disclaimer: i own nothing
pairing/s: akuroku
warning/s: nut rly

Never Cold

"Axel," Roxas said. "Do you think... Do you think that I'll ever forget you?"

"Hm?" Axel turned round from where he had been searching for something interesting in the thousands of books on the shelves around him. They had been sent to Beast's Castle to kill all the heartless there and were now lazing about, believing that they'd finished the mission a few hours early.

"Well," Roxas was lying on a plush chair, flicking through a book on marine biology – for Demyx – but not really paying attention to what it had to say, "I forgot everything else. I forgot my somebody and I forgot my past life. Do you think I could ever forget... you?"

Axel dropped another book to the floor where many were scattered around – albeit this one was thrown more viciously than any of the others and it didn't go unnoticed by Roxas.

"I-I mean, don't get me wrong. It's just something that scares me and I mean I thought I could talk to you about it but now I realise it would just make you angry and I just... I just... uh, forget it."

And suddenly Axel was by his side, arm round Roxas' shoulders, forcing him to shuffle up on the chair. "Roxie," he said, smirking slightly. "I'll never forget you. If you forget me I'll just find some way to make you remember."

"Really?"

"Yeah, now stop acting all whiny. You always do this when you're upset about something."

Roxas shrugged and Axel went back to the shelves, the sound of falling books slamming the ground and pages rustling soon filled the room again.

"...But, how will you know if I've forgotten?"

Axel stopped throwing books. "I dunno, knowing you, you'd say something to get me angry." Roxas smiled, remembering the first time he met Axel and how his smart-ass comments had got him into his first dual.

"Well, if I do remember you, I'll say..." Roxas watched Axel carefully, wondering what he could say when a blast of cold air filled the room, making Roxas' hair stand on end. It was snowing outside and they suddenly saw all the heartless they'd foolishly missed – outside. In the freezing cold. Roxas rolled his eyes and slipped the book into his coat.

"Heh, guess we might have missed them."

Roxas grabbed his keyblades and ran outside, Axel following him. As soon as they got outside, Axel's fingers started twitching at an incredible rate – the only sign he was cold. He hardly ever got cold, not in rain or storm – really, it only happened in the snow.

As he slashed the first heartless, Roxas said, "I'll say 'Axel, you're never cold'."

- - -

Roxas never imagined it would come to this, clinging on to the man he'd known for a day (and his whole life), in the freezing rain, sobbing into his black coat.

He had left after the fight, the man (Axel) had apparently gotten angry with him and challenged him to the first dual (two hundredth and sixty-seventh) Roxas had ever done with these things – the Keyblades.

It had started to rain but Roxas could still remember nothing but the name: Axel, Axel, Axel. Over and over in his head, all he could remember was books and black... things.

The rain poured and poured and as he trudged through the Sand Lot, he saw Axel, standing there, a lifeless look on his face, and Roxas ran to him. He just ran. And threw himself at Axel.

And there they were, holding onto each other for dear life.

Axel suppressed a sob, he shuddered instead. His fingers remained still, clutched to Roxas clothes.

"Axel?" Roxas mumbled some incoherent words into Axel's coat.

"What?" he asked.

"Axel, are you cold?" Roxas looked up at Axel with big blue eyes. Axel's green ones stared back, glassy and bright.

He paused a minute and then choked out a, "Yeah... I'm cold."

- - -

an: i came up with that yesterday, coming home from a random dinner party (lul, how poh-sh am i? nut really, i just watched movies wi' some other peoples) listening to a song called 'fall at your feet' by 'crowded house' - they're a rather good band, btw. it was weird, i was listening to my mum's iPod and on the on-the-go thing, i put: babylon, distant sun, absent friends, fall at your feet, come on eileen, charmed life, take on me, hands open. something like that in that order - the funny thing is, i always either fell asleep or died during babylon, distant sun, absent friends and half of fall at your feet and then woke up/was brought back to life half way through fall at your feet. EVERY TIME. i even TRIED to listen to all of babylon and stuff but it was just a haze. it was the weird. anyhoo, go listen to the divine comedy and crowded house and stuff. :3