Title: Stockholm Syndrome
Author: WonkasChocolate
Rating: PG to very soft R
Pairing: Axel/Kairi
Spoilers: Barely there for Days and BbS
Disclaimer: I am no king, therefore I own no Kingdom.
Warnings: Mentions of violence, character death, and sexual situations, as well as many contradictions of myself, and sentence structure that would make a grammarian want to murder me.
A/N: My third entry for 1sentence on LJ. These are a bit sporadic, complete with canon, AUs, and speculation. Enjoy, Dark Hope Assassin, these are for you, dear

1. Air

"Xaldin was number III," Axel tells her, "controlled wind, was a real pain in the ass; your boyfriend eliminated him a few days ago, not that I'm complaining or anything."

2. Apples

Ever since Snow White told her about the poisoned apple that forced her to fall into an enchanted sleep and play the damsel in distress, Kairi has shied away from the fruit; Axel laughs when she tells him about it and says with a wink, "I've always liked apples, they've got that nice forbidden flavour."

3. Beginning

"Wait, start at the beginning, Axel," Kairi says when he accidentally lets slip one of the memories of his other life, "I want to know everything."

4. Bugs

"We're all pawns," Axel says, watching a lightening bug scuttle across his finger, "Just pawns – until you figure out how to best the king," and when it takes flight, it is consumed by fire; Axel blows the smoke from the tips of his fingers, shoots her a lopsided grin, and slips out through a darkness portal, leaving her to contemplate the dangerous shade of green his eyes can turn.

5. Coffee

Every morning he gives her coffee, black (because she can never seem to summon the courage to ask for anything else), and winks at her as she leaves; it's bitter and burns her lips, but she develops a taste for it, because the colour of his eyes and the smirk always threatening at the corners of his mouth gives her a pleasant swelling sensation in her belly that becomes her favourite part of her morning routine.

6. Dark

Kairi hates it when Axel takes her through darkness portals; she always emerges gasping for breath, trying to cough up the darkness coating the inside of her lungs; Axel casts her a look she might call sympathetic if she didn't know any better, and mutters, "You'll get used to it, princess."

7. Despair

Axel is nursing a broken arm, dried blood smeared across his face, Aerith is fussing over Leon who has given up fighting her, Yuffie is breathing heavily, draped exhaustedly over a chair, and Kairi is staring desolately at her Keyblade and can't help thinking that there won't be an end to any of this.

8. Doors

Kairi has had it with all of these stupid doors because whether they lead to darkness or light, all they ever cause is chaos and loss and broken (not there) hearts.

9. Drink

The drink sitting warm in her belly makes her braver and she doesn't feel the least bit abashed when she takes Axel's face between her hands and kisses him fully on the mouth.

10. Duty

"You have a choice to make," Saix says with frustration biting at the edges of his voice, "the Organisation, or the girl, but I advise you to choose wisely, Lea; remember where your loyalties lie."

11. Earth

"Axel, no!" Kairi squeals, closing her eyes tightly and burying her face in his coat as he laughs and literally sweeps her off her feet and into his arms, flying high above the ground; "Open your eyes, princess, you'll want to see this," he says, and when she does she is amazed at just how small Neverland looks from here.

12. End

Sora is staring down at him with the same face Roxas always used to give him when he was upset, and Axel knows this is the end, knows he must be dying, and he can only think of two people he'll miss: Roxas and Kairi.

13. Fall

Kairi stumbles on the unfamiliar ground beneath her feet, but before she can fall Axel catches her elbow and drawls, "Don't fall, princess," and she can't help but think it's already too late for that.

14. Fire

He is the first one to tell her that fire is all-consuming, that she's bound to get burned if she sticks around, but she says that she doesn't care because scars and ashes have always seemed romantic in a twisted sort of way; Axel shoots her a cat-like grin and tells her that she has no idea what she's getting herself into.

15. Flexible

"I can't, Axel...I love him;" "I can share, princess," he grins, "I'm flexible."

16. Flying

"She's a piece of crap," Axel says, gesturing to the gummi ship behind him that looks as if it will fall to pieces at any moment, "but she'll fly;" Kairi casts a nervous glance at the ship and says dryly, "I think I'd rather take a darkness portal; at least that way we won't die…"

17. Food

Axel will eat just about anything, but when it comes to dessert he'll only eat sea-salt ice cream.

18. Foot

She lays down another winning hand and grins as Axel takes off one of his boots and throws it on top of his discarded coat; "I swear, princess, with your luck, you could give Luxord a run for his money."

19. Grave

They step out of the darkness and into a graveyard; as Kairi regains her breath, Axel takes a few steps and stops in front of a headstone, "Isa," Kairi's soft voice startles him, "Did you know him?"; Axel only stares for a moment longer before walking away, throwing a quiet, "No," over his shoulder.

20. Green

Yuffie notices Axel watching Kairi and Riku flirting playfully and ruffles his hair saying, "Looks like Red here is turning green," to which Axel only snickers and walks the other direction, looking back only once.

21. Head

"The name's Axel, got it memorised?" he asks, giving her a devious grin, and she hates how it runs through her head for hours on end.

22. Hollow

She presses her ear to his chest and doesn't hear a heartbeat, but a rushing sound; blood, she thinks at first, but she realises it couldn't be, and thinks maybe it's darkness instead.

23. Honour

Axel doesn't give a damn about protecting her honour, and when he pushes her up against the wall she lets him because, truth be told, neither does she.

24. Hope

"Everything's a mess," Axel says, running his fingers through his blood red hair, blowing a puff of air out through his teeth; Kairi watches him, "Pandora's Box," she says, "all the sorrows have been released – now we have to find the hope."

25. Light

In the shadows, when the half-light dances across her face, she looks like someone he used to know (Xio–), but then she begins to radiate that light of hers, and he shakes his head free of the thought because there never was another girl in the first place.

26. Lost

Axel somehow manages to get her to agree to play strip poker with him but when she begins winning every hand and Axel keeps losing articles of clothing until he's sitting barefoot and shirtless in front of her, her cheeks redden and she starts to think maybe he's losing on purpose.

27. Metal

Axel catches the glint of a Keyblade out of the corner of his eye and turns toward it with Roxas' names on his lips; he tries to hide his disappointment when he sees Kairi swinging her blade experimentally.

28. New

Seven months after they return home, a stranger appears on the island and approaches her, "Hey, princess," he says with a grin that seems very familiar; he looks like someone she used to know, green eyes and wild red hair, and suddenly, she remembers, "Axel?!"; he looks different now, and when she flings her arms around his neck, she can hear a heart beating in his chest and understanding dawns on her.

29. Old

"You're not old," Kairi protests; "No," Axel agrees, a smile pulling at his lips, "You're young, which brings a very icky word to mind: jailbait."

30. Peace

"I'm not sure what I'll do when the war is over," Kairi admits looking almost ashamed; Axel drapes an arm around her shoulders, "You'll figure it out, princess, and besides, you've still got me and I'm always up for a little chaos."

31. Poison

"I wouldn't touch those, princess," Axel says, pulling her away from the vibrant purple flowers swaying innocently in the wind, "Marluxia's plants don't play nicely with others; you'll end up a writhing, twitching mess if you're not careful."

32. Pretty

Axel puts a finger to Kairi's lips to silence the babbling she's been doing for the past five minutes about how Sora will save her and how he'll simply never get away with this and blah, blah, blah; "Let's see if we can put that pretty mouth to a better purpose, eh doll?"

33. Rain

Kairi looks out at the rain, then back at him questioningly; "I'm not going to melt, if that's what you're thinking, princess, but thanks for your concern," Axel grumbles.

34. Regret

He doesn't have a heart to love with, so she knows this – whateverthis is, exactly – won't end well, but she refuses to regret it because she's been safe for far too long.

35. Roses

There were never any roses or I love you's, he never even offered her a goodbye; when Axel disappeared all he left her was a blank envelope and inside was an ice cream stick stamped with the word WINNER.

36. Secret

"Do you remember anything from before you became a Nobody?" Kairi asks him one night; Axel watches her for a moment before saying, "I remember you," and after watching her mouth fall open, he adds, "vaguely," as if it will lessen the shock.

37. Snakes

The lines of fire snake around her, igniting the dried grass, trapping her in a circle of flame; Axel stands on the outside, his outline blurred by smoke, watching as she burns.

38. Snow

"Stop being such a baby," Kairi says, holding tight to one of Axel's arms and trying with all her might to pull him into the field of snow; "You know, princess, calling me names does nothing to hurt me," he says easily, "No heart, remember?" and tugs his arm from her grasp, sending her splaying backward into the snow so deep it practically swallows her.

39. Solid

The strength of her reflect spell is fading and Axel is lying unconscious at her feet; it won't be long before the heartless break through, and she finds herself hoping she has enough stamina left to get them both through this in one piece.

40. Spring

Kairi leans heavily on her Keyblade, gingerly wiping the blood from a gash on her left leg and trying not to think about her lack of potions, when she suddenly feels a warming sensation and can smell something sweet that reminds her of spring on her island; "Can't keep out of trouble, can you, doll?" Axel drawls, finishing his cure spell over her.

41. Stable

They aren't exactly what you could call stable – a fifteen-year-old girl who's lost her best friends, and is caught in the middle of a war acting as a denizen of light, and an overly sarcastic man with no heart who can control fire and is her would-be kidnapper; together they are precarious at best – but that's half the fun of it.

42. Strange

It's strange to hear Axel call her by her name; she's grown so accustomed to being princess and babe and doll, that when he actually calls her Kairi she automatically wonders what's gone wrong.

43. Summer

Summer is different in Twilight Town, Kairi tells him, all sunsets and memories when she's used to endless horizons and dreams of new worlds.

44. Taboo

They never say the L word to each other, because of all the words in the English language, that one four-letter word is lethal enough to destroy everything.

45. Ugly

"I hate you!" she spits angrily; Axel grins amusedly and clicks his tongue at her, "Hate is such an ugly word."

46. War

When Axel took her from the comfort of her island, she had no idea she would be stepping into a war zone; after witnessing Axel rip apart heartless and nobodies with his chakrams and washing the ashes (the remnants of something that used to be human once) from her body, she wonders how Sora can take it.

47. Water

"Come on, Axel!" Kairi calls, waist deep in the gentle waves; "No thanks, princess," Axel says, taking a step back as the surf skitters up the beach toward his boots, "I don't swim."

48. Welcome

"Welcome home, princess," Cid says when she walks through the door, but immediately cringes at the use of the pet name, "Sorry, kid, I forgot;" Kairi only smiles silently, shakes her head, and tries not to think about Axel fading away.

49. Winter

"What is it?" Kairi asks, holding out her hands and finding an array of hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs melting and leaving pink residue on her fingers; "I think it's snow," Axel says, brushing the pink dust from his shoulders, "Wonderland always knows how to attract attention."

50. Wood

Kairi manages to get the perfect shot of Axel with an old camera they find at the station in Twilight Town and thinks it will make the perfect addition to the empty wooden frame sitting above her bed at home.