Chapter 17

A Fresh Start

As Demyx and Zexion ran up the hill that led to the castle, Demyx paused midway, eyes wide, staring off to the distant. Zexion followed from behind, also paused, eyeing the Mohawk blond from the corner of his eyes. "Why did you stop?" he queried.

"There..." Demyx muttered softly, pointing to the distant, up in the hills. All he saw was crumbles and the castle...gone... "The castle..."

Zexion turned to look at what Demyx was pointing at, wondering what had surprised the blond so much. Then, when he saw it, his eyes went wide. "It's gone...?" he stood straight, taking a step forward, still looking and searching whether there was any signs of life. "Let's go, Demyx."

"..."

"Demyx!"

"Huh?" the blond shook his head. "Yeah, right."

And the two ran to the remaining of the castle...the area where the Castle was supposed to be standing tall.

--

When they had arrived at the site, they stood there. Zexion was walking around. "What about... Axel and Roxas?..." Demyx muttered, kneeling and desperately trying to move the piles of crumbles out of the way. He threw away any rocks and any obstacle that hindered him from finding his Lord and Roxas away.

"It's no use...no one...nothing would survive this..." Zexion closed his eyes. His grim expression hidden by his lilac bangs.

"But... they're..."

...

Zexion opened his eyes then, stepping forward to approach Demyx, trying to offer him comfort. But he paused midway. Something was distracting him. There was a small shining object in the middle of the crumbles. Carefully, he approached the object and slowly taking away some crumbles to get to the object.

"What is it?" Demyx asked, standing behind the lilac haired boy.

"I think...it's the stone."

"You mean... that support the life of the castle?"

Zexion nodded. His hand shot out to retrieve the small shiny object. It was blinking...becoming dim as time passed.

"Is there any way...we can help them?" Demyx inquired slowly and carefully.

Zexion nodded again, looking at the crystal.

"Are we...thinking of the same thing?" Demyx chuckled dryly.

"I believe so."

"Those two are lucky."

"I can't deny that, but they deserve it."

"I agree." Demyx answered easily. He looked hesitant for a while, staring deep into Zexion's feature. When the lilac haired boy turned his head to eye the blond, they stared at each other. Demyx' hand shot out a while later to take the lilac haired boy's hand, holding it tight. Zexion returned the same affection. "Let's do it," the blond nodded firmly, seeking an agreement from his partner.

"Yeah... Before that... can I ask why?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you so...?"

"It's the same with you, right? Axel took me in when I have no where to go. He gave me freedom in the castle. Even though he's rude at times, he's still the one that saved me. That's all I need to keep me devoted." Demyx answered without any doubt.

Zexion nodded. "Okay."

Hear our plea. We will trade our souls for the two souls that have been lost. Give them another chance to do it all over again. We give our loyalty to the Lord of this Castle and Roxas. In return, please show us your loyalty and grant our wish

And slowly, flickers of light began appearing from their bodies. They were dissipating... separated into molecules. Demyx grinned and Zexion gave a small smile, still holding the crystal and holding each other's hands. And then...the two vanished into the void. The crystal dimmed and dropped to the ground.

Then...time passed.

--

It was a nice beautiful day and the town was as peaceful as ever.

In a certain minimarket, a boy was browsing through the little amount of shelves, walking around calmly and lazily, pushing a small cart. The crystal necklace he wore made tinkling, soothing sound as he walked. He blinked a while before his hand shot out, wanting to take a bar of chocolate, but then decided not to. His lips formed a pout as he corrected his small one-sided bag that was hanging off his shoulder. Pushing the cart aside, he stepped passed it and walked over to the cashier.

"Is there any reason why the chocolates here are..." he paused. "Extremely expensive?"

"Excuse me?" came a soft but confused reply.

"I mean, seriously. How does this shop even manage to..." the blond paused again when his eyes finally met the person he was talking to. He gaped, his jaw dropped open in awe. Stood before him was the most gorgeous, yet at the same time weirdest and most peculiar person he had ever seen.

He quickly put a hand over his mouth so he didn't have to curl himself up in shame.

The redhead though was quite amused by the blond's reaction. He grinned brightly, watching the blond's cheeks grew pink. That's adorable.

"Yeah? You were saying?" the redhead leaned over, smirking.

"Uhmm..." the blond swallowed, gluing his eyes to the tile floor, shifting his weight left and right uncomfortably, feeling uneasy that a complete and total stranger was staring down at him like that. "You know... the chocolates..." the blond pointed timidly, always the shy one.

The redhead chuckled. He's so adorable. "What about them?" he asked, leaning in closer to the counter to take a better look at the blond. Small, fragile, timid, and cute, just perfect. His hair is golden. He smiled.

"Expensive?" the little blond answered uneasily. He took a deep breath then. "You know what? Never mind..." he spoke softly, about to walk away.

Before he was out of sight, the redhead quickly jumped out from where he was sitting, walked out of the store, approached the blond and grabbed his wrist. The blond yelped, blushing red pink. "Eh?"

"What's your name, little thing?"

Roxas cringed at the nickname, his lips forming a cute pout, bright cerulean eyes glaring at emerald. "Well, what's yours?"

"You can't answer a question with a question," the redhead smirked brightly, putting a hand to rake his unruly hair.

There was suddenly a soft wind blowing through the blond. Axel.

The blond blinked. "What?"

"Huh?"

Roxas chuckled softly. "It starts...with an R, Axel."

"Huh?" The redhead was even more confused.

They stood and stared at each other like that. Comfortable silence enshrouding them. And Roxas smiled softly. Axel mirrored the smile.

The redhead broke into a huge grin, a sincere smile. "Roxas."

Roxas laughed happily, his eyes suddenly moist. "Are you sure it's not Rufus?" he choked out.

"I'm sure." Axel smiled, pulling Roxas into his embrace, hugging him close. He buried his face into Roxas' golden locks, deeply inhaling the scent and petting his head lovingly.

Roxas rested his head on the redhead's chest, enjoying the comfort.

"What...is that... poking me?" Axel asked, unsure. "You can't be... arou..." he paused.

Roxas pulled away as he blushed heavily and quickly backing away from the redhead. "No!" he yelled, forming a pout again and then sticking his tongue out.

Axel smirked.

Roxas then grabbed his bag and took out a bar of toblerone and with scary accuracy, threw it straight at the redhead. Axel was quick to react and he was able to catch the bar of chocolate easily. "Thanks, little thing."

The blond rolled his eyes.

"So, do we get to know each other?" the redhead inquired.

"And figure out why we know each other's name?" the blond smiled.

"Sure."

"Sure."

"Let's begin with... an introduction."

Roxas released a small chuckle, feeling the small strange familiar feeling in his heart. He couldn't exactly comprehend what was going on, but he somehow knew that he had known the redhead for a long time. All his life growing up, he had never before experienced such huge emotions.

Axel was amused and satisfied. Who'd have guessed that he'd met such a cute blond in the crappy place he was working at?

The blond nodded.

"Introduction sounds good."

"So, what do you like?"

"I love chocolates." Roxas smiled, answering easily.

The wind blew and the trees rustled, as if agreeing. Soft sunlight illuminated and brought out the smiles on their faces. Leafs blew passed them, trying to reach the sun, directed by the wind to the white clouds above.

And the crystal that Roxas wore shone, blinking as it made soothing clanking noise, stirred by the wind.

Fin

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Hope you enjoyed! Thank you very much, everyone! Seriously. Thank you for still reading and reviewing and staying until the end. I really hope you enjoyed the fic thoroughly. If you have any question, feel free to drop by at terrahotaru dot deviantart dot com and leave me a message or just ask me here. 8) I'd be happy to answer. It's been a fun time. I hope you guys had a fun time reading this too. Now, time to concentrate on Dark Underworld and Harmony of the Sky. 8) Feel free to read my other fics if you'd like.

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Thanks so much! I'm so...happy and sad. This is the first time I've completed a long multi-chap! –burst in tears- (: