Someone Else's Shadow 20

AN:Hello there! I bet you didn't think you'd see the end of this, eh? XD

Well, I'm very sorry for the long wait! I can't really come with any good excuse. I "grew out of" my KH-obsession and moved onto things like Torchwood, Hetalia and KHR. And a death occurred in my family that hit me pretty hard and left me uninspired for months.

But my inspiration have flared back up when I realized that I miss how much happiness writing have brought to me through all years! So here I bring you the final chapter of Someone Else's Shadow.

It have been over two years since I started this. A story that wasn't meant to be published.
20 chapters, about 250 pages. Hundreds of lovely readers.

A huge thanks to all of you who have followed me on this journey from the beginning, and a huge thanks to you who jumped in along the way!
And to my new readers who just discovered this: thanks for taking your time to read!

You have no idea how much you guys have changed my life. This story have been important to me. It might not be 100% free from errors. I might have accidentally changed things in the story along the way that doesn't make sense... but I'm happy that there's so much people who have liked it. You guys are awesome. When I feel bad I sometimes go back checking out your reviews, and it makes me smile. Makes me happy that I can write something that others like.

Enough of my rambling. Not sure everyone went through all of that haha XD Oh well. Go on, read. Last chapter of SES.
Thanks.

Warnings: Language, violence...

Disclaimer:
If I was owning KH it would center around Axel and Roxas, and it would so be yaoi. Uh-huh. That's how it is. Do I own it? Obviously not D:

Time was really flying by for the people in Twilight Town.

Roxas sighed as he pushed himself up from his bed and looked around before he spotted the watch. It was just about 6 am, and for once he seemed to be up before Cloud.

Hm, what date was it? 7th of December? Already his birthday, Roxas hadn't seen that coming... It seemed like time was passing by in an amazing speed. It was almost scary to think that he had been with Axel for almost half a year! It felt like it had been less time... but still it felt long. It was for sure confusing.

"Right..." Roxas murmured as he stood up and shivered slightly when his feet met the cold floor. It wouldn't surprise him if he got stuck to the floor one day. He sighed and threw a glance through his window and blinked a few times before he turned to the window fully.

"The hell..." he said with a blank look on his face before a smile slipped onto his lips.

It was snowing outside! If there was something Roxas loved it was snow, it looked so white... so pure. Beautiful and untouched. According to Roxas it was one of nature's most beautiful creations. He didn't care that he hated the cold, if there was snow outside he'd be happy. It had almost never snowed in Hollow Bastion so this was definitely a positive surprise!

"Happy Birthday to me," he softly said and turned around, glancing at the photo of his parents, "Or what do you say, mom?" he asked with a slight smile on his face before he headed to his closet, carefully picking out his clothes. Ending up with his usual black jeans and a plain white t-shirt, and over that he just pulled his checkered pullover.

The blonde headed down the stairs, letting out a yelp when Cloud stepped out from his bedroom, looking like a zombie.

"Mm... Roxas?" Cloud groggily let out, "Wazz'imeissit?"

The younger blonde blinked as he watched Cloud, trying to analyse the other's slurred speaking, "Uh... it's just a few minutes past 6 and-,"

"Past 6?" Cloud shrieked with wide eyes, immediately looking more wake up than ever, "Oh hell! Hell, hell, hell!" he cursed under his breath as he ran back into his room.

Roxas just chuckled under his breath as he heard whining from the room.

Apparently a certain Zachary Fair had been keeping his brother company during night. That was the only explanation to why Cloud had slept for more than 5, when he usually got up. And actually that was something that occurred more and more often in their household. There wasn't anything strange about Zack deciding to drop by most nights... and even though Cloud usually complained about it Roxas knew that he was happy about it.

"Let go of me, Zack! I've got work in an hour!"

Roxas rolled his eyes as he entered the kitchen and opened the fridge, simply grabbing a pack of milk and then finding himself a bowl, a spoon and some cereal.

It didn't take many minutes before Cloud was rushing into the kitchen, immediately turning on the coffee machine. That was all the older blonde needed to get his brain to function properly. And a Cloud who hadn't gotten his coffee was damn scary from time to time so Roxas gladly let his brother drink as much coffee as he wanted to.

Healthy. Or not... He didn't want to know how much caffeine was going around in Cloud's body.

"Ugh... what date is it today?" Cloud tiredly asked as he rubbed his eyes before glancing at his brother who contentedly was eating his breakfast.

Roxas shrugged, "The 7th," he simply replied.

"Ah. Yes, that's right, thanks... Whoa! Oh God!" he snapped around, staring at Roxas with wide eyes, "Shit! Sorry! Happy Birthday!" he then exclaimed with an almost horrified face expression.

The younger one just grinned at the other's reaction, "Thanks, and no need to say sorry. It's no big deal," he said with a shrug.

"But you're 17 now!" Cloud exclaimed, "What do you mean 'no big deal'?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow, "Uh, I don't feel any different from yesterday, you know..." he trailed off, "Or have I grown a second head that I haven't noticed?" he asked with a frown on his face, eyeing his brother.

Cloud groaned and ran a hand through his messed up hair, "But it's-,"

Roxas sighed and shoved another spoon of cereal into his mouth, "Seriously. It's fine, no offence or anything like that taken. Hey, you realized it at 6 am, 6 pm would have been another thing though," he said with a slight grin on his face before he stood up and put his bowl in the sink, "I'm gonna walk to school, so I'll be back sometime..."

"Right... Rox, is it okay if I get late? I don't know how long I'll be held up, I might not be home before night if it keeps snowing like this..." Cloud said with a frown on his face, "But it's your birthday and-,"

The younger of them shrugged, "It's okay Cloud. I don't mind, I'm not much for celebrating. Just be careful," he stated before he waved and left the house.

Roxas was smiling the whole way to school.

Things were really working out his way for once. He was kind of surprised by the fact that nothing had seemed to really go against him since that Xemnas incident... well, there was that little "family dinner" that Reno had screwed up. But who hadn't seen that one coming?

He let out a chuckle at the thought of how he and Axel had escaped to Axel and Reno's apartment and had had sex quickly. But it had appeared that their brothers had actually made up when they had gotten to speak in private. Reno did still enjoy teasing Cloud though, but he knew that the blonde could viciously get his revenge if he wanted to...

"Roxie-foxie!" a singsong voice suddenly cut off Roxas train of thought and the blonde rolled his eyes at the new nickname. But he smiled as he turned around and saw Demyx running towards him, "Wait up, wait up!" he called and Roxas slowed down and raised an eyebrow.

It was a miracle that he was so energetic all the time...

"What are you doing in this part of town so early?" Roxas asked with a chuckle as Demyx ran up beside him, panting slightly.

Demyx sent a mild glare at Roxas but then grinned since he was pretty bad at looking angry, "I was going to surprise you at your house, but Cloud told me you had gone like... five minutes earlier! I've been running to catch up with you!"

Roxas raised an eyebrow, "Surprise me?"

"Yeah! To wish you a happy birthday!" Demyx said with a grin on his face and then opened up his bag and started to search it through, pulling up a small wrapped gift after some time, "A gift from me and Zexy!" he happily said, "I was supposed to give it to you at the surprise party later but-,"

"Wait what?" Roxas asked with wide eyes, "Surprise party?"

Demyx blinked and stopped walking before he groaned loudly and pulled his hand through his hair, "Oh no I wasn't supposed to say that! Both Axel, Zack and Marluxia have been going on about me having to keep quiet to not spoil it! They're going to kill me!"

The shorter one of them laughed loudly and shook his head. Man, it was so Demyx to spoil something like that. He was for sure good at speaking before thinking at times, but that was one of the things that made Demyx so fun to be around. You never knew what he'd come up with!

"D-don't worry," Roxas stuttered out and let out a final laugh, "I'm good at acting surprised, I won't tell," he said with a wink which made Demyx look as if he had been released from a heavy burden,a and before he knew it the other one had thrown himself on Roxas, hugging him tightly.

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver Roxas!" he said, sounding really relieved. He did let go though and smiled as he handed Roxas the gift, "Come on, open it up!" he said with enthusiasm written across his face.

Roxas smiled lightly as he took the gift, "Thanks," he said and then carefully unwrapped it. He laughed as he uncovered a box with a photo glued to the lid. It was a picture of Demyx and Zexion. Demyx was making a face while poor Zexion simply looked bothered, they held a sign between them that said Happy Birthday Roxie. With a chuckle he opened up the box and then looked at Demyx, "Oh you guys... you didn't have to!" he said with wide eyes.

Demyx grinned and winked, "Come on, we all know that your iPod doesn't have enough space! That one has a whopping 160 GB of space! And sorry, heh... I opened it and made a playlist for fun. You can listen to it during maths or something like that!"

They laughed at that as they started walking again. Yeah, that wouldn't be too bad. Math could be really boring. Neither of them liked equations, algebra or things like that.

"Thanks Dem, that must have cost you guys quite some money," he said and glanced at the other, "I must remember to thank Zexion later too."

"If you think we paid lots for a gift wait until you see what Axel got you!" the other laughed and Roxas almost looked worried, "Don't look like that! If Axel is happy to spend money on you just let him do it.

Roxas sighed and shrugged. He would have been happy with just something simple... but if it was what Axel wanted then he'd be happy too. Actually, he'd be happy by whatever he got from his boyfriend. Unless it was a breakup call, now that wouldn't be very fun, would it?

"Yay! We're finally here, let's find the others!" Demyx said, and with that he grabbed Roxas' hand and started running towards the school building. Roxas couldn't do more than follow him and laugh. He was so lucky to have found such great friends.

Roxas let out a sigh of relief as Demyx finally had ran off somewhere else. He did love Demyx, but sometimes it could be a little bit too much. Especially an early morning. He grinned as he sat down with his notebooks and then picked up his brand new iPod Classic.

He had really been in need of more space for his music. The earlier 16 GB on his old iPod hadn't been close to enough, and he had no idea how many times the other had complained to the others about that!

"Oooh, you got a new iPod!" an excited voice was all of a sudden heard and Roxas turned his head and yelped at how close Sora's face was to his own.

Sora didn't have much respect for people's personal bubbles. Much like Demyx...

"Yikes, don't scare me like that!" Roxas let out with a laugh and put the iPod down, "But yeah... Demyx and Zexion gave it to me. Where's Riku?" he then curiously asked. Since the two of them had made up weeks earlier it was rare to see one without the other.

Sora chuckled, "He's not a morning person and we were up late playing games and... doing... uh... stuff... yesterday!" he said, a tiny faint blush visible on his face. Roxas smirked.

He had for sure spotted the two of them holding hands when they thought no one was watching. It was pretty cute... but Roxas was always keeping an eye on Riku to make sure he wasn't going to treat Sora badly again. Then he'd for sure get his ass kicked, badly. And Roxas knew that the others gladly would help him since Riku had been such a bitch earlier.

Their gangs were at least getting along more now since Sora was friendly with everyone. They simply had had to accept the fact that they couldn't completely avoid each other.

"Aha. Stuff. Makes a lot of sense," Roxas teasingly said and grinned as he watched the blush darken on Sora's face.

"Aw is he making fun of you, Sora?" Axel's voice was suddenly heard which almost made Roxas jump out of his chair once more.

What the hell was up with people and just soundlessly appearing when he was least expecting it? At this rate poor Roxas would end up dying of a heart attack on his own birthday!

Before Roxas had a chance to say anything Axel had sauntered up to him, pulled him up and greeted him with a soft but passionate kiss. And as usual Roxas found himself in his own happy world as he wrapped his own arms around Axel and returned the kiss.

Sora raised an eyebrow as he watched the couple make out. People were walking by, but no one was caring about the passionate kiss the two of them were sharing. After all it was a pretty normal occurrence, and people didn't dare to get on Axel's bad side about it so the ones who didn't like it was better of shutting up.

"Great, well I'll see you later Roxas, and happy birthday!" Sora said with a sigh but laughed as Roxas gave him a thumb up and then waved.

As the brunette disappeared out of sight Axel stopped and grinned, "Happy birthday, Rox," he seductively murmured next to Roxas ear, making him shudder, "It's for sure going to be even more happy later on," he added and brushed his lips along Roxas neck.

Was that damned redhead trying to make him get all horny before his first class even had started? It did for sure seem that way!

"Axel..." Roxas murmured and sent a mild glare at the tall redhead who just grinned at him, "Agh..." he ended up just groaning and shaking his head. Honestly he didn't really mind.

Axel laughed as he let go of Roxas, "Waiting for maths?" he asked as he threw a glance at Roxas' maths book.

"What in the world makes you think that?" Roxas sarcastically asked and rolled his eyes before picking his books up, "Of course I am, stupid. And waiting for Zexion since we go to same math class," he said with a shrug, "I need to thank him for the iPod too!" he then happily said as he showed it to Axel.

The redhead laughed, "I see, so Demyx couldn't wait to give it to you, eh?"

"Nope, he was chasing after me too school so he could give it to me!"

Axel chuckled and shook his head, "Man that's just like Demyx, isn't it?" he asked and Roxas just laughed and nodded, "Well, you'll get my gift later, I don't wanna spoil it right away. But I know you'll be absolutely stunned!" he said with a grin on his face.

Roxas pouted and crossed his arms, "Hey that's mean!"

Axel winked as he leant down a bit to place a quick kiss against the blonde's soft lips, "It will make it much more fun now when you're curious about it!" he teasingly said and threw a look at the time, "Sorry Rox, I gotta go. Luxord will fail me if I don't do that re-test he set up for me!" and with that Axel took off.

Roxas sighed. Oh right, Axel had quite some re-tests to get done before the winter holidays... but according to Demyx and Zexion Axel was doing much better in school now when Roxas was there. The redhead wasn't skipping as much as he used to thanks to Roxas. And the blonde was always nagging at him to get his studies done. And he had a threat that always worked.

"If you fail that test I won't stay over or sleep with you for a month."

That one always worked no matter what.

Oh well, there was no point in standing around there watching Axel disappear down the stairs. Instead he sighed and went towards the classroom, happy to find it open already. And he wasn't really surprised when he noted that Zexion was already was in there studying.

"Hey, Zexion," Roxas said and smiled as he entered and sat down beside the other whom brushed his bangs aside so he could properly look at Roxas.

"Good morning, you're quite early today," Zexion pointed out.

"Yeah, I was up early and just felt there was no idea sitting at home. By the way, Demyx gave me the iPod. Thanks a lot, I was really in need of something with more space!" he said and laughed.

Zexion smirked, "Yes we all knew that," he said as he closed his notebook, "Happy birthday by the way... and let me guess, Demyx told you about that thing, right?"

"You know him too well," Roxas said, guessing that Zexion meant the party, "I'll just act surprised, for Demyx's sake," he added with a slight laugh.

"I think that might be a good idea," Zexion agreed with a slight laugh, "I knew that Demyx was going to spill it."

Roxas just smiled and nodded. Well, it was just Demyx's nature, as stated before Demyx spoke before thinking. But really, Demyx could be serious and actually think when he had to be... that just wasn't very often.

The day seemed to pass so damn slowly for Roxas. It wasn't that he was having a bad day, in fact the day was great! His friends was as fun as usual to be around, he had gotten several gifts and Marluxia had even brought cake for them all that they ate during lunch. Apparently he was quite good at cooking since he had made it by himself.

What was irking him was the gift that Axel was going to give him. What in the world was it? He wanted to know right away... but at the same time Roxas wasn't sure if he even wanted to know what the redhead had gotten him since it seemed it was something expensive.

By the end of the day when school FINALLY was over Roxas was itching to know what he was getting from Axel. He didn't ask, but he wanted to. The small talk he was making with Axel as they headed for his apartment just went right through Roxas' head. He honestly had no idea what he had been talking to Axel for about 10 minutes now.

"...and then he was all like 'what the hell is a pufferfish?' and I couldn't help cracking up laughing at him!" Axel said and laughed loudly, Roxas couldn't do more than laugh with him even though he had no idea why.

"Uhm... so we're going to your place?" Roxas then asked, just do get out of the previous conversation, not wanting to embarrass himself by admitting he hadn't listened to Axel.

Axel nodded, "Yeah! If you don't mind, of course... it's your birthday and all!" Axel said with a grin on his face, but Roxas could see a tiny bit of nervousness gracing his face. So the other were probably in Axel's apartment, awaiting for them to get there so they could have that "surprise" party for Roxas.

Roxas almost wanted to mess a bit with Axel just to make him sweat, but being the nice boyfriend he was he decided not to, "It's great," Roxas said and smiled, "I don't mind at all, it's not like I've got any plans either way," he said with a laugh as they headed towards the apartment house.

"Fantastic!" Axel said and did let out a sigh of relief, "I mean, that you don't have any plans!" he then said with a nervous laugh.

Oh geez... if Demyx hadn't given it away already then Axel's behaviour would certainly have made Roxas suspect that there was something strange going on. Axel wasn't very smooth at keeping some things secret either, he would have to point that out after the party.

All of a sudden the redhead brought up his cellphone and threw a glance at Roxas before he turned his attention back to the phone as he quickly sent away a message. Probably letting the others know that they were just a minute or two away from unlocking the door.

Roxas did really have to force himself to not laugh at Axel's poor attempts at being discrete about it all. But it was really sweet that he was trying so hard for Roxas' sake... that he wasn't being very smooth didn't matter.

As they walked up the stairs towards Axel's apartment said redhead started fumbling with his keys and Roxas could only watch in amusement as Axel tried to unlock the door, and he also prepared to look as surprised as he could.

"There, boyfriends first," Axel said with a grin as he opened up the door so Roxas could step into the very dark apartment.

"Thanks," Roxas said with a chuckle as he stepped into the apartment, trying to seem unknowing about the surprise party that was awaiting, "Isn't it a bit dark?" he said after he had gotten his shoes off and taken a few steps into out of the hall and into the living room...

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROXAS!"

Well, that did quite surprise Roxas, or more like scared him since someone out of the "surprise squad" had gripped onto his shoulders from behind, making him scream loudly, "HOLY CRAP!"

And then there was a flashing light. And then loud laughing.

Oh for the love of cameras...

"Ahaha! You should have seen your face!" Axel laughed loudly and then a click was heard, followed by the room being filled with light from the lamps, "I got you good on the camera!"

Roxas let out a shaky laugh and blinked, trying to get somewhat normal vision back. That camera flash had somewhat blinded him.

"Whoa... uh... whoa," he couldn't really get something else out as he watched all his friends stand there grinning at him, several of them with gifts in hands.

Zack, Demyx, Zexion, Marluxia, Larxene, Namine, Reno, Cloud... who seemed to have been lying a bit earlier about being away working late, and he was wearing an apron. Apparently been assigned to cooking or baking since everyone knew how much of a disaster Reno was in the kitchen...

Also Sora and Riku was there. Riku did look a tiny bit uncomfortable, but that was understandable. But Roxas wasn't scared of any fighting occurring.

"You think this is surprising?" Demyx ecclesiastically asked with a grin on his face, "Then this will blow you away! You can show yourself!"

Roxas blinked, having no clue what the others were talking about. But just seconds later a familiar face popped up from behind the couch making Roxas open his mouth and just stare.

"Olette!" he managed to get out as the smiling girl walked past the couch and then gave him a very tight hug, "But... Hollow Bastion... I mean... how... what?"

"Cloud picked me up!" she happily said as she let go of Roxas and then she smiled at Cloud, "It was a fun ride, I don't get why you're so scared of Fenrir, it was just fun!" she then said with a laugh.

Roxas shuddered at the thought of going all the way from Hollow Bastion to Twilight Town on that horrible motorbike. But he soon let go of the thought and just smiled as he looked at his friends and family.

All of a sudden Axel put an arm around Roxas' shoulders, "You see, we wanted to give you something nice for your birthday, and we figured that bringing one more of your best friends here would be pretty neat!"

"Guys, thanks..." Roxas said, all of a sudden feeling like he was at a loss of words, "This is really amazing. I wasn't expecting something like this... I mean, you guys have done enough for me already," he awkwardly said, "With all Xemnas crap and you know..."

"Come on! Let's not dwell upon those things now!" Reno said with a grin on his face, "Let's eat! Celebrate! Dance! PARTY!"

"Hell yeah!" Zack piped in and ruffled Cloud's hair, trying to kiss him as well, maybe because of the apron that said 'Kiss the cook'...

Cloud sighed, "Yeah you kids have your fun while I finish up in the kitchen, and by kids I mean you two as well!" he sharply said and pointed at Zack then Reno before striding into the kitchen, making the others laugh.

And they did definitely celebrate.

Hours later both Axel and Roxas was lying in the couch, their legs tangled together. Most guests had left; only Cloud and (of course) Reno were left in the apartment if you overlooked Roxas and Axel.

"Man... what a day..." Roxas said and yawned. It was now pitch black outside, he had no idea what the time was or anything, "I must admit I didn't expect this even though Demyx did let it slip..."

"Hm...? Why am I not surprised?" Axel sighed but let out a chuckle at the end, "But it was fun, right?"

Roxas nodded with a goofy smile on his face, "Yeah. It's probably the best birthday I've had so far..."

"You know, it's not over yet..." Axel said with a grin on his face as he pushed himself up from the couch and grabbed Roxas' hand, pulling the tired-looking blonde up from it, "Hey, let's take a walk. I haven't given you my gift yet..." he then said with a small smile on his face as they headed towards the hallway.

Once more Roxas' curiosity was brought back to life, all celebration with their friends had made him forget about the fact that Axel hadn't given him anything yet. So it didn't really take neither of them long to get dressed for the chilly weather.

Once they were outside they simply walked without no destination in mind, enjoying each other's company in silence.

It was a cold but beautiful winter night, and stars were covering the sky. Roxas couldn't help just smiling as he gazed up into the sky. It was so hard to believe that it had been such a perfect day. A year ago he had been sure he'd never feel happy again. He had lost so much, and was hurting bad. It was like he had been a shadow of his old self.

"Roxas..." Axel all of a sudden said, but they still didn't stop walking, "You know... you really changed my life," he honestly said.

Roxas blinked as he looked at the redhead who now was looking up at the sky as well. He didn't say anything to interrupt Axel, he had a feeling he had a feeling the other had more to say.

"It's not like I had much of a bad life," Axel said and sighed, "I love my friends, you know that. But I couldn't really get anywhere when it came to love in a romantic way. But I kinda fell for you the first time we met..."

Roxas couldn't help chuckling, "You know, if I remember it right you were the one who literally made me fall for you. Down that tree. Remember giving me that concussion?" he asked which made Axel laugh and scratch the back of his head.

"Yeah that was kinda awkward. Thought I had killed you or something!" he said before taking a deep breath, "But still. You really changed me and my life. I think I'm a better person now. And I really do love you... and truth to be told I don't really have any great amazing gifts. Nothing did really seem personal enough..." he murmured as he shoved a hand into his pocket and brought up a small box, "I know this might seem all girly and mushy, and I have no idea if it's your thing... that's why I kept it simple," he said as he handed Roxas the box.

Roxas just smiled as he opened the box, there was a silver ring in it, and a chain was attached to it. It was simple, but yet beautiful. He carefully picked it up and inspected it. It was pretty neat that they had stopped next to a street light. A date was engraved into it. Roxas smiled at it. It was for sure the day Axel had beaten up Riku for laying his hands on Roxas.

Also known as the day they had first kissed, and actually gotten together.

"I was trying to think of something more to engrave..." Axel muttered and shook his head, "But it just sounded so mushy in text. You know what I feel about you, Rox. And I don't think I need to put it down in writing for you to know, right? I love you, I love you like I've never loved a single human being before, and it might sound crazy to say it at our age... but I honestly want to be together with you for the rest of my life," Axel honestly said, looking a bit nervous.

Roxas watched the redhead who was blushing lightly as he looked at Roxas. It was quite unusual to hear Axel speak so seriously and emotionally about their relationship. And just that was an important gift to Roxas.

"Thanks," he softly said and placed a kiss on Axel's surprisingly warm cheek, "I really like it. It's simple but very beautiful. And you're right, I don't need you to write it down, I'll be more than happy to hear you say it!" he said and laughed as he grabbed Axel's left hand with his right hand and started walking again.

For a while they walked in silence again. But it was a comfortable silence. But after a few minutes Roxas felt like he had to speak again.

"You changed me too," Roxas said, "I was walking around feeling dead for a long time, but when I met you guys things changed. I value life again thanks to you Axel... and that's the greatest gift you could ever get me," he honestly said and tightened his grip on Axel's hand.

Axel glanced at Roxas and tilted his head slightly as the blonde smiled and looked back at him.

"Thanks to you I'm me again," Roxas said, "I love you, Axel, never forget that."

Axel grinned as he pulled Roxas closer to him, so close that they could feel the warmth of each other's breaths...

"I swear I wont," Axel whispered and smirked, "I can seal it with a kiss," he winked and Roxas rolled his eyes but then smiled and moved in the last few centimetres, lightly kissing Axel. It just lasted a short while, but it was just enough. Because they knew that they would have many more kisses to share in the future even though they also might have their fights and bickering.

It was all a part of life, wasn't it? And if they could go through emotional breakdowns and kidnappings together then they were pretty sure they could handle anything that came their way.

Once more the snow started falling, and the pair started heading back to Axel's apartment. Both happier than they had ever been for a long time.

But Roxas was probably the one most happy. He had earned so much during his life in Twilight Town. Friends, family, experiences... and most importantly he had found himself again.

He wasn't ever going to be living in someone else's shadow again.

AN: Phew. I'm not sure what I think about this one. The ending maybe got a bit too mushy? Please tell me I didn't make it all too mushy! XD
I might run in and make some edits later! It's about 4.30 am and I've misplaced my glasses. And my sight is crappy so I get an extra hard time spotting errors xD Feel free to point errors out, in a kind way :)
Well. I said most I wanted to say in the AN at the start of the chapter. Thanks so much. Lot's of love to all my readers. You've made the time this fic have been written great!

Know a thing that's pretty amusing (even though I feel stupid haha)? It's today (2nd of August) exactly one year ago since I published chapter 19! Quite horrible of me to make all of you wait for so long!

Guess this is good bye then, for this story!
But you know, I can always start a sequel if I want to. After all there's plenty of things I can write about then. For example more about Axel's past, or about Roxas' past with Seifer. Who knows if he shows up if I do write a sequel. Please note that if I do write one it might take a long time before it's published! I don't wanna give anyone false hope!

Please review and tell me what you think!
Roxas will give you some of Cloud's awesome cookies if you do ;D
And I'll of course do my best to reply to everyone! :)