"Hey, Axel," Demyx said softly, snapping him out of his trance, "Those problems get any better?"

Axel looked up into Demyx's eyes. There was no insult there, only concern. Maybe he had jumped to conclusions too quickly, maybe Demyx wasn't so bad.

"Not the least bit," he answered truthfully, looking back down at the floor. An arm reached around his shoulder, he didn't need to look to tell that it was Demyx's. He guided Axel down several hallways until they reached Demyx's room, that way no one could listen in.

Axel looked around for a moment before taking a seat on one of the plush chairs. Where as his own room was decorated with warm colors, Demyx seemed to have chosen cool colors. His bedspread was decorated with a picture of penguins on ice sliding into the arctic water. His walls, although white, did not stand out so much because most of them had furniture shoved against them, including several fish tanks. The largest one caught his attention.

"Those are my angel fish," Demyx explained, seeing that they had caught Axel's attention. "They aren't very easy to care for, but they aren't as hard as some others."

"What would you do if something happened to them?" Axel asked, watching the fish swim mindlessly back and forth.

"I've had some of them die already, it isn't fun at all. I've never really thought about it though. I guess it hurts some." Demyx sat on his bed, covering up one of the penguins in the process. "Why do you ask."

"I think I'm about to lose something that I care about." Axel said truthfully. "And whenever I even think about it, it feels awful. I don't know what to do."

Demyx sighed deeply, trying to understand. Something deep inside him knew what the problem was, but it was buried so deep that he could not understand what it was. The more he thought about it, the deeper it hid. He imagined loosing all of his fish at once, maybe then he would feel the same, but he didn't. He only reasoned that he could go out and buy more fish. Whatever Axel was going to lose was not replaceable.

"And if he leaves…"Axel's chest became heavy, something was weighing him down from inside, "I don't know what I'll do without him."

"Axel, I don't think I am the one you should be telling this to." Demyx said, standing up and placing an arm on Axel's shoulder.

"I already told Xemnas, that was a huge mistake!" He scoffed, standing up and pacing a small circle in the tiny amount of free space on Demyx's room.

"No, not him. You should talk to Roxas." Demyx looked down at the ground.

"He wont listen!" Axel shouted, whipping his body around and accidentally hitting Demyx with one of his arms. The injured nobody cringed, gripping his ill bandaged wound, "Shit! Demyx, I'm sorry!"

"Its alright," he lied, moving back to his bed. He had gotten Xaldin to bandage his wounds, a huge mistake, but he had been the only one around. They were now falling down and weren't doing him a whole lot of good.

"Take off your cloak, I know how to take care of burns." Axel said before walking into the bathroom. They all had first aid kits in there, he assumed that Demyx would be no different.

"I thought that you were only good at causing them." Demyx said, following his orders.

"Yeah, well you didn't start off knowing how to make the water do whatever the hell you wanted, now did you?" Axel laughed some, appearing from the bathroom with a first aid kit in hand. "First few hundred burns I caused were on my own body."

"Ouch," Demyx bit his lip, just thinking about it. The most he had to worry about if he screwed up while using his powers was making a puddle on the floor. He hadn't thought about what would happen if any of the others had messed up.

Less than an hour later, Demyx was all bandaged up and feeling better already. He had become, however, very tired and had almost fallen asleep half way through the bandaging. Axel knew from experience that this was a side effect of the special burn ointment that Xemnas had designed specifically for nobodies, or he took the credit for designing it anyway.

"lets get you in bed," Axel said, pulling back the covers. He helped Demyx climb in and even pulled the covers over him. He was about to turn the light off and leave when Demyx said something that he would only realize the importance of later.

"Axel, you have a good heart, thank you." Demyx muttered, half asleep. Axel just nodded, not even thinking about what Demyx had said. His head still buzzed with thoughts of Roxas.

When he got to his room, he was still thinking of Roxas as he climbed into bed. Even as his mind drifted to sleep, he could not get him out of his head. The smaller nobody was even in his dreams.

Roxas sat there, on top of the tower as he had done so many times before. As always, Axel walked in the door. Roxas looked at him and smiled, standing up and moving away from the ledge. He held out his hand, waiting for Axel to take it. Axel reached out, but his own arm was too short. He took a step forward, but he couldn't seem to get closer. He looked at Roxas, pleading.

"Axel," He said, his voice echoing as though they were in a small room rather than the vastness of the outdoors. "Trust your heart."

"We don't have hearts," Axel reasoned, taking another step forward but still not getting any closer.

"Then trust in what you feel."

Axel stopped for a moment. What did he feel. He was scared, scared to think that he might not see Roxas again. He was excited to be so close, but he was angry that something was preventing him from getting any closer. There were so many emotions that he was not meant to have, ones that he was feeling right then. For once, he didn't push them aside. He believed in them. He wasn't pretending to be scared, excited, or angry, he actually felt these things.

He took another step, followed by another. Each step brought him closer to Roxas. He smiled, he was so close. One more step and he would be with Roxas again. He took that final step, but nothing happened. Roxas was still on step away. He tried running, but he couldn't get any closer.

"Axel, there is still something that you are hiding."

They were so close that Axel could almost touch him. This walking thing was not working. Axel paused for a moment. He jumped towards Roxas, reaching out for him as he did. His eyes widened as, instead of colliding with him, Axel flew through Roxas as though he were nothing but air. He tumbled over the railing of the tower, down into the darkness. When he looked up, all that he saw was Roxas standing there, looking over the edge, disappointment etched into his face.

Axel woke up with a start, his entire body was trembling. He looked around his room, searching for anything that was different, but everything was the same as it had been the night before. He calmed down, it had only been a dream, probably a side effect from that disgusting burn solution that he had been rubbing into Demyx's arm the night before.His eyes glanced over to the clock and he jumped out of bed. It was 10:00 already!

"Roxas!" he shouted, jumping out of bed. He ran through the halls, not caring that he was passing everyone in nothing but his boxers. This was more important than his pride.

"Axel," Demyx called out, flagging him down. "It's too late."

"What?" Axel asked, stopping in his tracks.

"They…They took away all of Roxas's memories. They want to put him and Sora back together." Demyx looked away, "I'm sorry."

"No!" Axel just looked forward. He felt like he was about to be sick, this couldn't be happening. He had woken up too late, now he would never get to tell Roxas.

Several days later, Axel came out of his room. Xemnas had offered to allow him to see Roxas one last time. Axel had thought that he had gotten a second chance, but it turned out to be nothing more than a slap in the face. Everything that Demyx said had been true. Roxas did not remember who he was, didn't remember why they had been special. He tried to reach out to him, but only ended up hurting himself more.

The day that the final merging was going to take place, Demyx offered to do something that had been strictly forbidden. He offered to take Axel to where Sora was being kept. Axel didn't even want to think about the punishment that they would both receive if anyone ever found out about this.

As he looked at Sora, he knew that he could see Roxas inside of him. He knew that if the boy opened his eyes, they would be the same. They would sparkle the same way that Roxas's had when he laughed at one of Axel's pathetic pranks. They would whimper the same way that Roxas's had when Siax accidentally knocked him into Marluxia's prized rosebush. But he knew that they could never hold the warmth that Roxas's had held whenever he looked at Axel.

"Roxas," Axel whispered, not caring that Demyx was still in the room, "I love you.

He leaned in and pressed his lips against the glass. His legs gave out from under him, sobs coursed through his body, not even noticing when Demyx came to help him away.

Up in his office, Xemnas drew out that file with Roxas and Axel's names on it, writing "failure" on the top of it. It was impossible for a nobody to grow a heart, this researched had proved it to him. Kingdom Hearts was their last hope.

The first chapter of the sequel to this, "Yet so Far" has been posted. Check it out, the pace wont be as rushed as this one was.