Axel

Axel (Akuseru), the "Flurry of Dancing Flames", is the eighth member of Organization XIII. His distinguishing features include his spiky red hair, aquamarine eyes, and his twin purple reverse teardrop shaped markings under each eye (one per eye). Axel fights with two red and silver chakrams and the element of fire. When summoning his chakrams, Axel stands with his legs spread apart and his arms out to the sides of him. Very quickly, tendrils of darkness whirl around his palms and up his arms out of which emerges his chakrams. He launches his weapons at his opponent, and for some reason they seem to have a boomerang affect, because they always come back. Generally, he twirls them in his hands, and will also fight holding onto them and thrusting the sharp spikes into his foe. The observant player will notice that Axel occasionally will drop one of his chakrams while fighting Roxas in Twilight Town, muttering an "Ooops!" each time. It is controversial whether his chakrams themselves produce fire or not, although they do catch fire temporarily for certain attacks. Axel can bend fire to his will, as vibrantly displayed when playing as Roxas and exploring the mansion at the edge of Twilight Town. In that scene, Axel was shown creating a ring of fire around himself and Roxas, blocking any escape route, as well as hurling it at an enemy.

Axel controls the group of lesser Nobodies known as the Assasin Nobodies. While most lesser Nobodies are under the command of an Organization member with like traits, the Assasin Nobodies have nothing to do with Axel at all. A plausible theory is that they once belonged to Marluxia, a former comrad of Axel's, and were passed on to him. This theory is further supported by the fact that they appear to be very similar to the giant Nobody that Marluxia bonds with in the final battle of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories on Sora's Story. Furthermore, Marluxia's title was "The Graceful Assassin".

Axel's first debut was in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, a Gameboy Advance game in which the characters had no voices. Axel later returned in Kingdom Hearts II. Throughout both of these games, it is difficult for the gamer to see where Axel's loyalties lie, but they undoubtably find that he is very much the hypocryte. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, we find Axel working for the two parties of the already divided Organization. On one side is Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion, the original members of Organization XIII. These three wish to manipulate Sora's memories with the help of the mysterious girl, Naminé. The other party is the group of rebels, Larxene and Marluxia. At first, Axel joins the rebel group, though his intentions at this point are unclear. On Marluxia's orders, he kills Vexen, even when he (Vexen) begged for mercy. However, later on Axel switches sides and allows Naminé and Sora to interact freely. Axel also tries to wipe out Marluxia, even at the cost of Naminé's life, but is interrupted by Sora, whom he then fights. Axel also takes out Zexion through the Riku Replica created by Vexen by promising that it would become a real being if it gained new powers. Up until the release of Kingdom Hearts II, the rebel Axel was shown as a coldhearted killer with no concerns for anyone but himself.

We get to see a different side of Axel in Kingdom Hearts II. While playing Roxas' story, the gamer will find that he and Axel were best friends within Organization XIII, and later Axel states that, "Roxas... was the only one I ever liked. He made me feel... like I had a heart." Roxas left the Organization because he felt Sora calling to him, as Sora is his "other". Axel attempted to stop Roxas from finding Sora, knowing that if he did, he would reunite with Sora and would disappear (this phrasing however, is contradicted by Naminé - only the physical being disappears, not the consious one). When Axel fails to stop Roxas, he permanently breaks from Organization XIII and makes plans of his own. Axel kidnaps Kairi in hopes of luring Sora to him, and turn him into a Heartless, therefore calling his Nobody, Roxas, to life. However, his plan is interrupted when Saïx took Kairi away for the Organization's plans. Saïx appears to Sora and leaves him a cryptic warning of Axel's plans, then leaves. On one visit to Hollow Bastion, Axel appears to Sora and apologizes for what happened to Kairi and tells him that the Organization is using him (Sora) to collect hearts for the great Kingdom Hearts so that they can be whole again. Right when Axel is about to state where Kairi is at, Saïx appears and chases him off, stating that he would recieve the "maximum punishment". Towards the final chapters of the game, Axel arrives in the paths of darkness on the road to The World That Never Was, and intercepts Sora. This time, instead of fighting Sora, Axel chooses to fight with him. After defeating many Dusks, Creepers, and Assassins, it is evident that they are outnumbered, and Axel performs a sacrificing move that wipes out all of the Nobodies in the vicinity. Sadly, that includes himself. He collapses to the ground and speaks briefly to Sora, once again apologizing for what happened to Kairi and pointing him in the right direction by opening a portal to The World That Never Was. One of his last comments to Sora before he dissapated into darkness was that Roxas was his only friend, that he just wanted to see him again, and that he made him feel like he had a heart. He also includes that Sora made him feel the same way. After Axel's death, Sora recieves a new keychain, entitled "Bond of Flame" that changes the appearance of the Kingdom Key to look like Axel's two chakrams attached in a key-like manner. In Japan, Axel in voiced by Keiji Fujiwara, and in all English speaking countries, he is voiced by Quinton Flynn.

Axel has made quite a place for himself in fandom. His fiery personality his appealed to both male and female gamers and has quickly risen to be a favorite character within and outside of the Organization XIII characters. He has gained a few fan-given names, such as "Ax/Axe", or "Pyro". No-one is positive what his "other's" name would have been, but the fan-favorite seems to be "Ale". It is widely speculated that Axel's "other" is Reno, a character from Final Fantasy VII, who recently appeared in the feature length movie, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Besides for the fact that the voice actors for both Axel and Reno are the same in Japan and America, Reno has familiar spiky red hair, cattish green eyes, and markings on either side of his face in the shape of little red side-ways triangles. This theory is further plausible because of the integration of Final Fantasy characters within the Kingdom Hearts series.

In the world of fandom, Axel is paired with multiple people. The most common pairing is Axel and Roxas, also known as "Akuroku". The name is derived from the Japanese pronounciation of both of their names - "Akuseru" and "Rokusasu". The basis for this pairing is the obvious deep bonds the two share, and the several lines that can be taken in more than one way. Akuroku can range from friendship "fluff" to a yaoi, or gay, romantic relationship. Axel is also paired, or "shipped", with other male members of the Organization including Marluxia, Demyx, and on the rare occasion, Saïx. Outside the Organization, he is paired with Sora and Riku, but also females like Kairi and Naminé. Another semi-large pairing is Axel and Larxene, the only female within Organization XIII. This pairing is heavily supported by the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories manga that suggests something between the two deeper than friendship. Nonetheless, Axel has several "fangirls", the major reason why his character is so popular.