What Names Mean

We sat, side by side. It was easier between us when we didn't talk. That's what I thought, anyway. I had a habit of feeling stupid whenever I said something that he laughed at; and Axel liked to laugh a lot.

Our legs just dangled over the edge of the clock tower, covered by the black leather of our cloaks. No one else was about, up as high as we were or down in the streets and square below. The setting sun was orange and mystic, a flaming ball that illuminated everything in a whole new light. Even in this completely different perspective, though, Axel was always the same. Ever the pyromaniac, he sat with a ball of flame at the tip of his finger, switching his gaze from the large sun to his miniature imitation every now and then.

We'd been discussing our names a while earlier. How the 'x' was in all of them. I'd actually written all his possible names- the ones with the 'x'- out with an inside laugh, then passed him the slip of paper;

AXEL:

He looked at it impassively, then held his hand out. I handed him my pen, and he flipped the paper over and wrote in tiny letters, just one word;

Sora.

We both knew about me. I was wishing I'd never brought the subject up, and miserably thought how I always made a fool of myself, even without words.

As if he realized- and he probably did- he moved a bit closer and put an arm around my shoulders, not saying anything. Not a comradely brothers-in-arms embrace; it was closer than that. I really loved when he was like this, and relaxed into his arms; we were the perfect height for this, my head easily resting on his chest. A chill gust of wind passed over us and we both shivered; Axel's little fireball went out and he moved his other arm to across my body, linking his hands together. He whispered something; I shook my head slightly and he spoke a little louder.

"You'll always be Roxas to me."

Tally. SilverAuthoress. Rikku. AngelKairi.

-x- crack!pairing goddess -x-