to get.

THE END

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