[fic] Kingdom Hearts (2), "Loose Ends"
I intended to sleep. I really did. I even prepared for bed. And then got bunnied. And figured "Oh, I can write it before I sleep. It's only a drabble.

And then it didn't want to be 'only a drabble'.

Loose Ends
Kingdom Hearts II
Sora, some Axel+Roxas. PG?
About 2000 words.
END OF GAME SPOILERS BOY HOWDY. 8D



Sora turns to his friends with a wide smile. "S'cool, guys," he said. "I can take it from here."

"Alone?" Donald asks.

"Y'sure that's okay?" Goofy asks him. "That Hades feller can get a mite carried away when he gets ticked off."

"Hey," Sora says, jabbing a thumb towards his own chest. "I could handle Xemnas, right? Leave it to me."

Donald and Goofy look at each other and shrug uneasily, but when Sora has his mind set on something, he's got his mind set on something, so he knows they'll let him go.

He gives them a last, reassuring wave, and heads up the stairs to Hades' room.

As they'd guessed, Hades is none too happy to see him. "You again, eh?" Hades asks. "Got tired of running around messing up other people's plans? Scram, kid; time is munny, and you're a waste of both."

"There's someone I want to see," Sora tells him.

"Oh, how nice," Hades says. "You want to see someone! Like I care."

Sora says, "Will you let me see him?"

"Ehhhhhhh, maybe. I might leave him a memo. 'Pipsqueak Keyblade Hero called. Didn't leave a message. Call him back when you're, you know, free from fiery tortures.' That kind of thing."

Sora draws the Keyblade. "Let me see him."

Hades twitches visibly before he bares his jagged teeth in an unpleasant, saccharine smile. "Now now, let's not get hasty! I'm sure I can arrange for you to see your --" his lips curl. "--friend. Who is he?"

Clearly, he's been beaten enough times that his reputation is hurting. Sora grins, spins the keyblade, rests it on his shoulders.

"Axel," he says.

"Axel, Axel -- who is it? I think I've got nobody by that name," Hades says.

Sora scowls to cover up his sudden concern. Nobodies have a soul -- body and soul, but no heart -- but that doesn't mean he knows where it goes. He might not even be here. More likely, though, Hades just has horrible taste. "Very funny," he says.

"Yes, yes, nobody appreciates a sense of humour. Look, I can give you..." Hades has that look in his eyes like he's forming a plan, and Sora hides a sigh and knows he'll have to end up fighting his way out of this one. "Hmmm, ten minutes."

"Half an hour."

"Fifteen! Look, kid, I'm breaking my own rules even to do this! Can't you appreciate a guy having to do his job?"

Sora shifts uneasily. "Twenty."

"Done and done," Hades says, smirking, and the door behind him rises, revealing a whirling green pool below.

Sora peers down.

"But --" Hades drawls. "--you'll have to go in and get him."

A hand hits his back, and Sora falls.

"Forget twenty minutes, kid. You can have eternity."

***

This is what dying feels like, he thinks. His strength is sapping and he can feel it twisting him, crying out as the age and mortality enters his mouth, his bones, and then --

An arm around him and he breaks surface, is directed towards a stone wall, which he grabs onto and hauls himself out. A terrifying moment, staring at his hand, withered, and then it fills out again, softens down to normal his age.

Axel whistles, hauling himself up onto a ledge. "You get young after? That's not normal." He's unmarked, but then, he doesn't have a heart to slowly damage.

"For the keyblade master, it is," Sora says, when he has air to speak again. "I mean, this happened before, too. In Port Royal. Something like it, anyway."

"Heard you telling him you were looking for me." Axel makes a vague gesture. "Hope I didn't spoil your fun by tracking you down first."

Sora gives him a weak smile. "Nah," he says. "This is great. Thanks."

"So, what did you want?" Axel says. "Not to hurry our conversation along, but, you know--" he nods towards the pool. "Not like there's much weather to talk about down here."

"I, um." Sora hauls himself up fully, sits on the ledge beside him. "I wanted to see you."

Axel tilts his head back, lets out a short laugh. "Really. Figured I made a strong enough exit to last you a while."

"I just -- I'm sorry," Sora says. "I mean. Nobodies are... I killed a lot of you."

Axel crosses his arms, smirks, waves a hand. "We're not people," he says. "Don't worry about that. Besides, you didn't kill me, so why bother apologizing?"

"But you made me think about it," Sora said, earnestly. "I think, really, genuinely -- a lot of them didn't have feelings, right?"

"None of us do."

"That's not true," Sora says. "I mean..." he hesitates. "Maybe you don't have them directly. And maybe some of you don't remember what it's like to have them. Xemnas didn't, right? But... I think you do. Remember, I mean."

Axel is silent, looking at him with his small brows drawn down. "Yeah," he says vaguely. "I remember. I don't think about it much. It's a waste of time."

Sora draws a knee up, wraps his arms around it. "But, like," he says. "Okay. Something... something I've realized recently is that... memories are real."

"Vexen once asked you which you believed more -- your recognition of something, or your memories of someone. You picked the wrong answer."

"Huh?'

Axel laughs. "See? You don't remember that."

Sora looks at him. "But," he says. "Things worked out, so maybe I picked the right one."

Axel sighs. He looks tired suddenly. "Maybe you did."

"The thing is," Sora says. "If you can remember emotions, even if it's not direct, it's real. It's a part of you. The past is still -- real."

"Reality's really simple when you exist," Axel says, and smiles at Sora with a twist of his lips. "But Nobodies don't exist. You should have memorized it."

"I remember," Sora says. "But you didn't have to die for me. You didn't have to look for Roxas. All that stuff you did, because you felt like you had a heart -- isn't that enough?"

"Who knows? I'm dead, you're alive; that's not an answer, just a state of affairs."

"I wanted to do something for you," Sora says, determined.

Axel snorts. "Oh yeah? You?"

"Yeah," Sora says. "Well, sort of. You know how you told me that time. The thing you wanted?"

"Yeah," Axel says.

Sora swallows. He says, "I'm not very good at this yet, so hang on."

He closes his eyes and calls inwardly, silent.

A moment later, he hears Axel's voice. It's hurt and hopeful at the same time. Maybe a little scared. "Roxas!"

Sora keeps his mouth closed but opens his eyes again, and looks up at the figure standing half in him.

"Axel," Roxas says, a weak smile on his lips. "...I remember now."

Axel scrambles to his feet, almost misses his footing on the narrow ledge, grabs onto the rock face, leaning against it. He looks like it's the only thing keeping him there. "Uh hey," he says. "How's it going?"

"Idiot," Roxas says. "You promised me we'd meet again in the next life. What're you doing getting held up in a place like this?"

"You weren't dead," Axel says. "No point moving on yet." He seems to recover himself, twists so his back's against the rock, crosses his arms to look casual. "Besides, I love what he's done with the place. You know?"

Roxas nods. "I know," he says. He doesn't step forward. "Axel, I'm--"

"Yeah?"

He looks down, and away. "Nothing. Never mind."

"Aww, come on," Axel says. He puts a hand to his own chest. "Say it, you're killing me here. Oh, wait."

Roxas shakes his head, then looks up at him again. "...I don't know what to say."

Axel sighs. "Me neither,"

"Say what you feel," Sora butts in. They both look at him with surprise, as if they'd forgotten he existed. "I mean -- You missed him, right, Axel? And you're sorry you didn't remember him, Roxas! And -- You just wanted to see each other again!"

Roxas blinks at Sora, then back to Axel.

Axel shrugs, nonchalantly grinning. "...The kid's got a point."

"...You're just going to make him say it for you?" Roxas asks.

"Aren't you doing the same?" Axel asks.

Roxas is silent. And then, in a rush, he says, "You know, I challenged Sora once. Before he knew I was here. I didn't know why he had the keyblade. Why he'd been chosen. But -- he deserved to be chosen. Because he had people he cared about, and people who cared about him. I saw him there, supported by the people he loved." Roxas is just looking at Axel, brows drawn down. "... Do you remember... when I left, I was wondering why the keyblade had chosen me. But, I too--" He reaches out towards Axel.

Axel stares, then lifts a hand towards him. Their fingers almost touch.

"I have to go," Roxas says. He's flickering. "Sora and I aren't supposed to exist separately now."

"Don't go," Axel says. His voice has suddenly gone hoarse. "Roxas, I'm begging you--"

"I'm not going," Roxas protests, and then he's gone, settled back inside Sora. If Sora concentrates, he can feel him there, not quite a comfortable fit with his body, but bound to it.

Axel stares at Sora for a long moment. Sora thinks, right then, that he was right. That look like Axel's just been kicked in the heart can't be fake. There's no reason for it to be fake. It fades after a moment into Axel's usual nonchalance but Sora saw it. He remembers seeing it, and knowing what it looked like, and he knows what it means.

"You wanted to see him, right?" Sora says. "I wanted to let you."

"Yeah," Axel says, something almost angry in his voice. "Yeah, thanks."

Sora reaches out, touches his sleeve, folds his fingers against the leather. "Come with us."

"You're kidding," Axel says.

Sora shakes his head. "You can meet them -- meet Kairi again. Tell her yourself that you're sorry." He grins ruefully. "I never got around to telling her."

Axel eyes him, mock-hurt. "Hey," he protests. "And it was a dying request, too."

"Meet Riku too, okay?" Sora is nodding now, earnest. "They're important. And my other friends, you can meet them as well! And if you meet Kairi, you can meet Namine, because they're together now too, like Roxas and me."

"I know Namine," Axel says.

"Then you can meet again. And Roxas, too," Sora said. "He's always here, so..."

"I'm dead," Axel says. "I'm a dead Nobody. I don't have a body now, and I don't have a heart. What, you want me to walk around just as a soul?"

Sora's own heart sinks. "...I guess that was too much, huh..."

For a long moment, Axel is silent. And then he dusts his hands off. "Ah, this place stinks anyway," he says. "And it's not like not existing is anything new. Let's give it a shot, huh?"

Sora blinks at him, then grins, jumping up. "Right! We gotta fight Hades, first, but after that, let's sneak you out the doors and see what happens!"

"Sure thing," Axel says. He stretches. "Was getting a bit bored. Besides, if it doesn't work, there's always the next life, right?"

"Right," Sora says, and puts his hand out.

Axel looks at him uncomprehending, and then realization dawns. He reaches out, puts his hand over Sora's, folds it there. Sora grins at him.

"Right," Axel echoes again. "Let's do this thing."