Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts doesn't belong to me.

Summary: His mission was to earn the Princess's trust and then return her to Headquarters. It was a simple task...so why did he have to make things complicated by falling in love with her? After all, that hadn't been part of the job description.

Important note: Looking back to the prologue I wrote many, many months ago, I thought my previous piece didn't quite move me as much as it did then. Something seemed lacking – the beginning of the story felt weak and the characters didn't come out as strongly as I'd intended. So, overall I was very dissatisfied with the prologue and have decided to rewrite its entirety.

Enjoy the new creation!

Prologue

Roxas blinked.

"You want me to do what?" he said in disbelief. He felt the back of his neck slowly heating in the closeness of the dark room.

"You heard me," said Xemnas quietly, his amber eyes unflinching.

Roxas gaped and had nothing he could say to that. He wasn't pleased. No. If he was anything, he was pissed. But not pissed enough to scream out in frustration just yet – he was still in shock after all. He was simply teetering, that was it. He was near the edge between total explosion and total calmness – and at any moment the balance would be tipped. The only question was when? He was still in a state of shock, but it was doubtful he'd remain so once the information just told to him finally sunk in.

Roxas knew the actual chances that he'd fall back into entire calmness again when that happened were far from likely. Not when the ugly look on his face kept getting uglier and uglier by the second as the clock ticked. Pretty soon, he was barely able to hide the fact he was now scowling – and he was – completely and out in the open.

It was amazing how one could go from being in total serenity to total irritation in just ten minutes flat; it was a quality he possessed that he'd say would scare most, but in this case he didn't know how to feel.

"Do I make myself clear, No. 13?" said Xemnas as folded his hands together. "I want you to go to Destiny Islands and retrieve the seventh Princess of Heart back to headquarters immediately."

000

Roxas sat quietly and alone. He liked the view up on this clock tower, which was saying a lot, considering beings like him had no perception to things that most would deem beautiful, but Roxas knew breath-taking when he saw one, and it didn't take a genius to know that it was this – this sunset horizon before him. The one he so often looked at and spent hours on end simply lost in its orangey (almost golden) and reddish hue. But he mostly came up here to think, to clear his mind or relieve himself. In this case it was every single one of these options.

The breeze was cool, but not chilly; there was warmth that touched his cheeks just before the coolness settled. The breeze ran through his hair, his ears, his neck, and he allowed it to gently slip through his fingers, vaguely enjoying the pleasant feel of warmth and coolness brush his skin. He didn't think it was possible for a place like this to ever get cold. It was hardly morning here either, nor night, so it would make sense that it was neither hot or cold. It was just… Twilight. His home. His place.

Funny enough, he could hardly remember ever being born here – or being born at all – but he felt an odd connection each time he looked up at that glowing, rosy sky, and again, there was much significance in that itself, bearing in mind he wasn't supposed to feel, let alone connect with anything. However, he did; with this small town, with its view – with everything. But at the same time, he felt empty. It was strange, feeling like you were a part of something, but knowing full well that you weren't part of anything at all.

If someone thought that that was sad, he would simply snort at their naivety and tell them: This was the fate of the Nobodies. It wasn't about to change. And nor was he. That was who he was. A Nobody. An empty shell of something once whole.

He once stopped trying to fill in that empty void he felt inside himself because he knew he couldn't. After all, how could one piece together the fragments of a heart when he had no fragments, had no heart, to begin with? It was impossible to work with something you lacked, or in his case, with something you didn't have.

Yes, he supposed it was quite poignant when one thought of it objectively and in some ways he may even call himself a cynic. But, alas, that was fate. And he knew all too well just how nasty fate could be. And fate definitely had a way of turning even the optimists into cynics.

"Ah, well, if it isn't my site-searching little buddy," said a voice behind him.

Roxas looked up, startled.

"Axel," he said as he spotted the wild redhead man standing just a few feet away from the side of the clock building. He had his arms crossed over his chest, looking on with a brief but evident grin on his face.

"I figured I'd find you here," he said as he took a seat beside him. "Here," he reached into his pocket, "a treat. For being a good boy and not killing the boss-man right then and there with the scary look on your face."

He handed Roxas the sea-salt ice cream bar, which was wrapped in a napkin – an obvious and poor attempt at keeping the said ice cream bar from melting.

"Heh…sorry about that," said Axel as Roxas took the ice cream bar, unsure whether he should find it appealing or disgusting. "I'd have given it to you sooner but Saix held me up." He shook his head and grumbled, "I swear… he's driving me up the wall with all these stupid missions."

"Join the club," Roxas muttered, deciding to place the ice cream bar aside.

"What's so bad about yours?" said Axel, raising his brow. "In my opinion you got off lucky. I'm stuck with Marluxia and Larxene all day and you know how they are." He made a face. "I can just see it now. Their idea of spending extra time would be plucking wings off of flies and scraping their fingernails on chalkboards."

"Yeah, I suppose it is bad if you put it like that," said Roxas, rolling his eyes.

"Pfft," Axel scoffed. "Easy for you to say. While I'm here experiencing hell on earth, you're going to be off enjoying some sunshine and cavorting with a Princess who could very well be a babe for all you know."

Roxas glared at him and felt his cheeks color slightly, to his distaste.

"I. Will. Not. Be. Cavorting. With. A. Babe," he said through clenched teeth. He crossed his arms over his chest with indignation. "I'm not going. Period."

Axel's eyes bulged from their sockets. "What? Why not?"

Roxas's glare intensified. "I refuse to stoop to one of Xemnas's stupid schemes," he grumbled. "I'm not one of his lackeys. And I am certainly not his latch dog. If he wants this so-called Princess he can go fetch her himself."

"You're aware you can't just refuse, right?" said Axel, shaking his head. "The boss's orders are like law."

"The thing I want to know," fumed Roxas, ignoring him, "is why he picked me. Why not anybody else? I'm sure that crackpot-Xaldin would have jumped at the idea to kidnap little girls—"

"Hey, you're the boss's favorite, not me. How should I know?"

Roxas snorted. "The boss's favorite? Me? Hah. That's a joke." His expression turned sour. "If I'm his favorite then why does he constantly enjoy torturing me like this?"

Axel shrugged. "The boss-man must have a weird way of showing it…"

"Tell me about it," Roxas grumbled, annoyed. He rubbed his eyes. "I hate to see how he treats people who aren't his favorite."

"He's probably nice to them," Axel snickered. "In that case, maybe you are lucky that he likes you."

"Yeah," said Roxas, who finally cracked a smile.

They were silent for a couple minutes. Finally, Axel turned to him. "Breath-taking, isn't it?" he said lightly, at the view.

"Yeah," Roxas agreed. "It's beautiful."

"You're probably the only one I know who can actually say that and mean it," said Axel, with a tiny grin. "The rest of us don't have hearts to really understand the concept of what's beautiful and what isn't."

Roxas shook his head. "I don't have a heart…" he murmured, and he placed a hand over his chest, feeling nothing in respond. "It's just a feeling…"

"A feeling…" Axel said quietly. "Nobodies don't have feelings either."

"I know that. Argh. I don't know how to explain it," Roxas muttered, a tad frustrated. He leaned into his palms and glared at the sunset, wondering to himself, how one can describe a feeling … that wasn't a feeling? At least not really.

He mentally slapped himself. Stop, he thought. You're only confusing yourself.

"What do you mean?"

Roxas shook his head. "It's like… being empty… totally empty inside, yet at the same time you can't help but feel like you aren't as empty as you'd thought. There's still a glimmer … I don't know… a something… that there's… but it's so small and almost non-existent that instead of feeling whole you feel half-empty. Incomplete…" he trailed off slowly, realizing how this must have sounded, and laughed. "Sorry. That must have made no sense at all, huh?"

However, Axel was regarding him with a different expression. It was humorless. It was serious… and something else Roxas couldn't peg. But it was gone in a second the moment Roxas thought to look again.

"Heh... you've been hanging around Zexion way to long," Axel said, with mock disapproval. "All that time spent in the library must have shut your brain down or something."

"Gee. Thanks," said Roxas, sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Hey. It wouldn't hurt if you went to the library once in a while, you know? I heard making yourself smarter isn't unhealthy."

"Who needs to make myself smarter," Axel replied breezily, "when I have enough to satisfy me right here?" He tapped his forehead with a smirk.

"Are you sure about that?" replied Roxas loftily. "I've hung out with you long enough to know there's nothing in there."

"Oh shut up and jump off the tower already."

It was Roxas's turn to smirk.

"Alright, alright," said Axel, waving his hands in annoyance. "I'll read a couple books; educate myself and all that smart jazz… blah blah blah. But you gotta take the boss's offer and retrieve that princess."

Roxas's smile faded instantly. He'd almost forgotten about the princess. Damnit. Argh, he thought as he gave Axel a withering expression, thanks for nothing, Axel.

"No thanks," he said bluntly. "I admit the idea that I can finally carry on an intelligent conversation with you is tempting… and maybe even nice… but I'm not that desperate to throw away my whole life."

Axel ignored his comment, and groaned, "Come on. Why the hell not?"

"Why the hell should I?" he snapped, glaring heatedly at the redhead. "I don't kidnap people. That kind of shit isn't my thing, alright?" He got up and walked a few feet away, breathing heavily.

Axel stared at him for a while before standing up as well.

"No one said you had to kidnap her," he said, dusting his arms and his legs. "You just have to use your dynamic charm and wit to…uh… gain her favor. That's all."

"You mean trick her," Roxas hissed, severely. "Lie to her; make her trust me through deceit, is that it?" He turned to Axel with a blazed expression.

The redhead sighed heavily.

"You don't get it, do you?" said Axel coldly, matching his hard expression with one of his own. "If you don't do this the Superior will destroy you. And then what, Roxas? You can't fulfill your goals dead, can you? Didn't you tell me you had other objectives? That, that was why you joined this Organization in the first place?"

Roxas looked away.

"Look, I'm not saying this 'cause the Boss-man made me – even though that is what he technically asked me to do," said Axel, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm saying this 'cause I'm saving your ass. So you still have a damn chance to get out of this stupid Order."

Roxas sighed. "Why?" he muttered. "Why me? You could just save yourself… I'm not the only one who wants to break out of this stupid Organization."

"I don't have anything left," said Axel with a shrug. "My former self was destroyed a long time ago. There's nothing for me to return to. I have nothing."

"And what makes you think I'm any different?" Roxas asked with a frown.

Axel smiled, and there was that secretive gleam in his green eyes again as he said, "Just a feeling, I guess."

Roxas didn't know what to make of that, so he looked away. The way Axel just said all those things… so carelessly, as if it didn't matter he no longer had anything left, it felt kind of sad. It made Roxas for some reason feel… guilty.

After a while, he threw his hands up in the air and sighed in exasperation. "I know I'm going to regret saying this… but… fine I'll do it." Axel's expression turned hopeful, to which Roxas hastily (and gruffly) added, "But that doesn't mean I'm going to like it."

"Alright!" He grabbed Roxas by the neck and gave him a noogie. "I knew you'd come around," said Axel, grinning widely.

"Get off!" Roxas said, shoving him away with a slight smirk on his face. "You still gotta read all those books, remember?"

"Aw… shucks." Axel pouted. "You really know how to spoil my fun."

"Anyway, I gotta go," Roxas muttered, thrusting his hands into his pockets and turning to leave. "I have to see the Superior," at this he made a face of utter disgust, "and tell him I accept the mission."

"Pray that he doesn't start treating you nicely," said Axel, waving at him.

"That's the least of my worries," Roxas grumbled. "If all goes according to plan… Xemnas will torture me forever…" He groaned.

Axel snorted. "Well, good luck or whatever…" he said. "Oh… and Roxas?"

Roxas, who'd been about to walk off then, suddenly stopped and looked back. "What?"

"Don't," said Axel jokingly, "fall in love with her."

Roxas snorted. "Please. That's the last thing from my mind right now." He rolled his eyes. "Besides… didn't you say Nobodies can't feel anything?"

He turned and left, but by that time it was too late to see the regretful look cross Axel's face at that precise moment.

000

He stared at the words typed neatly on the sheet of paper in his hand with a not-so-happy smile on his face.

Mission: gain the Princess's trust and then return her to Headquarters.

Great.

Apparently, they didn't trust him to remember something so basic, not to mention something he'd been brooding about all afternoon. He snorted. Typical, he thought sourly, they still thought of him a baby.

He sighed heavily, mussing up his blonde hair from over his bright blue eyes, gravely annoyed now. He supposed there was no way around it now. He had to do this mission. After speaking with the Superior, who had the nerve to smirk at him in that way like he knew Roxas would see his way eventually; it made Roxas rethink twice about his decision, wondering if it was so wise to have let Axel talk him into it.

Well, he thought as an afterthought, if all goes wrong he'd know who to blame.

Yes, it was all Axel's fault.

Roxas sighed. This mission was definitely going to be a hassle, he thought dully. Not to mention… this princess – he made a face – sounded like a handful. Roxas disliked anything that required him using more effort than was actually needed. He just hoped she wasn't anything like Larxene. If she was, he was going to his Superior and shoving this sheet of paper right up his ass, light saber or not.

And return her to Headquarters…? Roxas scoffed. You mean kidnap her! He didn't understand why they didn't just write it the way they intended it, instead of sugar-coating it with nonsense.

He just… didn't like the idea of kidnapping however. Organization XIII did things – mostly despicable things to attain what they want/need, and he'd admit he'd done his own fair share of shit for the sake of their cause, but Roxas wouldn't count himself as one of Xemnas's flunkies.

But of course, he could not object to this; it was inevitable… another word that meant he had absolutely no choice on the matter.

There was static that went off in his ear as someone spoke to him.

"Thirteen, I repeat, 13, do you copy? Over."

Roxas rolled his eyes. The earpieces were a ridiculous idea, however Demyx along with that bastard Xigbar insisted on it. This was a simple task, not mission impossible, he'd wanted to tell them. But of course they never listened to him. No one ever did.

"I said, NO.13, DO YOU COPY! OVER!" That was...most definitely Larxene; his ears were ready to fall off from the sheer volume of her voice.

"Yeah...I copy," he muttered, wincing. "Over."

More static.

"Then proceed to Gateway 11."

Static.

"Copy that," said Roxas, emotionless and unenthusiastic as ever.

Roxas pulled his hood up over his head, another sigh escaping his lips. He was going to hate this mission, for sure. It had doom written all over it, practically. He reached the doorway with the number eleven stamped on it, thinking maybe he still had a chance to escape. Sure, Larxene would probably hunt his ass down and kill him, not to mention Xigbar, Luxord, Demyx and well the rest of those morons would call him a wimp for the rest of his life and never let him hear the end of it – and of course there was also Xemnas, who will not only use him as his punching bag but would torture him mercilessly for backing out. Hm… that didn't sound that bad, now did it?

However the moment of mulling over this potentially bright thought was cut short as a pool of blackness engulfed the entire door before him.

The static in his ear had returned seconds later.

"Gateway 11 has now been opened. Please proceed."

Yipee, thought Roxas sarcastically, wondering if he should do a little dance for cheer while he was at it. He shut his eyes briefly, feeling a headache coming on already.

"Oh and Roxas," Larxene added sweetly into the speakers, "If you fail this mission I'll definitely kick your ass. Understood? Over and out!"

Roxas sighed, stepping into the darkness.

Yes, he was definitely going to hate this mission.