Axel / Lea x Reader One Shots (Requests Open)

A Little Push

It's been three weeks since you landed in The Secret Forest to begin your studies as a Keyblade wielder. Since the day you started, you excelled in many of your trainings: basic combat moves, summoning strong magic spells, even throwing around a few trick moves incorporated with your skills in gymnastics to throw off your competitors. For only being here a few weeks, you were feeling pretty confident in your training so far.

Yet despite all this, you still had one major problem: summoning your Keyblade on command.

You weren't sure why you were having such a hard time to be honest. Kairi and Lea had mastered this within the first week of their training, so why was it proving so difficult for you? You spent extra hours after training, sometimes well into the night, focusing just on summoning your Keyblade. Sometimes it took three, four, or even more times for the weapon to appear in your hand, which only made you even more frustrated.

Lea and Kairi had offered to help, but you politely turned them down and told them that this was something you needed to do alone. You even turned down Lea's invite for a special treat of sea-salt ice cream (his favorite) to celebrate a successful training session, explaining to him that you'd celebrate once you could summon your Keyblade without even thinking about it. He admired your determination greatly, but became worried that you were starting to overwork yourself.

One day after training, Merlin pulled you aside to chat one-on-one. Putting you in the spotlight only deflated your confidence even more, but you knew he was only looking out for what was best for you.

"When you call on your Keyblade, what are you thinking about?"

"I dunno... a lot of things I guess. How I'm going to fight, protect my friends, proving myself in battle, doing my best."

"You're thinking too much," he said, stroking his long beard. "You have to clear your mind of all the doubts and troubles that weigh your mind down."

"Easier said then done, no offense," you scoffed.

"I couldn't agree more. It's not easy to clear your conscience, especially in the heat of the moment. But I promise you, once you do, you'll be able to summon your Keyblade without hesitation."

"How's that?"

"By listening to your heart," Merlin smiled.

As you watched Merlin walk out of the training arena, Lea came up next to you and placed a hand on your shoulder.

"He's got a point, you know? You gotta stop criticizing yourself so much."

"Yeah... I know."

"C'mon, let's go watch the sunset," Lea said, holding his hand out. You loved how much bigger his hands were to yours, the feeling of warm leather and calloused knuckles complimenting your soft flesh.

The two of you trekked up to the top of your usual hill in silence, hand in hand. The sun's rays warmly kissed your skin and the breeze helped cool you down from a long day of training. Making your way to the peak, you sat down on your usual tree stump, Lea's arm wrapped around you and snuggled together.

"You're thinking too loudly," Lea said and pinched your side.

"Sorry," you sighed.

"You're too hard on yourself, [Y/N]. That's why you're having such a hard time summoning your Keyblade."

"It's just...this whole impending Keyblade War coming up. There's a lot at stake here, Lea. So many people and so many worlds are counting on us... on me. What if I screw up?"

"You won't screw up. All of us are in this together, [Y/N]. I'll be by your side no matter how tough things get, and we're going to beat Xehanort as his own game." He tapped you temple gently. "Get it memorized already."

"Yessir," you giggled.

An hour passed by, the sunset long gone and the night stars painted the sky brilliantly. The two of you decided to head back to your quarters to have a late dinner and rest up for tomorrow's training. Lea stood up from the tree stump first to stretch his muscles, when suddenly you heard a noise come from behind him. Peaking over to the side, you noticed a large Heartless had appeared and started charging right for an oblivious Lea.

"Lea, look out!"

Just as he turned around, you had jumped up and placed yourself between him and the Heartless, and a bright light blinded Lea for a brief second. When his sight came back to him, his eyes refocused on you holding back the Heartless with your Keyblade. You pushed it back and quickly eliminated it with a few strikes of the blade.

"Are you okay??"

"[Y/N]," Lea smiled, pointing to your Keyblade.

It took you a second to realize what he meant: you successfully summoned your Keyblade on the first try!"

"Oh my... Lea! I did it!" You ran towards him and leapt up to embrace him, your heart soaring with pride.

"I told you ya could!" Lea swung you around in a couple circles, your head woozy with dizziness but you didn't care. He kissed your cheek multiple times until your lips finally met, both of you overwhelmed with excitement.

"Let's go tell Kairi and Merlin!"

As the two of you ran down the hill, Merlin had watched from behind a nearby tree. Unbeknownst to either one of you, he was the one who had conjured up the Heartless all along. Chuckling, he transported himself back to the lodge and awaited for your return.

"A little push was all that was needed."