[KH] Battle Stance: Sign of Innocence (theme 16)

Battle Stance, Kingdom Hearts fanwork:  Armory Challenge by RoseOfADifferentColor, written by Raberba girl
Sign of Innocence (theme 16) [rough draft]

Summary:  Is it the kids who are magnetically attracted to Axel, or the other way around?

A/N:  The timing doesn't fit with canon, even assuming there was at least a day or two between Larxene's death and Marluxia's confrontations with Axel and Sora, but whatever. *sweatdrop*

I think you can consider this a sequel to This Kind of Love: Axel & Naminé.  I think.

Now that Larxene was gone, Axel was bored.  He idly went looking for Naminé, but when he saw that she was busy being harassed by Marluxia, he sighed and trudged off again.  "Bored...boooorrreeed...there's no one fun in this castle...."

Well, except for the Keybearer.  It wasn't Axel's turn to play with him, but whatever.  Axel corridored to where he sensed Sora was, peeking out to ascertain the situation before fully emerging.

None of the other Organization members were around.  Sora and his weird little friends were grouped together by a pillar - all fast asleep.  Axel wondered why in the world they weren't sleeping in shifts, then realized from the duck's posture that he was probably supposed to be on guard duty, but had failed to stay awake.

'They're exhausted,' Axel thought.  Sora looked terrible, with bags under his eyes and bruises marking his flesh.  He was also curled up tightly, as if cold.

"...Hm."  It made sense, what with Sora's long journey through the Heartless-infested maze of Castle Oblivion, fighting his way past the Organization and then the crazy replica on top of that, being psychologically tormented, having his memories torn to shreds....  "I don't have a heart," Axel remarked, "so of course I can't feel sorry for him.  That would be stupid."  So he turned away to walk back into the dark corridor and prove it.  Then it occurred to him that he should probably stay, kick Sora awake, run him through another boss battle, and play some more mind games.  "Yeah.  That's what I'll do."

Therefore, Axel had no explanation for why, when he approached Sora, he ended up simply crouching down and resting his hands lightly on the boy's shoulders.

"Not yet, Mom," Sora mumbled, still asleep.  "I'm still dreaming about her...."

Axel rolled his eyes.  'You couldn't have at least mistaken me for your dad?'  Whatever.  He called on his powers and eased warmth into Sora, until the boy finally uncurled and started snuggling happily into him.  'Whoa, whoa, not on me, you idiot!'  Axel shifted him until Sora was cuddling between the warmth of Goofy's fur and Donald's feathers instead.  Then the Flurry of Dancing Flames stood up and backed away.  "Yeeeaaahhh, I'm really glad Larxene's dead...."  He KNEW she would have somehow found out what he'd just done, and would have never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever let him forget it.  'I'm better off interrupting Mr. Cherry Blossoms.'

In the room where Marluxia was looming over a distressed-looking Naminé, Axel came striding in.  "Hey, hate to break up the party, but I need Naminé."

"Not now, Axel," Marluxia said.

"Yes, now.  I'm desperate and whatever."  Axel grabbed Naminé's arm and tugged her to her feet.

"Whatever you need the girl for can't possibly be more important than her primary task."

"Of course it is.  I can't get the olive jar open and I'm reeeeeeaaaaalllllly really hungry, for olives, so I need her to use her huge sculpted biceps to open it for me.  Later."  Axel waved and dragged the girl into a dark corridor.

"You need me to open a jar?" Naminé asked in surprise when they emerged in the kitchen.  She was still trembling from her encounter with Marluxia.

"Of course not, I just needed to get you out of there."

"Th...Thank you."

"Though I guess since we're here, you can help me with something."

"Wh-What is it?"

"Wash your hands first."

Axel got out some eggs and sugar, and put them on the counter.  "Okay, you remember how to crack eggs?"

"Yes, I just...can't do it very well...."

"No problem, practice makes perfect.  Crack these into that bowl there, would you?"

Once Naminé had calmed down from the latest memory-destroying session with Marluxia, she got more curious about what they were making, but Axel refused to tell her until they were squeezing in the food coloring and she figured it out for herself.  "Are we...are we making ice cream?"

"You'll find out."

"I-It is ice cream, isn't it!  We can make it whenever we want?!"

"That's what recipes are for."

"Ohhhh!"  After finishing her task, Naminé flipped to a page in her notebook and added a small ice cream bar to the other pictures.

"What's that?"

"I...I started making a list of all the things you've taught me."  Naminé smiled a little as she started paging back through the notebook.  "This is when you taught me what ice cream is...this is when you taught me how to play Command Board...this is when you taught me that I'm not stupid and a waste of time like Larxene said I was...."

Axel was staring at the pages and pages of pictures.  "That is...a really long list."

"You've taught me a lot."

"Guess I have, haven't I...."

Late that night, Axel couldn't sleep.  The kids in this castle were cute and all, but Sora hated his guts, the replica wasn't very cuddly, and Naminé tended to stab Axel's non-heart with lots of little knives of guilt, so it was hard to hang out with her for too long at a time.  Axel found himself very much missing the kids back at the other castle, who were adorable and loved him and didn't stab him with nearly as many guilt-knives.  "I shouldn't be feeling guilty, anyway!  I shouldn't feel.  Man, I even fail at being a Nobody, how lame is that...."  He climbed out of bed, put his coat on, and opened a dark corridor.

Number XIII's room in the Castle That Never Was was dark and silent.  Axel moved soundlessly to the bed and then stared down in surprise.  Roxas and Xion were both sleeping in it.  He wondered for a second if they'd discovered hormones while he'd been away, but then noticed something that made this theory unlikely.  "Why are you both still in your uniforms...?"  Was it possible that it had never occurred to them to wear comfortable clothes to bed?  "Geez, guys."

Axel carefully removed Roxas's boots and then his coat.  The boy stirred a little, but was a heavy sleeper and didn't awaken.  Axel tugged up the blanket to cover Roxas better, then moved to the other side of the bed to start on Xion.

"Mmm...Axel?" she murmured.

Oops.  "Hi, Xi."

"You're back...."

"No, I'm just visiting," he said, whispering so as to not disturb Roxas.  "Give me your foot."

"Hmm...?"

"Why aren't you in your own bed?"  He asked as he worked her boot off.

"Because...sometimes I don't like what I dream," she explained sleepily, "but I always feel better when I'm with Roxas."

"Huh."  He set the boot down after it was off her leg, then reached for the other one.  "Nobodies don't usually dream, you know...I didn't even think they could until a few months ago."  'When I first met you two, and started remembering what it was like to be human, and how awful and not-human I've been acting for a really long time.'

"Oh...."

"Don't worry about it, Xi."

"I don't like the nightmares, but...the nicer dreams are okay?"

"Of course."  It felt awkward to unzip her coat, especially while she was awake and talking to him.  She seemed totally okay with it, too, shifting so as to make it easier for him to pull the garment off her shoulders and free of her arms.  It occurred to him that she probably didn't even know there might be any reason to object to being undressed by another person.  "Hey.  Xion."  He lightly folded the coat and dropped it down beside her boots.  "It's okay this time because of course I wouldn't hurt you, but you shouldn't ever let anyone take your clothes off for you, okay?"  'Not 'til you're muuuuuuuch older and know exactly what they want and are happy to give it to them....'

"Why?" she murmured in confusion.

"Because...it's...dangerous."  He could practically hear Isa's icily scathing comments in his head.  'Shut up, Isa, you know I'm not like that!'  "Just keep your clothes on, okay?"

"But it feels nice," she said, stretching out luxuriously in the pants and tank top she'd been wearing underneath.  "I didn't know I could take off my coat when I go to bed."

'I knew it,' he thought, both exasperated and amused.  "You know what would feel nicer, is real pajamas.  Or a nightgown, if you like that kind of thing better.  Go buy some after work tomorrow, okay?"

"What is pajamas?"

Axel facepalmed.  "Just walk into any clothing store and ask where they keep their sleepwear, okay?"

"Okay."  She reached out and grasped his sleeve.  "Axel?"

"Hm?"

"Can you tell me a story before you leave?"

'...Telling bedtime stories to kids.  I really am a mom.  How pathetic.  I should refuse and save what little dignity I have left.'  "Sure," he found himself saying instead.  He knelt down on the floor beside the bed so that their faces were more level, and they could hear each other's whispers easily.  "You have anything in particular in mind?"

"Mmm...no...."

"Okay.  Well, once upon a time, there was a little girl with black hair and blue eyes.  She was all alone, but she didn't know she was lonely because she loved the sea so much.  Every day she would go to the beach, and she made friends with the seagulls and the dolphins and the...sunbeams.  And stuff.  Then, one day, when she went to the beach, there was someone else there.  It was a boy."

She squeezed his hand in excitement.  "Was it Roxas?"

"...The boy had spiky brownish blonde hair and blue eyes just like hers."

"It is Roxas!  Right?  And the girl is me?"

"So Xion said to Roxas, 'Hi!' and Roxas said, 'Hi.  I found a seashell.'  They found a lot of seashells that day, purple ones and yellow ones and white ones, all sorts of shapes and colors, and by the end of the day, they were best friends and Xion didn't have to be alone anymore."

"I like...this story..." Xion murmured, already half-asleep.

"When the sun set, Roxas and Xion had to go home, but they promised to meet again the next day...."

When Xion was silent and breathing peacefully, Axel got to his feet and leaned down to kiss her hair, then moved to the other side of the bed and affectionately patted Roxas's shoulder.  "I really miss you guys.  Sometimes you make me feel...like I have a...."

His chest seemed to ache.  Axel shook his head and turned away, going out into the hall to open a dark corridor.  'Back to work.  Come on, Axel, game face.  No more being a mom for a while, you've got a Keyblade wielder you need to terrorize.'

Axel sighed heavily as he left the World That Never Was and wondered for the first time if maybe it was even worth it to try to get their hearts back.  'I almost feel like...if I didn't have to live in these dead, frozen worlds and jump to Xem's orders like a puppet on strings, that maybe...maybe these kids and I could get along just fine, even without hearts....'

Author's Notes:  I got this idea when I wrote This Kind of Love: Axel & Naminé and realized that Axel should have gone to visit RokuShi while he was at the Castle That Never Was. XD This was meant to be just a tiny mini-drabble to fix that mistake, but ended up being a whole story on its own.  I couldn't really let Sora or Roxas be awake, since it wouldn't fit with canon, but I think there was enough room for Xion to see Axel.  Since...in canon, they don't even know each other until he gets back from C.O. *facepalm*

Complete:  3/100