You wander across the shoreline because there's nowhere to go and nobody to guide you. The sand is soft and you wish you could feel it beneath cold black boots, but you settle for the wind in your hair and the scent of salt in your nose, like the ice cream flavor you once shared with your friends.

Where are they? You're all alone with the crashing of waves and the sun is going down like a burning ship on the horizon. It plummets into the surf and ignites the sea, and everything all around is on fire. You gasp but there's no noise and suddenly you've gone deaf with the pictures flashing through your head from a life that isn't yours.

Axel and Roxas are there – they scream from farther inland and you see the pain and fear in their eyes but you can't hear them. The fire roars from behind you and you run from it, run to your friends, they're reaching for you –

But a flaring wave whips out and ensnares your legs, and you look behind you but it's too late and too bright. All you see is Sora's face laughing as he pulls you into the sea of fire.

It burns. You burn.

But under the surface, the tide is cool. Soothing. It rocks you into a trance until you give in and let the freezing water fill your lungs and the salt tastes bitter and chokes you. You open your eyes, and everything is cloaked in shades of blue and green. There's no more fire and you're not drowning but the nightmare is far from over.

You have become the sea, and the sea is you. Your waves gather and crash across the land, drag down the sky and stir it into hurricanes. Your power is uncontrollable and you scream as it bursts from you and claims your friends. They can't breathe and they're begging for their lives and you try to let them go but it's too late. You drink them down and betrayal screams from their eyes.

You scream and scream and scream and nothing comes out but the roar of the crashing waves.

XXX

"AXEL!" Xion screamed desperately, barreling through the door and startling her friend awake. He didn't have enough time to wonder what was going on before she tackled him and buried her wet face in his shoulder.

"Axel, help me! I'm dying!" She wailed.

He grunted in pain, not processing her words, though he did process the fact that she was sprawled on top of him on his bed. Quickly he lifted her off, with some difficulty because her arms were squeezing the breath out of him, and set her upright on the floor while he shifted to a sitting position. It didn't do much good, though, as she instantly latched herself onto him again.

Well, this looks bad. He was about to give her a Life Lesson about not jumping on your friends when they're sleeping, but then he felt the water leaking through his nightshirt.

"Xion, what's wrong?" He placed his hands on her shoulders, but she continued to sniffle into his chest. Whatever it was must be pretty bad to make her run screaming to his room, jump on him, and burst into tears. Wait, tears? He hadn't known she could cry in the first place.

"Xi…" He hugged her tightly, not knowing what else to do. He could handle eliminating traitors, manipulating others for his own plans, and secretly betraying those who thought he was on their side, but dealing with crying girls? Not exactly an area he had experience in. She'd gone to him with questions or for comfort before, but she'd never been in a state like this.

Eventually, after being cradled in Axel's arms for a long time, Xion calmed enough to explain herself.

"I… you'll probably think it's stupid, but I… had a nightmare," she admitted softly, turning her head away from him.

To be honest, he did think it was a little silly at first. "You sure there wasn't anything else? You sounded like you were dying," he whispered, trying not to sound as worried as he felt. Heart or no heart, it was natural to worry for your friends, especially when they were as distraught as Xion.

The tears started flowing again. "I – I think I am dying," she cried. "Axel, you've got to help me, before I ruin everything!"

He was still confused, but he dried her face with the hem of his shirt. "I'm going to help you." Not that he had any idea how to, or what was wrong with her, or why she thought she was dying. Man, girls can be so confusing…

"Thank you, Axel," she breathed in relief, then clung to him even more tightly, like just holding onto him would keep her from dying.

"Tell me about your nightmare," he said, hoping that would give him a clue about what she was going through.

"O-okay." She took a deep breath. "I was on the beach, and then the sun set and the ocean caught on fire." His hand ended up stroking her hair without any conscious decision as she spoke. "I was so scared, and you and Roxas tried to save me, but you couldn't."

"Then it was definitely just a nightmare," Axel interrupted. He didn't know what possessed him to promise, "We'll always be here to protect you." Maybe it was just because he couldn't stand to see her looking so awful and scared.

"Axel…" She smiled sadly at him. "I wish that was a promise you could keep."

"It is," he insisted, though he knew it was a lie. That didn't matter; he would make it true, no matter what. He knew that she and Roxas both would do the same for him with whatever power they had. "I'm Axel, remember? What happened to the days when you said I could do anything?"

Xion blushed lightly and hid her face in his shoulder. The water was threatening to spill out of her eyes again, so she kept talking to stop herself.

"The fire-water drowned me, but I didn't die. I… became the sea," she whispered. If she hadn't sounded crazy before, she did now.

"Became the sea?" Axel tried to hide his disbelief. Such a weird nightmare, but he could guess what – or who – the sea represented. And if he was correct, she had every right to be afraid. She came from the sea, and eventually, the sea would call her back. Not if I can help it.

She nodded, which turned out more like her rubbing her face on his arm. "And then… I drowned you both."

She was crying freely again despite Axel holding her close and rubbing her back soothingly.

"It was just a nightmare, Xi. Nothing's going to hurt you, and you're not going to hurt us," he whispered, but looked away guiltily when he remembered their fight, when he'd had to knock her unconscious to bring her back to the castle.

Maybe Roxas was right about not using force, even though I don't know what else I could've done… How can Xion trust me to keep her safe after that?

"I would've thought it was just a nightmare, too, but look!" She lifted her tearstained face from his shirt. "There's saltwater pouring out of me right now – I'm overflowing, Axel! And if I – if I can't stop, I'll drown you and Roxas and destroy everything!"

Axel stared into her watery eyes, beginning to smile in spite of the distress on her face.

"Xion," he said quietly, pushing down his urge to laugh. "That's not ocean water. You're just crying."

"What? You mean – this is normal? My face is supposed to leak like this?" She stared in utter confusion, still pressed close to him and afraid to let go.

"Well, it's normal for humans. I don't think I've heard of Nobodies – or replicas – crying before. Apparently it's possible, though." Leave it to Xion to figure that out. "The point is, you're not dying."

She didn't look so sad anymore, and though her eyes still held a trace of fear, she looked mostly curious. "Why do humans cry? What does it mean?"

He smiled. Life lesson-related questions were on the list of things he could handle.

"Humans usually cry when they're very sad. I'm not sure why, but that's what they do," Axel explained. It was strange, he supposed, to have water come out of your eyes because of sadness. It was just a part of life that he hadn't thought much about before, but Xion and Roxas both tended to make him think more about the simple things could be taken for granted.

She frowned, tangling her hands in the folds of his shirt. "Well, I did feel really sad, and scared too… I wonder how I can cry, if Nobodies and replicas aren't supposed to."

Axel put his arms around her again. "It's not that we're not supposed to, exactly. It just hasn't been done before." And she said she felt, too… I wonder exactly how human she really is. "You're very special, Xion."

"…Special just means different," she mumbled, now embarrassed about freaking out all over Axel just because of water coming out of her eyes. He must think she was dumb for thinking it meant she was dying.

"You say that like being different is a bad thing. Trust me, it's not." She didn't know how lucky she was to be able to cry, to display any sort of emotion. And Axel wouldn't tell her. What insensitive idiot would call someone lucky to feel pain and sorrow, even if it was true?

Xion sat silently for a few moments, just now noticing how comfortable Axel's hand felt rubbing between her shoulder blades, how warm he was. He wouldn't take the time to comfort her like this if he thought she was stupid, right?

"Thank you, Axel." She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. It was still wet with her tears. "I'm sorry for crying all over you…"

"Don't worry about it." He dried it by increasing his body heat. "It's not your fault you didn't know what was going on."

There wasn't anything she could think of to say, and the motion of Axel's hand on her back was quickly lulling her to sleep…

He soon felt the steady in and out of her sleeping breaths. Cradling her carefully, he returned her to her room and tucked her under the covers.

"Goodnight, Xion. Let's stay away from the sea, okay?" He smiled, though his eyes were sad.

If the sea from her dream was Sora like Axel suspected…

"I won't let him take you," he whispered, wiping the last trace of saltwater from her cheek. "That's a promise."

Xion slept peacefully through the rest of the night, dreaming of protective flames evaporating any water that might try to drown her or her friends.

A/N: Inspiration from the Owl City song, "How I Became the Sea". So many fun metaphors I get out of those songs.

Cover painted by me. It looks pretty creepy, but I did that on purpose. It's not the greatest art ever, but I don't pain much, especially not watercolors. I'm pretty sure this is my first successful watercolor at all. C:

This was meant to be completely friendship, which I know is uncommon for me. I'll have something romantic for AkuShi Day in a couple of weeks. Oh, and AkuSaiRokuShi Day (Axel/Saïx/Roxas/Xion Day) is August 4th, so hopefully I'll have something for that, too.