Sadly, I think this is the last chapter of the story. But before you get all depressed, know that I might create a separate story that continues with these characters. It might be a bit of background stuff, or just more about what happens between Axel and Alasora.

Anyway, on with the story. This chapter is a bit longer than the others, which I hope you find to be a good thing! Enjoy!

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The girls ended up winning the volleyball game (of course). We were just so much better at teamwork. The guys were all trying to get the ball at once, and so none of them ended up getting it.

By this time we were all really hot, and we went back into the water for one last swim. It was now late afternoon, and we all had to get to our homes for dinner. We packed everything up, putting things back into the shack or into the boats. Soon we were all ready to head out, but Axel was nowhere to be found.

"You guys, where'd Axel go off to?" I inquired.

"I dunno," Roxas replied. But suddenly he popped out of the seaside shack.

"What were you doing?" I asked.

"Oh, uh, just making sure everything was…put back correctly," he replied, attempting to sound casual.

"Okay," I said, a little confused as to what he had really been doing. He seemed to have a strange bulge in one of his pockets. I wondered if I should ask what it was, but decided not to.

"Are we all set then?" Kairi asked.

Everyone nodded. Soon we were pushing the boats out into the water, maneuvering them over the waves, and then clambering in. Before long, we had arrived back on the main island, and were saying our good-byes for the day. As everyone departed for their houses, Axel came up to me.

"Hey do you think you could meet me on this beach, say, 8:00 tonight?" he proposed.

I looked up at him, and said, "What for?"

"Just to hang out a bit longer," he replied, a twinkle in his eye. "I've got a surprise for you."

I felt a thrill go through me at his words. What kind of surprise? I wondered. My mind flashed back to the mysterious object he had in his pocket. Could that have something to do with it?

"I'll be there," I confirmed. "I've got it memorized." I flashed him a grin.

"Hey, that's my line!" he cried, giving me a gentle shove.

"Oops – oh well," I said sarcastically.

"Okay, I gotta go," Axel said, and kissed my forehead.

"Yeah, me too," I said, remembering that I probably should have been home about twenty minutes ago. Axel waved and set off towards his house, and I headed towards mine.

I arrived home, my parents asked me how my day was, we ate dinner. But the whole time, my thoughts were turned to what would be happening tonight.

It was dusk. The sun had set and the sky was fading to a soft indigo. We had both arrived at the small beach that faced the smaller island at about the same time, just as we had planned. Axel had been carrying a blanket, which we were now lying on. I turned my head so I could see him. Sensing my eyes upon him, he turned too, and we shared a smile. We let the cool salty air wash over us, our ears filling with the calming crashes of the waves. We enjoyed the comfortable silence that we could so easily share.

I was still wondering about the surprise Axel had supposedly planned. He sure was taking his time with it. In the meantime, I decided to look back up again at the sky. As my eyes roamed across the wide expanse, they fell upon a faint star that had just appeared. It looked so lonely up there—so brave to be the first one to shed its light upon this warm summer night. But as I searched the rest of the sky, I saw another—and I realized that no one is alone, not even the stars. It seemed so right that each and everything in this world–in all the worlds–had something to hold onto and to find comfort in; someone to call their own. And I smiled. Because I had found that person.

"What're you thinking about?" asked Axel in a quiet voice.

"Oh, nothing," I replied, reflecting on how he would totally tease me if I said anything close to what I had been just thinking.

"C'mon, I know it must be interesting," he coaxed. "Your thoughts are always interesting."

"Oh are they now," I replied, rolling on my side to face him. I fidgeted with a bit of the blanket.

"Yes, they are," he said, surprising me with his sincerity. He gazed back at me.

"Fine," I relented. "I was just thinking…how glad I am that you came into my life." I looked down, my face growing warm. There was a short silence, followed by Axel's quiet reply.

"I am too." He had turned onto his side as well, and he reached a hand out to tuck my hair behind my ear. I glanced up at him through my eyelashes. His deep green eyes held my gaze and I became suddenly aware of my breathing.

Completely impulsively, I propped myself on my elbows, and leaned down to place a soft kiss on his mouth. I pulled away, and couldn't suppress a giggle to see his fluttering eyelids and puckered lips. He opened his eyes to see me grinning down at him.

"I can't handle it when you do that to me," he groaned, and slipping his hands behind my neck, pulled my face down to his, his lips tantalizingly close.

"See how you like it," he whispered, kissing me once, then pausing. Oh god, he was right…it was unbearable. Neither of us could resist, and we lost ourselves in the touch of each other's lips.

When we were finally finished, Axel lay back down with his arms behind his head. I snuggled up against him and put my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. He stroked my hair, twirling a bit around his finger, then letting it fall. I could have stayed this way forever.

"Alasora?" he said at last.

"Hmm?"

"I – I have something I think you'll like," he said. He sounded rather nervous.

"Is this the surprise you were talking about earlier?" I asked playfully, lifting my head off his chest so I could look at him.

"Yeah," he replied. He sat up, reaching into his pocket, but then pausing. "I was hoping – I mean – I think we're ready…" he hesitated.

I sat up too, folding my legs. Wait…oh my god. He wasn't talking about sex…was he? He seemed to notice my frightened expression, and said, "No, no, no, it's nothing…er – dirty…"

Wow, I didn't know anyone's face could get that red. He looked down, and mumbled something about his choice of words. Now I felt kind of bad.

"It's okay, Axel," I said, trying to comfort him. "What were you talking about?"

He pulled something yellow out of his pocket. As I squinted at it in the dim light, I almost laughed out loud. A paopu fruit! How sweet of him!

Axel looked at me, quite obviously embarrassed, but with a hopeful expression on his face.

"You want to share that – with me?" I asked, quite flattered. We had only gotten together that day after all. But the whole story behind the paopu fruit was just superstition. I'd heard of loads of people from Destiny Islands that had shared them with their "special someones", but nothing amazing ever happened. I didn't see the harm in sharing it with him.

He nodded at me. "But only if you really want to," he said. "Going to get it was kind of an impulsive thing, but I thought I might as well offer it anyway…"

"So that's what you were doing when we were all getting ready to leave…you weren't really tidying up the shack!" I said, putting everything into place. I remembered that there was a staircase at the back of the shack. It led up to the bridge from which you could reach the mini island with the paopu tree.

"Yep, you almost caught me back there," he said. "That would have ruined the surprise." He smiled. Then, growing rather serious, he asked, "So do you want to share it?"

"I would love to, Axel," I answered, smiling happily up at him. He seemed to look quite relieved. "Now, who takes the first bite?"

"I think we should both have the first bite," he grinned. He held it up in front of his face.

"Wait, we're biting it at the same time?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Sure, why not?"

"Okay, here goes." We both leaned forward, and attempted to bite into the fruit. As my teeth sunk in, the juice ran down my chin, and I pulled away, munching on the soft sweet flesh. Axel had appeared to have taken a good sized bite as well. He lowered the fruit, and we looked at each other as we ate. I grinned around my mouthful; it was such a funny situation.

Axel swallowed. "Mmm, that's so good. Want more?"

"Of course," I replied.

As we sat there beneath the night sky, finishing the remains of the paopu fruit, I thought to myself: whether our destinies were intertwined or not, I knew I would always enjoy being with Axel. And I smiled.

THE END

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Yay, I found a good way to end it! I know you all must be sad that it's over, but it can't go on forever.

Thanks for everyone who reviewed it, I really appreciate all the support!