For Sarah

When Roxas touched him, his fingertips were cool and soothing against the hot skin. Axel closed his eyes and tried not to lean into Roxas's hand. A thumb brushed his cheekbone, right beneath his right eye. Axel knew his friend was touching the tattooed teardrops on his face, a pair of dark marks staining his skin.

"Where did you get these?" Roxas asked, stroking the black triangle.

The redhead shrugged, his eyes drifting open again to gaze down at the shorter blond. "Probably during my Somebody's life. But I can't remember. I can't remember anything about that time." He wrapped his long fingers around Roxas's wrist and gently pulled the hand away from his face. "Do you?"

"No, of course not," Roxas answered a bit too quickly. Then, slowly, as if in deep thought, "Why tears?"

"I don't know." Axel grinned wide. "Kind of fits, right? It's not like I could cry if I wanted to. So they're with me permanently," he touched his own face lightly, "to cry for me if I need it, maybe." He dropped his hand and gave a bark of laughter. "Like that makes any sense! You can get people babble when they should be shutting their mouths, Rox. Now, come on; we have work to do."

The blond boy furrowed his brow, unconvinced. The cloaked redhead turned to walk down the long Dark corridor, his two chakram materializing in his hands.

"But we can cry," Roxas said softly to Axel's retreating back. "I know we can."