• Title: Affairs of The Heart
    Author: N-finiteFangirl
    Rating: PG-13 (to be safe)
    Warnings: Some swearing, some spoilers for Chains of Memories, some angst, and then a dash of sap and fluff to top it all off.
    Word Count: 2,500 (Edited for accurate count, spelling errors, and more proper wording in a few parts)
    Author's Notes: This is set in a slight AU where Roxas had snuck into Castle Oblivion because he thought Axel had gone off the deep end, and he was also worried about Namine's welfare, too. But instead, he ended up meeting Sora in the Twilight Town level. And since Roxas wanted to know about this guy that everyone just wouldn't tell him about, He offered Sora a fair, one-on-one duel to see if the latter was worthy of "rescuing" Namine. So they squared off, and all was going smoothly until Vexen--following his interpretation of the Superior's orders to never let those two meet or even know about each other--tried to kill Roxas as well as spill the beans to Sora 'bout what was really going on at the time. Naturally, Axel used that as a VERY valid reason to kill IV. Eventually, Roxas helped Sora reach Namine, they whipped Larxene and Marluxia's asses, and Roxas and Axel are now hiding around Twilight Town while Namine puts Sora's head back together.

    *whew!* There's more to it, but I wanted to give you a very short summary of the backstory to this particular fic. Anyway, I apologize for this being one day late, and I really hope you enjoy it!


    Axel hated to admit it, but the royal rodent actually had a good point, for once. As much as he enjoyed the tip-toeing around certain subjects--and the occasional arguments--it was probably time to settle things with Namine. And knowing her, the most likely compromise would be to share Roxas between them. Part of him still didn't like the idea of not having sole claim on the handsome young blonde. He wanted to cling to Roxas, hold him tight to his chest, and growl "Mine!" to any and all challengers for the boy's hand. His reasonable side, however, presented two very valid reasons why he shouldn't: 1) Jealousy is never good for any relationship, especially to such extremes; and 2) Roxas would kick his a** if the redhead gave even the slightest hint of trying that. That boy cherished his independance to the point of being too stubbornly proud to ask for help sometimes...

    None-the-less, Axel eventually ended up standing in front of Namine's drawing room door. He was pretty sure that she would accept the bouquet of vari-colored daisies as a peace offering; apparently, she preferred daisies over carnations, and definitely no roses. He also brought a 64-pack of crayons--with a built-in sharpener, naturally--because it was his turn to pick up the art supplies that she needed that week. Armed with the 'guarenteed to make Namine smile" items, the redhead took a deep breath to settle his nerves--and why the Hells was he so nervous to begin with?--and raised his hand to knock on the door.

    But he froze upon hearing a sound from the other side. Unless he was mistaken, it...it sounded like crying.

    Did she come across a really depressing memory? Axel pondered, hand still raised in the 'about-to-knock' position. Should I come back, or...? He glanced down at the bouquet and the box of crayons. Well...maybe these would cheer her up a bit. He then proceeded to knock on the door and say, "Namine? It's me, Axel. Mind if I come in?"

    Silence hung in the air for a few moments.

    "C-Come in," A shakey squeek came from within the room.

    Now Axel was worried. Normally, she would've answered immediately, or opened the door herself. Frowning in confused concern, he slowly turned the doorknob and inched the door open until he could step into the room.

    Drawings filled all of one wall and half of another. More drawings were scattered on the large table in the middle of the room, with used crayons and slightly-less-used colored pencils mixed into the piles. A blonde, pale-skinned girl sat in a chair, clutching a sketchbook to her chest as she tried to smile as cheerfully as she could; Axel, however, noticed that her eyes seemed to be red around the edges...

    "H-Hello, Axel," The girl greeted him, stuttering just a little.

    "Hey, Namine," he returned the greeting as he strolled up to her, keeping his gifts behind his back. "I brought you some more crayons. And I...I noticed that the room looked a little drab last time I dropped by here, so I thought I would bring these flowers to give it some more color." He then held out the offerings to her.

    "Oh, Axel," she gasped her face lighting up with joy, "they're beautiful! Thank you!" She carefully set her sketchbook on the table--unused side up--and happily accepted the gifts. She gently set the crayon box on the table, then turned to the side to deeply sniff the daisies. "Oh, these are wonderful! Thank you again!"

    "Well, I'm glad that you really enjoy them," Axel said as he quietly flipped over the sketchbook while she wasn't looking. He then stared at the drawing she had been working on--and, he presumed, crying over--before he showed up.

    It must've been a pretty important memory, in his mind, for the drawing was very detailed, and done completely in colored pencils as well. Sora had a stunned, bewildered look on his face, and the cricket on his shoulder held a similiar look on his face as well. Roxas, with fists clenching by his side, looked like he was switching from shock to a slowly-building fury. Larxene was her cruel, gloating self as she hovered over the only other female in the picutre. And said female was Namine herself, staring in frozen horror at the dead-eyed, prone form of the Replica.

    It was the drawn Namine's reaction that had Axel staring at this picture for at least a minute. For some reason, it chilled his blood and made his inner fires turn to ash. "Namine," he finally spoke, "what exactly is th--"

    "I didn't mean to..."

    Axel turned to see Namine shakily clutch the daisies to her chest, staring at the drawing with haunted, teary eyes. "Didn't mean to what?" he inquired. When she only held the bouquet closer to her chest--like they could shield or comfort her--he pressed further, "Namine, what happened in this memory?"

    "You...you didn't see it? But, the cameras--"

    "I put them on the fritz so that you could sneak down there to explain things to Sora and Roxas. Even if the cameras were working, I wasn't anywhere near the security room--or your location at the time--to see the events that transpired there. So, tell me what happened here." He patted the picture with the back of his hand.

    She remained silent for another moment or two. Then, just as when he was about to push her further, she began to speak. "Riku--the Replica...he came up to us first, just as we had left Destiny Island. He...he was going to hurt Sora for trying to take me away from him--at least, that what he thought. And I knew that it would only make Roxas want to fight back, since he knew that it really wasn't Sora's fault to begin with. I-I didn't want anyone hurt because of me anymore, and I was so scared that they could get seriously hurt in the brewing fight...or worse. I didn't want anyone to fight because of me anymore--I didn't want to cause any more pain or grief or anything terrible anymore!

    "So I...I told him to stop. I just wanted Riku to stop..."

    Seeing the tears rolling down her ckeeks... It seemed almost as terrible to Axel as when Vexen almost killed Roxas with his sneak attack in the face Twilight Town--and he had very few regrets about killing that icy b*****d because of that.

    "What happened next?" Axel inquired after she grew quiet for a few moments.

    "Well..." She sniffled a little. "He...he just froze...and fell over. Like...like he was a statue! And then, Larxene said that I...that I..." She started to break into sobs.

    By the Gods, it killed Axel to see such a sweet girl like Namine sobbing. Thus, he went over and gently put his arms around her. She reacted by clinging to him, and wailing and sobbing into his chest, "I didn't mean to break his heart! I didn't want to destroy it! I just...I just wanted him to stop!"

    Ooooh, he never felt more helpless than he did now. All he could do was keep his arms wrapped around her and rub her back a little. He wanted to say, "There, there," but he also knew that it would be the dumbest thing to say at that point. However, he really couldn't think of anything else to say, or do, that would really help comfort her.

    But eventually, she calmed down a bit, and Axel said, "I'm going to guess that Sora and Roxas took care of Larxene?"

    She gave a wane smile and nodded a little. "Yes, with the help of Donald and Goofy, eventually. I...I had never seen Roxas so angry like that. He truly wanted to kill Larxene--and Marluxia, later on--for all they had forced me to do... Once she was gone, I then explained things to all of them. And...well, you know the rest."

    Indeed, he did. Sora and his group actually defeated Marluxia. And they all ended up here in the real Twilight Town--Axel playing the role of guardian for Roxas--who, in turn, hid as a first-year student at the local high school. Namine stayed inside DiZ's mansion so that she could put back together the memories of Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

    However, Namine's smile didn't last very long after her last spoken word. Axel didn't like the gloom that covered her face. "I take it there's a 'but' coming along?"

    "I...I'm still scared, though."

    "Scared of what? The Organization coming after us because Roxas jumped ship and I've been lying through my teeth all spring?"

    "No, not that! I'm...I'm more scare of...myself." The last word came out as a frightened whisper that matched the newly-returned haunted look in her eyes. "I...I'm afraid that it would happen again, if I get too scared or angry. I...I'm so very afraid that I could still crush another's heart...another's mind... Maybe Sora's...or Riku's...or even you and Ro-Roxas..." She buried her face in his chest. "I'm so scared of losing control...I...I'm almost afraid of finishing what I started here," she fearfully confessed. "I...I wish I remembered something about my Other. Maybe, if I did...I would know how to control my powers..."

    "That's not always the case."

    Namine suddenly looked up at Axel. "What do you mean?"

    He sighed, and led her back to her chair, where she sat down. Sitting down in another chair, he explained, "My Other didn't have fire powers. Granted, he had some magical abilities, but not fire--and definitely not a whole lot of magic, either! Believe me, I had more trouble trying not to melt whole chandeliers worth of candles than most people realized before I could get it under enough precise control to just light a couple of candles. Of course, my problem was the exact problem of most magic users. It wasn't about trying to bring my powers out; it was more like trying to reign them in.

    "You," he continued, pointing at Namine, "have the same problem as I did--worse, because you never had any prior training or teacher to rely upon. However...it doesn't mean you're a monster, or that you're gonna wipe our minds clean just because you decide to throw one of your rare temper tantrums. If that was possible, you would've given me amnesia at least fives times over."

    Namine giggled through the lingering tears.

    Axel smiled, pleased that she wasn't so down, and went on to say, "You do have some kind of control, so I highly doubt you could hurt any of us that badly."

    "But...what if I get just as upset and I did when... I mean, it could happen again, even before Sora wakes up."

    Axel knew that it was a good point; they could be found out by the Organization--or worse, whoever's in charge of the Heartless now--before Namine finished putting the memories back together. Even with all the help DiZ, Riku, and the King had given, it was still possible. All it would take was for one of them--most likely Demyx--to spy on Axel during his "off-time", and the gig would be up. And that kind of pressure could make her snap; it was possible...

    "Well," he finally said, "how about this: the King mentioned that his ol' mentor is here in this world, right?"

    She nodded. "Yes, I do remember him saying that... I think he also said that he's informed him of what has happened within the past year."

    "Alright, so here's the plan: After Sora wakes up and goes running off with Roxas and the others to save the worlds again, we could let the ol' mouse's tutor teach you."

    "Me?"

    "Yeah! I mean, he's supposed to be this almighty sorcerer, right? Well, I'm sure he's had students with the same problems that we had with our powers. So, maybe, he could teach you how to better control it. Hells, he could even teach you a few new tricks to better help us."

    "That...that's a wonderful idea!" Namine agreed, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree. "Oh, that's wonderful! Yes, we can ask him after Sora and the others are awake! Oh, thank you, Axel!" She leapt out of her chair to run over and hug him. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! You're a wonderful guy when you need to be! It's just a brilliant idea! Oh, how can I ever thank you?"

    And before he could say any more, she gave him a kiss. Not just a peck on the cheek; that, he wouldn't mind coming from her. No, it was full on the lips.

    It only lasted a few seconds, though, before she pulled back, her face the bright shade of a freshly ripened tomato as she jumped away a little. "Oh! I...I'm so sorry! I-I don't know what's gotten into me. I mean, I know you only like Roxas, and..."

    Axel didn't seem to hear more of her nervous, apologetic mumblings. He was busy being in shock at being kissed by her, of all things. His fingertips gently traced his lips as his brain began to put a few things together. She was cute, kind, very friendly yet quite shy. She's very caring, and quite gifted in matters of the mind and heart...well, in her own way, of course. She liked Roxas, of course, but this...this could also mean that she...maybe she actually... And if that's true, then mabye the whole issue of sharing Roxas might stop being such a big issue after all.

    What snapped him out of his impromptu reverie was her saying one particular sentence: "I really didn't mean to do that."

    "Are you sure about that?" He inquired, smiling a little as he leaned towards her. "Are you really sure about that?"

    "Well...I..." She stammered for a moment or two.

    His smile was his usual, interested-and-cunning smile as he gently cupped her chin with the palm of her hand. "Well, I think there's only one way to find out."

    And then, he gave her a big, yet gentle kiss.

    She froze for a few seconds...but then began to relax into the kiss. And just when the kiss began to deepen, they heard a loud, solid *thud* coming from the doorway.

    Both broke off the kiss to turn towards the source of the sound--and saw Roxas standing in the doorway staring at them, a pile of books scattered at his feet. It wasn't the bad, "What in the name of Kingdom Hearts are you doing?!" shock. To Axel, at least, it seemed more like the brain-breaking, "I can't believe I'm seeing something so frickin' HOT!" look.

    "...Axel? Namine?" The teenage boy finally spoke. "Wha...?"

    Namine was deep red, her hands covering her mouth. Axel, however, just grinned and asked, "I take it you came to join us?"