Spiral
The threads of fate that bind are woven tightly into a blanket of stone
(One mustn't forget life is a spiral of reincarnation, and it is here our cycle begins).

He is a nobody, twenty, wild and free, and his flaming hair and emerald eyes are well-known around town. He causes mischief and chaos, but somehow still owns the heart of one sweet and innocent Princess. She is a Princess, fifteen, delicate, yet strong, and her cerulean eyes and copper hair are known fair and wide across the country. She rules her kingdom with a fair and just hand, but when it comes down to his antics, he is always unpunished.

They are in love and taking every moment together for granted, not knowing that sometimes, fairytale true love has no happy endings.

Royal protocol forbids it, but fate demands it, and they both know that one should never argue destiny, so they secretly meet in the moonlit gardens. He brings her a rose and confesses his undying love, and she in turn, makes him her Prince and declares that nothing will ever tear them apart.

Fate proves unkind with its twists and turns, the wicked paths that lie along its frayed and tattered threads.

They are discovered one night as the moon lights the rose garden with its ethereal glow. The guards come and bind his arms to his sides and beat him for breaking the rules. She falls to the ground and cries out, screaming his name. Her once proud and kind voice is now a whisper, and as the executioner's blade meets his smooth skin, she's still screaming his name in a voice that no one can hear.

Fate is kind to them, and reincarnation provides another chance; they're caught in a spiral of love and life and happiness and misery.

He is a young boy-turned-man of eighteen, cautious and conservative. His flaming red hair is tamed now, slicked back into a small ponytail, his emerald eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses, and he spends his days studying books on everything from alchemy to chemistry. He has no need for others' company save one person – a wild and carefree sixteen year old gypsy with copper hair and ocean eyes.

She is a gypsy in every sense of the word. Her eyes are mystical and rare with their ocean blue color and her hair is the shade of fresh copper. She is wild and carefree, completely at home with nature and the supernatural, and she loves that shy boy who hides behind his books.

Again they fall in love, breaking rules once more. Gypsies and young English aristocrats should never mix, but Fate deals them the card of love, forcing them to gamble their very lives.

They run away together, to a small town on the twilight. There, they begin a life together. He throws away his aristocratic inheritance and finances and gets a job as a bookkeeper for a small, underpaid law firm. He is underappreciated and worked too hard, but he loves being able to come home and see her standing there at the door, waiting on him. She, in turn, gives up her gypsy ways and settles down in a poor little shack in the slums. But she is happy. She has him and he has her and together forever is their plan for the future, regardless of what it may hold. But the urge to roam is hard to resist, and sometimes she wishes they would travel instead of just staying in one town, but one look to his happy face and the wish is instantly forgotten.

Fate proves cruel to them once again, dealing a card neither saw coming.

She is twenty and he is twenty-two and they are expecting their first child. The night arrives and the labor is a hard one on both the mother and babe. He stands outside the door, listening to his wife's agonizing cries and the doctor's commands of, "Push! Push!" and frantically pacing the floor. Then suddenly, there's silence. He is worried when the doctor comes out with a solemn look on his face. Then, his happiness is shattered when the doctor reveals that it was a stillbirth and his wife is dead from exhaustion and blood loss.

Fate is a repeating record, with reincarnation a merciful tune.

He is a Nobody in a body twenty years old, and in secret of something lost -- a heart. He is a member of the Organization XIII, its number eight and wielder of flames and chakrams. His fiery red hair stands out in spikes and his jade eyes hide a hidden agenda. He is rebellious, tough, someone to be afraid of, but when they met again in this lifetime, she shows no fear.

She is a fifteen year old Princess yet again, only this time her royal blood doesn't matter. She's strong, yet delicate, determined and brave, and in her sapphire eyes, wisdom beyond her years is shown. Her hair is colored copper red, and lies flat and emotionless around her face. He tries to frighten her by spinning his weapons in a threatening way, but he stops when she walks up to him and hugs him tightly, tears streaming down her face.

Fate is deceitful and full of lies; its sense of humor twisted and unmerciful.

He is a Nobody fighting beside the boy who longs for her heart. He thinks as he fights (to see her again) and watches as his partner (the other one who wants her heart) tears the beasts apart. He knows that if you really love someone you'll put their best interests first, and he knows exactly what it is that he must do. He is a Nobody who cannot love his Princess like he should be able to (for he lacks the heart to do so). He knows this young man can provide for her, protect her and most of all, love her.

He puts all his (nonexistent) heart into one final attack (for he believes in going out in a place of glory), and saves the boy. He opens a portal and pushes him through, telling him to hurry up and save his Princess. The boy smiles a goofy grin (that he knows she'll come to love), and hurries through. When he is gone, Axel falls to his knees, and begins to fade away. As he goes, his final thoughts float between his Princess Kairi and her beautiful eyes, and wondering if he had done the right thing (could they have made it together somehow?)

She waits for him, expecting wholeheartedly to see him burst through that door and free her from her white cage. She knows he'll come (because a prince always rescues his princess) and save her and they'll run away and be together forever and ever. She plans out their entire future together while she waits. She pictures a peach wedding dress instead of white, and she's trying to decide on what color her bridesmaids' dresses will be; it'll happen on the beach, they'll honeymoon in Twilight Town, settle down in Radiant Gardens, and vacation on Destiny Islands. They'll have two children, a boy and a girl, and she know, knows without a doubt, that they'll grow old together and be happy forever (and this is the only thing that keeps her sane).

Someone bursts through the door, and she happily smiles. She knows it's him, she knew he wouldn't abandon her. She turns around and sees her hero. His eyes are the brightest sapphires (not emeralds) and his hair is chocolate-caramel (not fiery red) colored spikes. Her prince doesn't come for her, and suddenly, she knows. She cries, and the boy-rescuer with the wrong colored hair and the not-emerald eyes holds her, comforts her, and tells her everything will be okay.

Fate has a way of making us realize that sometimes the best things for us may not always be what we want.

(And so the cycle continues.
Fate is a repeating record, with reincarnation a merciful tune.)
-fin