Look, I know I started this in 2006, but I figured y'all waited for KH3, sooooooo ;D

Anyway, I still have a decent amount of this fic written that I didn't manage to publish back in the day. This chapter has a bit more editing/rewriting than last chapter, mainly because...I dunno. I wanted to? It needed work? It all needs work; I wrote it when I was 16 and I'm now 33 but here we are! XD

Roxas was dreaming, or at least he thought so. This time, he wasn't in the castle. Instead, it appeared to be some sort of basement room. He saw himself holding a single Keyblade, looking as though he'd just been fighting.

"Simply amazing, Roxas," Dream-Axel said, walking into the room with arms crossed.

"Axel," his dream-self said.

"You really do remember me this time? I'm SO FLATTERED."

Roxas jumped back slightly as the edges of the room erupted in flame. Dream-Axel continued to talk.

"But you're too late!"

He saw his dream-self conjure up two Keyblades. Oathkeeper and Oblivion he thought vaguely.

"Two?!" Dream-Axel questioned, conjuring his own weapons – chakrams – and grinning. "Come here. I'll make it all stop."

He watched Dream-Roxas and Dream-Axel fight, with his dream-self eventually defeating the dream Axel.

"Axel..."

"Let's meet again in the next life," Dream-Axel said sadly.

"Yeah. I'll be waiting."

"Silly...just because you have a next life..."

Roxas woke up, breathing heavily. What was that dream all about? He glanced over at his sleeping companion.

"Axel...I guess we did get to meet in the next life..."

"Hm? You awake, Roxy?"

"Yeah. Did I wake you up?"

Axel pushed himself into a sitting position on his bed. "Nope, I was just getting up anyway."

"I had a dream."

"And?"

"We met in a past life."

"I thought we had come to that conclusion already."

"No, no, we really did. And we promised to meet again in our next one."

"Roxas, are you going to explain this dream, or what?"

"Just think really hard, okay? We usually see similar things if we think about it."

Axel nodded and shut his eyes, leaning against the wall. Roxas wasn't quite sure what to do, as the whole...dream, memory thing would probably take a couple minutes. So he got up and sat next to Axel on his bed, watching as a myriad of emotions flitted across the older boy's face.

When Axel snapped his eyes open, looking mildly confused, Roxas knew he had at least seen something.

"We fought."

That sounded like the beginning of his, at the very least. "Yeah. What else did you see?" Roxas asked, trying to pull more out of him. Axel continued his description, through the hurt and anger, and ending with their promise. Roxas nodded. "Yeah, that's what I saw, too."

"So...what does it all mean?"

"Hell if I know. I'm going back to sleep," Roxas said, rolling over. He will have to deal with this in the morning; it was too late to think through anything properly.

"Mmm, okay. I'll just sit here with you then."

"You don't have to. You can go back to sleep if you want."

"Not tired. Once I'm up I'm not going back to sleep any time soon."

"Oh. Well, okay." Roxas glanced at Axel, who was just staring quietly ahead. He moved over closer so that he was almost in his lap, and leaned against him. "I guess I'll have to move closer then."

Axel seemed to snap out of his trance, wrapping an arm around his waist to tug Roxas closer and fully into his lap. His other hand trailed lightly through Roxas's hair, not really paying much attention.

"You're thinking about something," Roxas finally said, wanting to know why the normally energetic and loud Axel was now so quiet.

"Yeah, I am." Axel let out a long breath of air. "Just about everything that's been happening in these past two weeks. It's just...I'm not sure."

"Don't worry too much."

"Hah, I can't believe that you're telling me to stop worrying!"

"Shush, you."

"Doesn't any of this bother you though?"

"Of course. I'm utterly confused all the time. I've spent all my life thinking I was just myself, but now it turns out that I had a past life. It's turning my world upside down," he replied, sighing. "But I'm happy now. Did you know that I haven't been really, truly happy my entire life? Sure, I've been content, but nothing has ever felt so right."

"Roxas..." Axel began, trailing off as Roxas put up a hand to stop him.

"Don't pity me, okay? I never knew how to put it into words, but it felt like something was missing. Let me just be happy with you now."

"You are soooo sweet. I think you should be like this more often."

"Axel, I'm not going to follow you around like a love-sick puppy or something. You know me better than that."

He whined, lightly tugging on Roxas's hair. "Can't believe you're bullying me after all those nice words."

"Being nice to you was a mistake."

"Hey!"

Roxas shut his eyes, ignoring Axel's continued whining. "Good night, Axel."

-x-x-x-x-x-

"We're going...camping? I thought we already were camping," Roxas inquired, reading the announcement board outside of the cafeteria.

"I think we'll be roughing it!" Axel replied, full of glee. They were going to farther woods for a true camping adventure in tents! Nothing could be better.

"Wonderful," he said sarcastically.

Axel peered around his blond companion's shoulder to check out the group lists.

Away Camping - Week One

Campers
Roxas — Axel
Sora — Riku
Demyx — Marluxia
Kairi — Naminé
Yuffie — Analía

Counselors
Zexion, Leon, Aeris, Sephiroth

"Hey, we're with your brother and his friends," Axel pointed out, tapping Sora's name. "Think they're excited?"

Roxas looked over the list again. He knew most of them already, at least in passing. He guessed it could be worse."Knowing Sora? Absolutely. He's probably vibrating out of his seat already," he remarked, trying and failing to hold back a fond sigh. "When do we leave?"

"Bright and early Wednesday morning!"

"That's in two days."

"I know!" Axel said with a grin, reaching over to ruffle his hair affectionately, and Roxas barely managed to duck out of the way- much to Axel's disappointment. It wasn't enough to temper his enthusiasm, and he settled for slinging an arm around Roxas's shoulders. "Aren't ya excited, Roxy?"

He hasn't been excited about most of camping; why would that change now? Axel needed to learn to read him better…or at least have more realistic expectations. "No."

"Aw, it'll be fun!" he said, pulling Roxas closer. The public displays of affection were still new to him, and as comforting as they were, he still wasn't fully comfortable with how open Axel knew how to be. He gently removed Axel's arm, ignoring the pang of loss from his touch, and joined Sora and Riku at a table. Axel plopped down happily next to him, briefly knocking their shoulders together.

"Did you guys see the camping list?" Axel and Sora asked at the same time.

Sora laughed, grinning. "Haha, I guess you did. I'm so excited for it! It's going to be so much fun!"

"Sora, your idea of fun used to be sticking spiders up your nose. I don't trust your judgment," Roxas pointed out, shaking his head.

Riku snickered into his milk and Sora pouted.

"It was just that one time..." he said, trying to defend himself.

Kairi, Naminé, and Marluxia then sat down. Axel narrowed his eyes at the pink haired boy, getting the distinct feeling that he knew him somehow and that they hadn't gotten along.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Marluxia."

"Axel."

"Roxas."

"Ah, the famous couple. Do we get a show this morning, too?" Marluxia asked, looking at them through his eyelashes.

Axel didn't like him already. Only he was allowed to make Roxas blush, damn it. "No," he replied sharply.

Naminé tugged at Marluxia, and he relaxed without saying anything else.

Kairi reached across him to grab a muffin from the plate in the middle of the table, since apparently muffins were the only thing this place had. Axel swiped it from her as she went to settle back in her seat.

"Axel, that was my muffin,"she said, holding her hand out expectantly.

"Well, it's mine now. Don't reach across the table." Axel took a bite of the muffin out of spite, because he couldn't help but be rebelliously stubborn.

"Oh, like you're the king of manners," Roxas said sarcastically.

Riku tossed a muffin across the table and it landed right on Kairi's plate. Sora tried to do the same thing, but his muffin soared across the room and landed somewhere out of sight.

"Show off," the brunette said sulkily.

"Only for you," Riku answered, gently bumping their shoulders together.

Sora grinned and Roxas started choking on...air, maybe? Axel whacked him on the back to try to help.

"Did we miss something?" Roxas asked after regaining his breath.

"What do you mean?" Sora cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out what Roxas was going on about.

"Oh, never mind. You're clueless." Roxas rolled his eyes and went back

Axel noticed that Kairi was trying to hide a smile as she buttered her muffin. "I think Kairi knows something that we don't," he announced to the table and all eyes immediately landing on her.

She started grinding the poor muffin into the table, directing a pleasant smile and a wicked glare in Axel's direction. "I don't know anything more than what you need to know," she said breezily.

Any further arguments were interrupted by the buzz of the speaker turning on. Xemans's voice blared from it, loud enough that it crackled sometimes. "I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR YOU ALL! For those of you who haven't noticed, this is the first week for away from the main camp camping! The list of the first group has been posted on the announcement board. Check it before you go to your first activities! It is important!"

"Guys, that's all of us, plus Demyx. This is going to be so awesome!" Sora danced a little in his seat, all earlier teasing forgotten in lieu of excitement.

Marluxia looked unhappy at the mention of Demyx, casting a dark gaze on his breakfast. Axel didn't know what his deal with Demyx was and he still didn't know why Marluxia gave him such a bad vibe from the very beginning, but he wasn't going to complain about watching someone he disliked be uncomfortable.

"Do you know who our counselors are?" Naminé asked.

"Um. I think...actually I'm not sure," Sora said.

"Leon, Aeris, Sephiroth, and Zexion," Roxas answered. "They were on the board with the rest of the info."

"This is why I have a brother! Otherwise I'd never remember anything and I'd be lost all the time."

"You already are, Sora. All the time."

"Hey, don't be mean to me! I'm older than you!"

"Yeah, by two whole minutes. Big deal," Roxas shot back.

"Oh, you are just too mean. I'm not talking to you anymore," Sora said, crossing his arms defiantly.

"Is that supposed to be a punishment? Because it's really, really not. At all."

Sora turned away, diving enthusiastically into conversation with Riku and pointedly ignoring his twin.

"I give him until lunch," Axel said.

"Are you kidding? Knowing him, he'll either forget or be too frustrated by it to last until the end of breakfast. Sora's quick to forgive and forget," Roxas replied.

"Unlike someone else I know."

"I forgave you eventually. Get over it already."

"I think you more than forgave me," Axel said, pecking his boyfriend on the cheek. "Most simple forgiveness doesn't involve, ah, late night visits to the woods."

"If I remember correctly, that was your idea," Roxas told him. Axel grinned at the slight blush on his face. Roxas was so easily flustered. "And stop talking about it. I'm not giving anyone a free show."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, Roxy."

Roxas shot him a withering look. Did everyone have to be difficult this morning?

"If you're all done arguing, we're leaving instead of letting you guys make us late," Riku said. "C'mon Sora, Kairi- we don't need to wait for them."

Sora looked between Riku and his plate. "But I'm not done with my breakfast yet."

Kairi took his hand, tugging him up. "Then bring it along. Riku's right! We don't wanna be late to anything."

"'Kay, that makes sense." Sora waved at everyone still at the table as he got up. "See you all later!"

And with that, they skipped off into the woods- though not literally; only Sora and Kairi were doing any skipping. Riku shook his head fondly and he followed their lead.

No promises on when I'll be posting more of this btw- I discovered that I completely skipped over the actual away camping part and wrote a later section of the fic, probably due to NaNoWriMo crunch time. So, we'll see if I get bit with the urge to write a huge chunk or...well, we'll see, is all I have to say.