Title: Deadman's Wonderland

Author: Riake

Pairing: Axel/Kairi

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts

Theme: #4 - our distance and that person

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Author Notes: KHII, end of game, spoilers. I'm trying out semi-new style, and I rather think I like it. :] And wow! LAST ONE! YES~ Along with Autumn's Leaves, this would have to be my favorite. ^^ And again: YAY I'M DONE~

Kairi knows what beauty is.

He laughs and winks and gives her a long look, bright-ugly green eyes skittering over her form and making her even more nervous. He tosses his head back and grins, chin up and proud and he's so sure of herself that it makes her want to punch him.

When she was eight years old, she once threw a royal tantrum because she hated storms, she really really did.

He drags her through the rain and the thunder and lightning, and he is the lightning, powerful and angry and so full of hate it makes her sick.

It takes a long time for someone to get into her good graces if they don't make a good first impression.

He isn't admirable, or valiant - he's her kidnapper, and she hates him. Or she tells herself she does, anyway, even after he stops being horrible to her and is simply there, sometimes kind sometimes not in his own peculiar way.

Kairi is usually graceful, but sometimes her feet slide out from under her and she falls hard enough to make her head ache.

He catches her by the elbow, holding her up off the ground easily, grinning down at her with a mocking look on his face. "Don't fall, princess," and she thinks it's too late.

She spends long evenings with Selphie discussing love and whether or not she loves Sora (never Riku, although she flirts with him sometimes, admittedly).

"You must really love the kid to go to such lengths for him," he muses. She raises her head and meets his gaze calmly.

"Yes," and her tongue is heavy in her mouth.

Kairi has faced danger far more often than she should.

He grabs her by the hand and forces her to run, which is stupid because his legs are twice as long as hers and she has to really push herself to even keep up. But he keeps tugging, stony and silent and tells her not to look back. She does anyway, and sees the dark forms mixing with white, but the fear remains hidden somewhere she can't find it, dulled by the fact that his hand is warm around her own and she can feel him start to grin as he prepares to find a place suitable to fight.

She's always hated cramped spaces.

His thigh is flush against hers, and she can't move without bumping into him in some way or another. Against her shoulder, she can feel him laugh, and she tries not to blush.

She's never kissed anyone.

Staring up at him, anger after another of their spats making her hot and cold, Kairi wonders what it would be like to kiss Axel. She turns away a second later, just because she can't contemplate such a thing when she really might do it.

Kairi has always followed her heart, even when it was stupid.

He doesn't look sad - just bitter - and a foul taste grows in her mouth the longer she watches him. "How can you even live?" she asks before she can stop herself, and the look he gives her - dead, cold, cruel - makes her shrink away and reminds her that he's not all fun and games and that he doesn't have a heart doesn't have one.

She's seen blood before.

She's not afraid, even though she should be, and Axel looks beautiful with the red splattered across his face and pale skin.

She still giggles when Sora gives one of his (nearly patented) goofy grins.

He's sly and cold and still proud, oh so proud, and nothing at all like Sora, her cute little sweet beautiful Sora, and Kairi thinks she likes bad boys after all.

Kairi understands the impossible.

He's walking away, boots clicking on the whiteblack floor, and Kairi just wants to cry. A part of her breaks, pieces chipping off around the edges of her heart that she would gladly give to him. "Axel," she starts, but he pauses and looks over her shoulder, acidic eyes immediately silencing her.

"Bye, princess."

She deludes herself often enough.

His laugh is brittle, and she thinks that, if she had the chance, she would be able to turn him into someone different - someone who could laugh without the anger or the hurt or any of that, just laugh for the sheer pleasure of it.

Kairi has seen death before.

She nods and tries not to think, just runs with Namine and knows that he's gone gone gone was never there in the first place.

Kairi knows that he never would have let her anyway.

"Come on, Kairi," Sora says, reaching out to lead her through the castle. She doesn't take his hand, but she follows.

Kairi isn't afraid to cry.

She sits on the beach, tears on her face and dribbling down her chin without any beauty at all to them, and she knows he wouldn't want her to cry for him - it's a waste of time, he'd say - but she can't help it and ends up crying so hard she makes herself sick.

Kairi understand reality when it smacks her in the face.

Destiny Islands is boring. She plasters a smile on her face and laughs and jokes with her boys, and tries to put her heart into it. Still, she saves a little part of it for him, just because she's stupid like that.

Kairi wakes up, because Wonderland only lasts so long.