This is just a series of one-shots of Axel and I, unless I say that this one is related to another one, then they are not related.
Love Past Death
I put the flowers in front of the grave, ready to speak.
"Why did you have to die? I told you to run. And now, now you're dead. I miss you so much, Axel." I said, tears streaming down my cheeks. I touched the ring on my finger, and thought back to that night in Korea.
-Flashback-
"Axel! Run!" I said, not quite yelling as to not give away our location, hearing the gunshots of open fire in the air.
"I need to find Roxas!" he said back. I saw him run to find him, and he quickly came back.
"It's too late, Roxas is gone. From what I heard, he got shot but not in a spot that's lethal." he said when he got back, but before we could try to get back to safety, I heard a particularly loud bang, and turned around just in time for Axel to fall to the ground. I saw the blood quickly stain his camo uniform, and felt a bullet whiz by the hat on my head. I grabbed Axel, and ran back to safety.
"Don't die, Axel." I whispered.
"I love you." he said, voice raspy, and his breathing slowed to a stop and his heart stopped beating.
-End Flashback-
"Why couldn't you hold on until they could have saved you?" I asked, then noticed an orb of light next to the grave. I took out my camera and set it to video mode, and started recording. The orb darted right next to me, and my breathing hitched. This was the end, killed by a ghost.
"Pretty girls shouldn't cry." Axel told me, and I stifled a gasp.
"Axel...you're gone...why shouldn't I cry?" I asked.
"Because I'm in heaven, though it's not as great without you. I love you." He whispered, and then the orb took the form of him before disappearing into the sky, and for the first time since I came back to the United States, I cried tears of happiness.
Phoenix
Phoenix. A mythical creature that set itself on fire and came back reborn from the ashes. I often wished that humans had this ability, should they die in a fire for someone else.
"But it's not true. Axel's gone." I whispered to myself, however the tears wouldn't fall. I was numb. I wanted to avenge Axel, because while I was numb, I was also filled with rage at everything that was directly or indirectly responsible for Axel's death. Yet strangely, though he was the one most responsible for his death, I was not angry at Axel.
"The Organization dies at midnight..." I muttered, it was mostly their fault. They sent the army of Dusks, they had the motive for sending Axel, not that it was exactly their idea that Axel came to make another Roxas, but they could have also stopped him.
"I couldn't agree more." Axel whispered in my ear.
"No no no, I'm not hearing the voices now..." I muttered, I was surely going crazy. Axel just laughed.
"Turn around, this is real." he said, and i complied. There, in the flesh, was Axel. I noticed that on his ungloved hands were more tattoos like the ones under his eyes.
"You're alive." I whispered, tears of happiness streaming down my face.
"Didn't I ever tell you, my fire is more like a phoenix fire." he said, and I smirked. He knew I loved phoenixes.
Goodbyes
Grace always told herself she would tell Axel just how much she cared for him, but she never told him. She just helped him with everything he needed for the trip for the beautiful redhead. Grace would always be jealous of Kairi's looks, her beautiful red hair, bright blue-purple eyes, hourglass figure, not to mention the innocent air about her, and Grace knew that's what Axel wanted. She sighed as she gathered supplies, cursing the legal age in World That Never Was for being set at 15. She knew that the innocent air about her was what drew Axel in the most, he would probably give anything to corrupt something so innocent, while Grace was anything but innocent.
"Why did I even think...He would never go for me..." she muttered under her breath as she gathered clothing in Kairi's size. After doing a lot of surveillance(the Organization would call it surveillance, others would call it stalking), she knew exactly Kairi's clothing size, her tastes in clothing, what kind of music she liked and such things she would need to know for preparing, which getting these clothes was the last thing.
X-x-X-x
Axel wondered, as he dragged Kairi through a dark corridor, why he was even doing this. He knew deep down in his non-existent heart that he did not belong with this girl that was six years younger than him, but that it belonged to a certain light-brown haired, blue eyed beauty. He presumed that he only did this hoping that he would either get over Grace or see just why he needs to get his act together and ask her out. He recalled, with a sigh, how awkward it was before he left, and the whole time since he figured out that he liked her more than his best friend. The air of innocence that surrounded the Princess of Heart was almost too much for him to bear, and he made a resolution that if Kairi escaped, he would immediately go back to Grace. As if reading his thoughts, Kairi began to speak up besides yelling at him to let her go or that she was gonna kick his butt when she got free.
"I bet she's really pretty..." she said to Axel, which completely caught him by surprise.
"Who?" he asked, like he didn't already know.
"I know you're pining over someone, you obviously left the love of your life behind. So who is she?" Kairi said, rolling her eyes.
"Grace, a member of the Organization," Axel said with a sigh, "She was the only one who refused the naming ceremony and lived, and I...I just miss her and I never got to tell her how I felt."
"She would have to be crazy to turn you down, Axel." Kairi said, effectively ending the conversation.
Grace wished that Axel were here to comfort her on the nights where she had nightmares, nights that she had to hide from Xemnas in his rage, because she felt so lonely, and her best friends in the Organization were either dead or MIA. She knew that even if her best friends were here, she would want Axel there, still. She had an seemingly endless want, almost need, to be around Axel, no matter what the cost, but she knew it would hurt too much to see him fawning over someone else, but she wanted him to be happy no matter what, as well. She sighed, and wondered where he was right about now. She heard two people yelling at each other down the hall, and she swore that, if such a thing were possible, she felt her heart skip a beat when she heard Axel's voice there.
"How could you have let her escape?!" Xemnas yelled at the top of his lungs, obviously he was full of rage. For the fifth time this week. She instinctively picked a spot to hide, for she was frequently the one suffering his wrath when Axel wasn't there, even though it usually wasn't her fault, however explaining why this happened would take a lot of effort without saying it outright, which she wouldn't do, ever.
"I don't know, it just happened, that girl is sneaky!" Axel shouted immediately, however they were far enough away to come out of her room without looking suspicious, which would only lead to more Xemnas trouble. She quickly exited her room, excited to see Axel.
Axel wondered why he even pretended to care why Kairi escaped, while in reality al he cared about was getting to Grace before it was too late.
"How does something like this 'just happen', Axel?!" Xemnas yelled, effectively killing my ears, and I immediately thought of how Grace flinched when Xemnas yelled too loud, how her eyes would dart around, as if looking for a place to hide.
"Well you managed to lose Roxas and Xion pretty well..." Axel muttered, he barely remembered Xion, however that hardly made a difference. He had obviously hit a nerve for Xemnas, because he immediately started looking around, probably for something to throw at him. Then they turned the corner in the hallway and saw her. The very thing Axel had come back for, the very reason that he wasn't looking for Kairi right now. However, Grace didn't look like herself, Axel noticed. She was completely frozen, with a deer-in-the-headlights look at Xemnas, while Xemnas himself had a look in his eye that reminded Axel of a predator staring down his prey, and it clicked. Before anyone could stop him, Axel had Xemnas pinned to the wall, obviously angry, for obvious reasons.
"If you ever touch Grace again, I will personally kill you." Axel spat out through his teeth.
"I can do whatever I want, this is my organization." Xemnas said angrily.
As Grace watched in horror as Xemnas gave her the look that meant that she knew that tonight was not going to be a good night, when Axel tackled him, and she immediately panicked. She knew what Xemnas was capable of, and she did not want Axel getting hurt. Then it hit her. Axel was here. After thinking that he wouldn't come back, or if he did that he would have found love in Kairi, she was overjoyed. She immediately forgot about Xemnas and tackled Axel in a hug before she even knew.
"I missed you, you know that?" she asked him, turning red when realizing that she was hugging Axel. On the floor. With her on top of him.
"Yeah, now let me go kill Xemnas!" He said, wanting up yet not struggling. At all. In fact, he appeared to be enjoying it.
"He's not worth it, Axel, just walk away." I whispered in his ear, and helped him up.
Axel couldn't get the fact that, for in that brief moment, Axel was able to wrap his arms around Grace, to feel her on top of him, to be just in that moment with her, out of his mind. He needed to talk to her, and soon, because he knew that he was going on a suicide mission, and he needed get it off his chest before he did so, in case he could never tell her otherwise.
"Can I talk to you in the other room?" he asked, his voice strained, he happened to be very turned on by what had just happened, and he desperately needed to get under control.
"Sure..." she muttered, and he took her to a room which, of course, to keep his bad luck intact, happened to be a broom closet. Axel was glad that it was dark, so that Grace couldn't see the redness creeping up his cheeks at the whole situation. This was along the lines of a bathroom floor and his bedroom, in his opinion.
"Well, I was sent on a mission to turn Sora into a heartless, so we would have another Roxas, and I might not come back, so I thought I might tell you..." he muttered, starting to chicken out.
"Now you didn't drag me into a broom closet just to tell me that you would be going on a suicide mission, now tell me your real reason." she said, hope lacing into sarcasm quite nicely. However, instead of answering her question with speech, he kissed her. They both immediately felt a connection, like this was what was meant to be. Axel deepened the kiss, and Grace wrapped her arms around his neck, eager for him. They ended up pressed against the wall, so close that Grace was nearly hidden by his tall form, and ended up knocking some stuff leaning on the wall over, not that they noticed, however they did notice when the door opened, and light came in the room. Xigbar took one look at the couple practically caught in the act, and immediately closed the door, screaming "MY EYES ARE NO LONGER INNOCENT!" at the top of his lungs.
"I've wanted to do that for so long, I needed to do that at least once before I left." he whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.
"I've wanted the same thing, so why should we stop?" she asked, and they resumed making out in the broom closet.
X-x-X-x
Axel really did not want to leave, however he had to, or risk the wrath of the Superior. It was bad enough that he had done unforgivable things to Grace in the past, however now he knew that every time the Superior had rage, whenever Axel wasn't around to protect her, he did it every time. He was, thankfully, able to bring Grace with him, so he would at least be protected, however he wasn't letting her near Sora, instead she would wait at the nearest hotel, making sure she was safe before he left.
X-x-X-x
"Are you sure you have to do this, Axel? We could run away from here, run from the Organization, they could never hurt us again." Grace asked, the last part in a whisper.
"I'm sure, Grace. Where else would we go? I'll see you later." Axel told her, gave her a kiss, and opened the door.
"See you later, Axel." Grace said in a near whisper, but loud enough for Axel to hear, little did she know that after his meeting with Sora, she wouldn't see him again.
