Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
----"Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost




A certain red-head stood on Sunset hill, gloved hands gripping the wooden rail that surrounded the hilltop as he stared blankly at the valley below where the Twilight Town train tracks encircled the outskirts of the quiet city.  The thoughts and memories of recent events that flooded his mind never ceased reminding him of his awful predicament.  Not only was he now officially labeled a “traitor” by the Organization, but he had also in the process lost the only object that kept his existence going: Roxas.

When Axel first joined the Organization, and simultaneously sealed his fate of forever having to submit to his hollow non-existence, he would have laughed at the idea that his savior would come in the figure of a small, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, skinny fifteen-year-old boy.  Yet when Roxas, Number Thirteen, arrived, Axel felt suddenly like…he actually existed.

“The name’s Axel.  Got it memorized?”

Blue eyes quietly met the bright green ones.  “Roxas,” was all the other boy said.

From that moment on,  Roxas and Axel rarely separated.  Neither one of them knew what attracted one to the other, for if they had been real humans, they would have probably never been able to stand one second together.  Axel’s flamboyant, cocky attitude met in polar contrast to Roxas’s reserved and anti-social demeanor, which equaled a sure recipe for disaster.  Despite the odds against them, the two quickly became close friends.  

But Axel’s part of the seemingly-insignificant friendship soon developed into obsession.

Roxas became Axel’s drug, his life-source that the older Nobody depended on for nourishment.  Every breathing moment was spent in thinking about Roxas, his Roxas, Roxas.  Axel had been caring only for himself for much too long, and he was sick of it.  He needed someone else to care for, to love and to cherish forever.  He needed Roxas.  His Roxas.

And Roxas fell right back into Axel’s little obsessive regime---and thoroughly enjoyed it.

That is, until Axel wouldn’t tell Roxas what he wanted to know.

“Axel, who is Sora?”

Axel looked up inquisitively from the book he was reading on the lounge in the castle’s library and studied Roxas’s face.

“Who?”

“Sora.”

Axel frowned slightly before burying his face back into the book.  “I don’t know,” he mumbled.

The red-head gave a soft yelp as the book was wrenched out of his hands.  

“What the heck was that for?!?!” he shot angrily at the younger Nobody.

Roxas crossed his arms, glowering into the other’s face. “You’re lying.”

“No, I’m not.”  

The blonde stepped forward and planted his gloved hands on Axel’s shoulders.  Leaning down close to his face, the boy repeated with added firmness, “You. Are. Lying.”

Axel couldn’t help tensing at the Roxas’s accusation.  The older Nobody knew he was lying through his teeth--they both knew that--but he had good reason for keeping Roxas from finding out...

“My, my, Roxas,” Axel suddenly flashed a long Chesire Cat grin as one hand reached up to Roxas’s face and began playing with a few wayward strands of blonde hair with his long fingers. “Getting a little accusative aren’t we?”

Roxas removed one hand from Axel’s shoulders and slapped at the annoying appendage. “Stop that,” the blonde hissed.  

A mild expression of amusement crossed the red-head’s face as he slowly retracted his hand and laced the fingers of both hands behind his head.  “You might as well give it up, Roxas,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone, doubly increasing the younger Nobody’s annoyance. “You know I’m never gonna say anything.”

Icy blue eyes shot daggers at the older Nobody. “Fine,” Roxas snapped.  The blonde boy straightened up and immediately headed for the library door, slamming it behind him with a reverberating “thud!” as he passed into the almost endless white hallway.

Smirking at Roxas’s childish display of “emotion,“ Axel retrieved his discarded book and started to read again.

Thus began the beginning of the inevitable end.

Axel wouldn’t give Roxas answers, no matter what the blonde did to coax information from him.

And Roxas slowly started to think beyond the little uneventful existence he had been born into.

Axel should have guessed it, that Roxas would one day abandon the Organization with no plans of ever returning.  But he didn’t, and now all he could do was try to convince him to stay.

“Have you made up your mind?”

“Why did the Keyblade choose me? I have to know.”

“You can’t turn against the Organization!  You get on their bad side and they’ll destroy you!”

“No one will miss me.”

“That’s not true! I… I would.”

But Roxas didn’t hear Axel’s final desperate plea.  He was already gone.