Stars Devouring

by KC

Summary: short ficlet as Axel and Kairi appear at the castle.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Disney and Square Enix, not me.

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Although she pulled as hard as she could, ignoring his fingers digging into her arm, Kairi couldn't get loose. She couldn't even make him slow down. A dark door opened and led them onto a gleaming white landing surrounded by the tall spires of a castle made of metal. She gasped, staring at the gleaming walls and the black sky, and the heart-shaped moon above them.

Axel paused, looking up at the sky. As their eyes adjusted, they made out faint sparkles in the murky gloom, stars hovering at the edge of sight in the city's eternal twilight.

"They look so close together, don't they?" he suddenly asked. "Like they could just shine a little brighter, and then they'd be one star."

Kairi didn't say anything. The stars looked alien and cold. She didn't recognize any constellations swirling overhead, and she wondered how far she was from home, from Sora. Or maybe he was somewhere nearby, looking at the same sky.

"But they don't get closer," Axel said. His voice turned bitter and his head fell. "They're stuck just out of reach. Even though they can see each other, they can never get closer."

He sounded so resigned that for a moment Kairi forgot to struggle. She stared at his face, the fiery shocks of red hair, the empty eyes. He wanted something. Desperately. Why were his eyes so empty when his voice sounded like it would break?

"And sometimes," he whispered, "they explode and devour each other."

As if remembering she was there, he glanced sideways at her, then resumed yanking her along. She felt as if she was being swallowed up in the endless white castle.

"Devoured or destroyed," he whispered to himself. "One way or the other."

end