DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN KINGDOM HEARTS.

***

"Axel?"

Axel woke from his doze sleepily, Roxas sitting next to his sprawled out body on the sand.

"Mhmm?" Axel said, yawning.

"How do we know we don't have hearts? I know you've said we remember what it's like to have a heart but… I don't have any memories from my past and you're constantly telling me I act like I have one. So how do we know?" Roxas tore his eyes away from the sunset to look at Axel, who propped himself up on his elbows.

"I'm not sure. I've never really thought about it before." Axel was quiet for a moment. "I suppose if we did have hearts then we wouldn't be making Kingdom Hearts. I mean, what would the point be?"

"Still… what if we do have hearts? What if they're not really missing?" Roxas asked, picking up a handful of sand and allowing it to trickle slowly out of his hand.

Axel snorted. "So…. What? They're like in hibernation or something?"

"Maybe." Roxas bit his lip. "What if they are? What if they're waiting to wake up and we just don't know how to?"

"That's a lot of 'what if's, Roxas."

"I know." Roxas looked at the horizon again. "I know it is. But, Axel, why do I act differently than the other Nobodies?"

"I don't know." Axel admitted. "But that's why I like you."

"You perv." Roxas said, grinning.

"Not like that." Axel said, sitting up fully now because his arms were going to sleep.

"What if I want it to be like that?" Roxas asked suddenly, startling his friend.

Axel was silent for a moment. "Then I'd be fine with it," he said finally.

"Really. Even though we don't have hearts?" Roxas asked.

"Hearts don't matter. I love you." Axel said, and then froze as he realized what he had said.

"Love? That's a Somebody emotion. I thought we weren't supposed to love." Roxas was smug.

"Okay, maybe you're right. Maybe we really do have hearts inside us."

"Exactly."

"Shut up, know-it-all." Axel said, trying to sound offended.

"You know you still love me."

"Yes. I do."

The sun set just then, leaving the sky pink and purple as the two Nobodies watched in silence.

Another day, another mission. The closer to completion Kingdom Hearts gets, the more Roxas wants time to slow, because he has the feeling that things just won't be the same between him and Axel when they have 'hearts'.

***

R&R please, first fic (albeit a short one)