
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/3587148.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Kingdom_Hearts
  Relationship:
      Axel/Roxas, Demyx/Zexion, Riku/Sora_(Kingdom_Hearts)
  Character:
      Axel_(Kingdom_Hearts), Roxas_(Kingdom_Hearts), Sora_(Kingdom_Hearts),
      Riku_(Kingdom_Hearts), Demyx, Zexion, Xemnas, Larxene, Xigbar, Luxord,
      Marluxia, Saix, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, Aerith_(Kingdom_Hearts), Xion,
      Other_Character_Tags_to_Be_Added
  Additional Tags:
      Organization_XIII_mafia, Other_Additional_Tags_to_Be_Added, Magic, Demon
      Children, demon_children_kicking_Axel's_ass, weapons_with_souls, i_like
      being_an_ass_to_roxas, and_to_axel_too, Axel_is_jealous, Cannibalism,
      sort_of, One-Sided_Attraction, Temporary_Character_Death, Dysfunctional
      Family, Family_Drama, Everyone_Is_Gay, pretty_much, Crossdressing, Minor
      Character_Death
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-03-21 Updated: 2017-03-06 Chapters: 20/? Words: 32646
****** Mafia XIII ******
by SoulSoprano
Summary
     Roxas is rescued by a Mafia member after being attacked in an
     alleyway. He recovers, but now that Roxas knows about the
     Organization, he has the choice of trying to join, or death. Pretty
     obvious choice, right? But does he have the skills to pass the test?
     An AkuRoku story. gonna get some Zemyx in there too, eventually.
     Please review? Rated Mature for graphic descriptions of violence and
     sexual themes in a few of the chapters.
     THIS FIC HAS A VERY RANDOM UPDATE SCHEDULE, since i don't generally
     have that much extra time. it could be months between chapters, or
     hours.
Notes
     I will try and update this as often as possible, but typing my stuff
     up is the bane of my existence. i also have too many ideas, and
     trying to juggle them all isn't easy... sorry if i sound like i'm
     handing out excuses.. but i'm trying!! please be patient with me on
     this..
***** Mugging *****
The ornate giant keys knocked against my leg as I walked down the street, away
from Destiny High. Cheesy name for a school, I know, but it was still a good
place. My latest project testified to the fact.
My tech teacher had obviously taken to me, because I know for a fact that he
would never let another student near the metalworking equipment for a personal
project, ever.
“Thanks, Prof. I owe you one.” I looked down at the two keys – each 3 feet in
length, they were fashioned after old skeleton keys. I had held onto their
designs for ages, only deciding I had the skills to attempt making them now.
And after a week of late nights of staying after school in the shops , I was
finally finished.
At one of my friends’ insistence I had named them – Oathkeeper, the white
Keyblade, as I called them, had a delicate-looking design, but was surprisingly
sturdy. To be honest, it looked more decorative than anything, but the edges of
the key were sharpened to a point, distinguishing it as a weapon. Oblivion, the
other Keyblade, was designed to look a little more menacing, while still
possessing an ethereal beauty. It was a deep black, seeming to suck all the
light into it. There was a decorative silver chain welded down the shaft of the
Keyblade for decoration.
‘I want to see them as soon as they’re done. Care to stop by with them?’
I recalled Zexion’s words, spoken earlier that day, when I had mentioned how
close to finishing the Keyblades I was. Smiling, I took a turn at the next
street, heading to Zexion’s apartment. The 19 year-old lived in an apartment on
his own, ever since his parents had abandoned him back in 9th grade. Forced to
fend for himself, with no income, Zexion had dropped out of school for a full-
time job for two years. He started attending school back in my grade 9 year,
and had helped me with a major science project, sparking our friendship.
Really, we were all the other had – no one wanted to be friends with the smart
emo kid who had missed three years of schooling, and I was a shy boy who wasn’t
fond of crowds of any sort.
“Roxas! How are you?” Miss Greenwin’s sweet voice carried over from across the
street, where she was standing in front of her flower shop, watering her goods.
“Good, Miss Greenwin. What about you? Busy day?” I looked down the street
before crossing, then went up to the young woman.
The woman chuckled as she pulled me into a hug. “How many times must I tell you
to call me Mary? And I’ve been quite good – a slow day, no stress. Anyway, I
see you’ve stayed late again. Have you finished this project of yours?”
I backed up from the hug, then unhooked the Keyblades from my belt, holding
them out. “All finished, Miss.”
I smiled at the look of awe on her face. “Roxas, the craftsmanship... it’s
amazing! The details are beautiful. You really poured your heart and soul into
these, didn’t you?
I ducked my head, cheeks heating up. I had never taken compliments well, and
apparently, I wasn’t about to change now.
“Aw, you’re such a sweetie, all embarrassed... Anyways, you should get going
before it gets too dark. You’ve still got a ways to go.”
I shook my head, hooking the keys onto my belt again. “Actually, I’m headed
over to Zexion’s.”
Mary smiled. “Well, all the more reason to get going. Don't want to make him
wait any longer to see those keys of yours.”
Smiling, I turned to leave, waving. “Thanks. Goodbye, Miss Mary. It was nice
seeing you.”
“Anytime, Roxas. You’ll always be welcome at my shop. And say hi to your
brother for me when you see him next!”
I nodded at her, smiling, then made my way down the street.
I was only a few blocks from Zexion’s when I was grabbed. The man – much taller
than me, and quite strong – grabbed me by my hair and threw me into the
alleyway he had been hiding in. I cried out as I hit the ground, landing on top
of the Keyblades. Why did I have to make them so spiky?
Before I could fully comprehend what was going on, the man was kicking me
incessantly in the side. I curled up into a fetal position, but that failed to
help, so I decided I had to fight back. I mean, I knew I was smaller than
average, but I could still pack a punch.
Just as the man’s foot connected with my stomach, I curled around the limb,
holding tight. Then, rolling away, I pulled him off balance. In the meantime, I
unhooked the Keyblades and tossed them a few feet away, so I wasn’t lying on
them anymore.
Of course, my quick thinking wasn’t as smart as I originally thought, as I
found out when the man landed on top of me. However, luck was on my side, and I
was able to reach his groin and give it a good squeeze, causing the guy to cry
out in pain. I pushed him off me and scrambled to my feet, grabbing Oblivion.
By the time I was on my feet, blade in hand, the man was also up, and diving
for me with a knife. Letting instincts take over, I leapt to the side and
brought the back of Oblivion down across his neck, knocking him to the ground.
As I backed away, he managed to get back to his feet, spitting a glob of blood
onto the pavement. “You little brat!” He exclaimed, and ran at me again,
slashing with his knife. I managed to jump out of the way, but he kept coming,
fury dancing in his eyes. I barely managed to stay ahead of the blade, until my
back slammed into the wall, and the man scored a deep hit, right into my
shoulder. I cried out from the pain, dropping Oblivion and clutching my injured
shoulder. Looking up, I barely had the chance to register the man’s wicked grin
before the blade slammed into me again, this time slicing across my chest,
causing my eyes to momentarily black out from the pain, as I slid down the wall
to collapse to my knees. I cried out again as the man’s knife came for me
again, but the blow never came. I opened my eyes to see the man being thrown
against the opposite wall of the alley by another person, this guy in a long
leather coat with the hood up. The newcomer, while holding the mugger against
the wall, brought his fist back and punched the man with enough force to knock
him unconscious.
As the mugger slumped to the ground, the man in the coat turned to me, and
kneeled in from of me, putting his hand to my wounded shoulder. I whimpered
from the contact, but I had lost too much blood to be embarrassed, and I could
feel myself passing out.
“Who are you?” My voice was low, almost a whisper, but the man heard me. He
pulled his hood off to reveal a spiky mess of red hair, and a pair of emerald
eyes, a small upside-down tear tattoo under each.
The last thing I remember before passing out were his words.
“The name’s Axel, kid. Got it memorized?”
***** Kidnapped? *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas wakes up in an unknown room - what will he do?
Chapter Notes
     So sorry about not updating saturday - i meant to, but i was on a
     Fullmetal Alchemist binge, trying to finish it. i honestly didnt
     think about updating til I was on my way home... where there is no
     internet... good news is, i was able to type it up, so i'm not too
     late!
I opened my eyes to a very simplistic-looking room. A bed, chair, and dresser
were the only furniture, and a single window decorated the wall to the right of
the bed, its curtains drawn closed. I started to get up, to check where exactly
I was, but the moment I got into a sitting position, I started feeling dizzy.
Bracing myself against the wall, I noticed I was missing my shirt. Shaking my
head, I slowly made my way to the door, but it was locked from the outside. I
tried the window next, but it was locked too. And the only view I had was a
dark alley like the one I had been attacked in. I could see the sky was dark,
so I knew it was night-time, and judging by the moon’s position, it was around
midnight. But other than that, I had no clue where I was. I placed my palm
against the cool glass, wondering if anyone had noticed me gone. Zexion
probably thought I had messed up and had a setback on the Keyblades, while Sora
would assume I had decided to spend the night at Zexion’s without telling him
again.
Crap. And no one else would even notice my absence until Monday morning at
school. I bowed my head at my own stupidity. Why didn’t I have a huge circle of
friends that kept tabs on me constantly, like other teens my age? Dammit.
“Hey, kid, what’re you doing out of bed? You should be resting!”
I turned to see the redhead that had saved me in the alley. “Where am I?”
The man – Axel, I remember him introducing himself as – tsked. “I’m not gonna
repeat myself: Get back in bed before you pass out again – you lost too much
blood earlier.”
Grudgingly, I obeyed, but only because I could recognise the truth in his
words. I did feel a bit light-headed, and my shoulder and chest were throbbing
like mad where the man had cut me.
As I sat down on the edge of the bed, I opened my mouth to speak again, only to
be interrupted by a strong hand pushing me down onto my back. “I might have
sealed your wounds, but that doesn’t mean they won’t still hurt – and don’t
tell me you don’t feel it, I can see it in your face. So shut up and take the
painkillers, alright?” He handed me a couple of pills, along with a cup of
water.
“So, you save me from being murdered in an alley, and you think that gives you
the right to boss me around?” But I downed the pills gratefully, regardless.
Anything to dull the pain.
“I think it gives me enough right,” Axel said with a mocking grin. He pulled
the chair up to the side of the bed and straddled it, arms resting on the back.
“So, any questions?”
I glared at him. “Yeah. Where am I, and who are you?”
The man ran his fingers through his gravity-defying hair, the front slicked
back to join with the array of spikes at the back. “Oh. I guess you already
passed out when I told you. My name’s –”
“– Axel, I know. I didn’t ask for your name, I asked you who you were. And why
did I wake up without a shirt, locked in some room? Where am i?”
Axel held his hands up, as if to surrender to my barrage of questions. “Okay,
okay! I get it! I’ll try to answer what I can, but some of those answers are
gonna get mighty complicated, and I don’t want you all worked up when you’re
still recovering.” He sighed. “Okay, starting with the most simple, you don’t
have a shirt at the moment because it’s in the wash, and plus, I had to remove
it so I could tend to your wounds.”
“Wait a second, why not just take me to the hospital like any normal person
would do?” My words were accusing, and rightfully so. If he wasn’t a certified
doctor, I didn’t want him doing the stitches I know the wound had needed.
He shook his head. “You were bleeding too much to wait. I had to sear the wound
as soon as you lost consciousness.”
I blinked, his words registering in my mind. “Sear!?” I grabbed at the bandage
on my shoulder and peeked underneath, revealing skin red and puckered from a
burn – however, there was no bleeding in the slightest. I grimaced at the
sight. Putting the bandage back in place, I looked back at Axel. “What’d you
use to sear it closed?” I was curious. From what I could see, he hadn’t used
any conventional means.
Axel was back to ruffling the back of his hair again. “Um... you’re getting to
the complicated part now...”
“How is that complicated?!”
“Trust me.”
Grumbling, I covered my eyes with the back of my hand. “Fine. And since you
still haven’t answered me, after countless times of asking, I take it where I
am is confidential, too?”
“Eh... heheh..”
I groaned. Leave it to me to be saved by a guy with more secrets than a mob
boss... wait. “You’re not in a gang, or anything, are you? Is that why you
won’t tell me anything important? ‘Cuz I’m in your headquarters, or something?”
I saw a flash of something in his eyes – surprise, maybe a bit of fear, but
why? Unless...
I groaned again, this time slamming my head against the pillow for good
measure. “Aw, come on, really? Are you serious?”
Axel looked away, confirming it for me. “What gang?” I knew of a few, and I
wanted to know what I was dealing with.
“It’s not a gang.” Axel didn’t turn his face when he spoke, and I could hear
the hesitation in his voice. I stayed silent. “I’m with the Organization.”
“The Organization?” I hadn’t heard of it. Not really that surprising, since I
only knew of three gangs, tops.
He looked back at me, hesitantly. “Organization XIII. We’re a mafia.”
***** Xemnas *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas meets Xemnas.
Chapter Notes
     ... i'm late... again... i'm seriously sorry - the only time when i
     have computer access is at school, and library, and since easter
     weekend... forgot library's closed, and we had a 4 day weekend from
     school.
     Good news, however - the end is in sight... for me at least. you guys
     still got a looong way to go, but i spent almost the entire weekend
     writing.
     so yeaaah... on to the new chapter!
See the end of the chapter for more notes
I snorted in surprise. “A mafia? Hollow Bastion has a mafia?” I was slightly
dumbstruck. I knew the city had countless gangs, but I never would have guessed
that we had something as serious as a mafia.
Axel just looked at me. “You’re taking this rather well, considering your
situation.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I’m either gonna have to join you or die, right? You
can’t exactly let me go now that I know about you guys; I’ve read enough books
to know that. Relax. The freak-out will come later.”
There was a second of complete silence before Axel burst out laughing, to which
I just looked at him, overwhelmed. Within a minute, he had calmed down, and he
spoke. “Kid, if I hadn’t wanted you to join, you’d already be dead. In an
alley. I wouldn’t have saved your sorry butt in the first place if I hadn’t
noticed your potential.”
I gulped. So I was right. Join or die. Those were my options. “What do you
mean, potential.”
He grinned at me. “I saw your key-things –“
“Keyblades.”
“– Keyblades in action. You have an innate ability, despite getting your butt
kicked earlier. Speaking of which…” He reached down under the bed, and pulled
out my Keyblades. “I grabbed them for you. Figured you’d want them.”
Pushing myself into a sitting position, I grabbed the Keyblades, placing them
on my lap. “Thanks. I worked hard on these, and I’d hate to see them get lost
so soon.”
Axel gawked at me, then at the Keyblades. “Wait, you made those?!” I nodded,
earning an appreciative whistle from the man.
“Cool. The detail’s amazing. How long’d it take you?”
“A little less than a week.”
“I can se why. Wow, you put your soul into these, didn’t you? Never would have
thought they’d be considered weapons, though.” He grinned, and I mirrored the
gesture.
“I designed them to look deceiving. They might not look that strong, but
they’re pretty tough.”
“You know what, kid –”
“Would you stop calling me ‘kid’? It’s starting to get on my nerves.” I
glowered at him. And now that I had my Keyblades back, I felt a little safer,
even though I probably wouldn’t stand a minute against Axel in a fight, if he
was in a mafia.
The man grinned. “I would, if you’d just tell me your name.” Oops. Going back
on our conversation, I realized I hadn’t actually introduced myself yet. “Um…
sorry. I’m Roxas.”
Axel’s grin didn’t waver in the slightest. “So, as I was saying, you know what,
kid –” I glared, but he merely laughed and continued on, undeterred. “You might
actually fit in here.”
I was taken aback. Me? A scholarship student, with only his brother and one
friend, in a mafia? And fitting in, too?
I blinked as Axel tossed something fabric at me, covering my face, and I pulled
it off, to notice it was my shirt.
“Come on. I want you to meet someone.” Axel stood up and walked towards the
door with no signs of waiting for me, so I hopped of the bed and followed him
down the hall, pulling my shirt on as I did so.
-oOo- 
“You told him about us without clearing it with me first? And you took him in?
You’re lucky you’re still useful to me, VIII or I’d have blown your head off by
now, and given the boy to IV.” Axel flinched before the man speaking, giving me
the impression that the threat was not an idle one.
The man, Xemnas, as Axel had told him, was tall and powerfully built, with
browned skinn and white-blonde hair. In addition to his intimidating presence,
he simply oozed power, causing chills to ripple down my spine.
Turning to me, Xemnas spoke again, his deep voice making me tremble slightly.
“What do you know, boy?”
I gulped before speaking. “That you’re called Organization XIII, and…” I
glanced at Axel, who was looking at me fearfully. I wasn’t sure how much I was
allowed to know, and I hoped that hiding the fact that I knew their leader’s
name would help me some. “And his name. Axel,” I said, nodding towards the
redhead. “I don’t even know where I am, except for the fact that it’s your
headquarters.”
Xemnas turned back to Axel, and I found I could breathe easy now that the man’s
attention was no longer on me. Why Axel had wanted me to see Xemnas, I had no
idea, unless he wanted to scare me into joining – if the “Superior”, as they
called him, let me live, that is.
“It seems as if you're not completely stupid. However, he won’t be allowed to
leave. He already knows too much.”
Axel nodded. “Uh… Superior, if I may make a suggestion?”
Xemnas only grunted in response, heading over to the mahogany desk situated in
the center of the cavernous room.
“Um... What if… what if the boy was to join? He has the potential, I saw him
fight.”
This caught Xemnas’ attention, attention which swiftly switched to me. “Let me
be the judge of that, Number VIII.” Without moving his golden eyes from mine,
he reached down to press the button on a comm. “Number XII, get to the training
room. Now. You have an opponent.”
Axel’s eyes went wide, and he stepped forward. “Sir! Roxas – he’s still
injured, he can’t fight right now!”
“You’ll do your best to lower your voice when speaking to me, VIII.” The
coldness in his tone gave me chills, and I was glad it wasn’t me he was pissed
at. He pressed the comm again, this time on a different line. “IV, I need a
painkiller. We’ve got a new body, and he needs testing, but he’s injured.”
“Sir. What are his injuries?”
Xemnas looked at me, but Axel answered before I could get my mouth open. “Deep
stab wound to the left shoulder, and a gash across his chest.” I glared at him,
trying to silently tell him I could speak for myself, but he ignored me.
Xemnas relayed the information into the comm, and within five minutes, a thin
man with ashy-blonde long hair and muted green eyes walked in, carrying two
small blue pills and a bottle of water.
The man stopped when he saw me standing next to Axel, his lip curling in
disgust. “Superior, this is the new body? He’s dead weight, puny! How can he
even be worth the consideration?”
“Silence.” Xemnas didn’t even look up from the papers on his desk. “Just give
him the medication, then escort him and Number VIII to the training room.”
The newcomer blanched, his face turning a pasty white colour that looked
horrible next to his white lab coat. He then stepped towards me. “Hand out,
brat.” I glared at the name, but obeyed nonetheless and he dropped the pills
into my hand, and gave me the bottle of water, of which I unscrewed the cap and
used to down the pills. Within seconds, the pain began to subside, amazing me.
What were those pills? I would have to find out – I’d never heard of such a
fast-acting medication.
But that would have to wait. Without a word, the man in the lab coat, Number
IV, turned and began walking down the hall, and Axel and I had to jog to catch
up.
We walked for a minute before Axel grabbed my arm, slowing me slightly, before
bending over to speak in my ear. “Roxas, there’s something else you should know
about us.”
I looked at him inquisitively, and he continued. “You wanted to know how I
seared your wounds closed? I used magic.” Before I could pull away or laugh, he
held up his free hand and snapped his fingers, and I noticed a spark, then a
small flame slowly creeping across his fingers.
He looked me in the eye. “My magic is fire. And Larxene? The one you’ll be
fighting? Hers is lightning.”
The colour drained out of my face. Oh God, what had I gotten myself into?
Chapter End Notes
     Yay magic! i honestly couldnt keep it out of the story. i really
     tried, i did, but its just so much BETTER with magic - and it allows
     for a fun plot line... mwahaha...
***** Lightning *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas has to fight Larxene toprove himself worthy of the
     Organization. Will he make it out alive?
“Here we are, brat. Do your best to get killed, okay?” The older man sneered at
me, the turned and left.
I looked at Axel. “Any tips?” He shook his head. “Just watch out for her
daggers. They’re her conductors.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “I’ll be
up in the viewing platform, okay? Superior’s sure to make everyone watch from
up there, so don’t mess up, and don’t get killed. Trust your instincts.”
With those words, along with a reassuring squeeze on my shoulder – the
uninjured one – he turned and followed after Number IV.
I turned to face the large double doors. What would be inside? I didn’t even
know how big the room would be – while the room I had woken up in was above
ground, everything else was in an underground compound, as I found out when
Axel opened a trap door in the basement floor and jumped down. And going by the
side of the superior’s room… this “training room” of theirs could very well be
the size of a gym.
Hands shaking from nerves, I reached out, pushing the doors open and revealing
a room that made my jaw drop. ‘This shouldn’t be possible… How can a room this
big be a secret, even hidden underground?
The room was enormous, about the size of a football field, the floor and walls
made out of stone. Off to the right and what seemed to be 3 stories higher than
the ground was a mezzanine, enclosed by thick layer of glass. I could see the
Superior in there, watching me, and Axel standing next to him, hand on the
glass. There were more people standing around in there too, though not all of
them seemed to be watching.
“This is the brat you want me to fight?! He’s so… He’s a freaking kid! He won’t
even last a second! C’mon, Superior, give me someone actually worth fighting!”
The woman’s voice brought my attention away from the mezzanine, down to the
center of the room, where she stood.
Tall, thin, and blonde, she had short hair that was slicked back, save two thin
tendrils that stood up slightly, looking for all the world like antennae. I
might have actually called her beautiful, if it weren’t for the bloodthirsty
smirk on her face and the crazed look in her eyes, sending a chill down my
spine. This woman… she wasn’t sane now, if she ever was.
“Well, brat? Are you gonna stand there, or are you actually going to put up a
fight when I rip you to shreds” The woman, Larxene, wasn’t kidding when she
said “Rip to shreds,” I could hear it in her voice, and the thought almost made
me freeze. But I heeded her words and unhooked Oathkeeper and Oblivion from my
belt, holding them at the ready.
I was planning on waiting for her to make the first move, but a thought
occurred to me. She probably expected me to wait, if she thought I could fight
even a little bit. So I might be able to catch her off guard if…
I suddenly crouched low and ran at her, my Keyblades dragging across the stone
floor. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw sparks flying from the friction, and
I smirked. I could use that.
I dragged Oathkeeper harder against the stone, sending more sparks into the
air, before I flicked it up into Larxene’s face, sparks still coming off of the
blade. Her eyes went wide and she raised her hands as she leapt back. I could
see six throwing daggers between her fingers, and I noticed small blue sparks
flying between them.
Crap. Axel hadn’t been kidding. Kinda wished he had been, though. Would have
been a much easier fight.
Acting like I hadn’t noticed the sparks, I kept going at her, making sure to
stay on the offensive.
But she was just playing with me, waiting til I tired out. I formed a plan.
Probably was no good, but it was worth a shot, seeing as I’d most likely get
killed anyway. I started making my blows sloppy, acting like I was wearing out,
but she didn’t go for it, and I jumped back, out of arms’ reach. This time, she
took the bait and attacked.
I dove to the side, rolling to avoid the three daggers that had landed in a
triangle surrounding the area I where had been standing. The moment the last
dagger pierced the floor, large arcs of blue electricity crackled between the
three weapons, and I looked over at Larxene. “Interesting weapon you got there?
How’d you manage the lightning?” She glared at my teasing tone and threw
another dagger at me, the air around her beginning to crackle with pent-up
electricity. I dodged, but almost into the path of another dagger I hadn’t
noticed she’d thrown. The first dagger landed beside me, and immediately,
lightning crackled between it and the second dagger, catching me in between. I
cried out in pain from the shock and rolled away, skin tingling. I scrambled to
my feet, only to be hit with more of the blue sparks, this time between the
first set of daggers thrown and the second.
“Hmm. You stand up to the shock well. But how long can you last before I fry
you, pipsqueak?” She curled her lip as she walked towards me. I leaped away
again, this time careful of where I landed, as she threw another two daggers at
me, then another.
After the third set, I froze, realizing something. She had only started with
six daggers. She had also already passed the 10 mark in number of daggers she
had thrown. Looking around, I saw that they were all still there, each with
their tip still buried in the ground. So how had she…?
Magic. It was the only explanation.
Larxene grinned at me evilly, as if sensing my confusion, and threw another
barrage of daggers. Crap. If I kept leaping around, I was bound to get caught
sooner or later –
Suddenly, the portion of the room we were in lit up with a blue light, and I
screamed as multiple arcs of electricity hit me. Dammit, she had been throwing
all those daggers, and I had become so preoccupied with avoiding the ones in
the air that I had forgotten she used the ones on the ground as well.
The flow of electricity began to ebb, and I collapsed, my body still sparking
as Oathkeeper and Oblivion fell from my hands. Larxene walked up to me slowly,
languidly, and clearly gloating, then kicked my Keyblades away from me, out of
reach. She then grabbed one of her daggers, stuck in the ground beside my head,
and stood over me. I tried to move, to get away, but my brain was still
partially fried, and my body would not obey. So I had no choice but to lie
there, hands out to my sides, palms up, as she contemplated how to kill me. She
looked upwards, presumably at the mezzanine, and she must have liked what she
saw, for she grinned, a manic look in her eye as she held up the dagger,
fingering the edge and causing a form of blood to form on her fingertip. Damn,
they were sharp.
She stood over me, poised to sink the dagger in my throat, when the thought
went through my head.
I don’t want to die. Not here. Not now. Not without saying goodbye. And
definitely not at the hands of this psycho bitch.
Before I realized what I was doing, I had lifted my hand, palm out, and a white
light exploded, Oathkeeper materializing in it. I pushed myself up with one
arm, and slashed out with Oathkeeper, catching Larxene just as she was about to
deal the death-blow, the Keyblade cutting across her stomach. She stumbled
back, blood pouring from the wound, as I stood, suddenly full of energy.
I glared at her as she dropped to her knees, but didn’t attack. I wasn’t about
to kill her. As much as she deserved it.
Glancing up at the mezzanine, I noticed Xemnas was now missing, along with
Axel. Had they grown tired of the fight? A weight settled in my stomach.
Bringing my gaze back down to Larxene, I saw Xemnas standing over her, and
blinked. How…? Again, I figured it must be magic. There was no other way he
could have gotten down here so quickly.
“XII,” Xemnas said, his voice booming in the cavernous room. “Looks like he put
up a good fight after all.” He scowled at her injuries. “Now go see IV and get
fixed up.” Xemnas turned to me then, expression now blank. But before he could
say anything, the doors to the room slammed open and Axel ran through, bumping
into Larxene as he made his way to me. “Roxas! You beat Larxene! And you used
Magic…” He pulled me into a hug, which I promptly fought off.
Axel turned to Xemnas. “You better let him join. He beat Larxene and he can use
magic? You’d have to be stupid not to let him join!” Xemnas raised an eyebrow,
but I could tell he was too intrigued by my show of promise to be too put off
by Axel’s words. His attention went back to me, and his golden eyes drilled
into me for a minute before he spoke.
“You start in the morning. Axel will show you the ropes.” With that, he walked
away. The redhead beside me whooped. “Yes! I told you you’d get in!”
***** Scars *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas has to stay in Axel's room. Bad summary, i know, but it's more
     of a filler - not much really happens.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
“Why do I have to share a room with you?” I was sitting on Axel’s bed, beside
his discarded coat, while the man dug in his closet for something I could wear
to bed that would actually fit me.
“Because I’m the one who brought you in, and your room won’t be ready for a
while. Relax, it’s not like I'm gonna do anything to you.” He turned to me,
smirking. “Unless you want me to do something…”
My cheeks burned. “Just get me something to wear already,” I said, looking over
at the clock on Axel’s bedside table. 02:06. I was completely wiped out and the
fight with Larxene had not helped, because now, in addition to feeling tired, I
was also sore all over. Plus I kept shocking everything I touched. It was a
major pain in the arse, but at least I was alive.
Axel caught me off guard by tossing a pair of pajama pants and tshirt at me,
both black. “Here. These are the smallest I’ve got.”
I stood up, looking around the room. “Is there a bathroom I could change in or
something?”
The redhead laughed. “Bathroom? Yeah, down the hall. If you don’t mind changing
with other guys in the same room, having a soak in the bath.” I chocked on air.
What? Was there no such thing as privacy here, or something?
“Relax, kid. You can change here. I won’t look.” Axel turned away, and as if
setting an example, took his own shirt off and tossed it to the floor of his
closet. My eyes rounded at the well-toned back displayed – and the multitude of
scars criss-crossing the skin, accompanying a large burn covering his entire
left shoulder and a large portion of his back. I sucked in air through my
teeth. “How’d it happen?”
Axel didn’t turn to face me. “multiple different missions. Job hazard. You can
expect some of your own, in time.”
I shook my head. “Not those. The burn.” Axel stiffened, so I figured it was a
tough topic. “Never mind. Forget I asked.”
We were both silent for a minute, me standing by the bed, him in front of his
closet, back to me. Then he spoke.
“It was a fight. With a friend – ex-friend – of mine. He turned my magic
against me, and I got burned. I still don’t know how he did it, ‘cause my skins
impervious to fire, but he did.” Axel turned, and I could see a flash of pain
in his acid-green eyes. I wondered just how close him and this ‘friend’ of his
had been. And how they felt about each other now. But I knew to leave it alone
at that. It obviously hurt for him to think about it, and I didn’t want to open
up old wounds any more than I had already done.
I walked up to him and put my hand on his shoulder, over the mark. “I’m sorry.
I didn’t mean to dredge up bad memories.” Axel smiled at me sadly, and placed
his hand over mine. “It was bound to come up eventually.” He removed my hand.
“You should get changed.”
He walked around me and collapsed onto the bed on his back, one of his legs
hanging over the edge to the floor, his hands folded behind his head. Realizing
he had closed his eyes so not to make me uncomfortable, I started to change.
I unzipped my sweater, pulled it off along with my shirt, quickly folded them,
and put them on the floor beside the closet. Then I started to undo my belt
buckle.
“I don’t know why you’re so embarrassed. You’re not exactly out of shape.” My
face heated up as I spun to see Axel watching me with one eye still closed.
“I thought you weren’t gonna watched!” I quickly picked up the shirt Axel had
given me and pulled it over my head. “And just because I’m in shape doesn’t
mean I like to strut the fact around.”
The redhead nodded, closing his eyes. “True enough.” With that, he turned over
onto his side, facing the wall. Taking advantage of him being faced away, I
finished changing, dropping the rest of my clothes in a pile on top of my shirt
and sweater, and pulling on the pajama pants. They were still too long, and I
had to roll up the legs so I could avoid stepping on the hem, but they
otherwise fit well.
I walked over to the bed. “So, am I sleeping on the floor?”
Axel rolled over. “Nope. Guest gets the bed. I’ll take the floor.” He got up
and moved to the wall beside the door. “Get some sleep. It’ll be an early
morning tomorrow, and you’ll be meeting the rest of the Organization.” Sitting
with his back against the wall, he propped his arms over his knees, bowing his
head between them and closing his eyes.
I watched him for a moment before I got in the bed. I could tell he was still
upset about his friend, and I definitely hadn’t helped by bringing it up. Lying
on my back, I gave Axel one last look before closing my eyes, allowing myself
to drift slowly into a dreamless sleep.
Chapter End Notes
     So yeaaahh... filler. i really don't know why i even have this
     chapter, maybe so i could put in a little piece about Axel's
     mysterious past. i might expand on it, might not.. i don't really
     understand the whole thing, myself, so...
     yeah.
     anyways, thank you for reading, and i hope you stick around fr the
     rest of the story, which, i warn you, is going to be a lot longer
     than the rest of my fanfics - over 15 chapters... so far. i'm aiming
     for 20+, but i'll do with what i've got so far.
     Peace!
***** Introductions *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas meets the Organization.
Chapter Notes
     I am soo sorry, i thought i updated here, but apparently i missed
     wattpad as well... so you get two chapters today, as an appology. (I
     also hate being behind schedule)
See the end of the chapter for more notes
I tried in vain to get my hair to lie flat the next morning. Although I had
barely gotten any sleep in, I still managed to look like I had been sleeping
for days, with my massive case of bed-head. Of course, my eyes were still
drooping majorly so it was quite obvious I didn’t sleep much.
Too much stuff for me to mull over. Still too much stuff, I thought as I
followed Axel down the winding hallways, yawning. He said I was going to meet
the rest of the Organization today, but honestly, I just wanted to go back to
bed. Axel had to threaten setting my hair on fire to get me out from under the
covers.
But a part of me was only using the tiredness as an excuse. After meeting
Xemnas and Larxene, along with the other man they called IV, I had a bad
feeling about everyone else, like I would have to work extra hard to be
accepted.
“Here we are! The common room.” Axel stopped at a set of double doors, these
ones smaller and far more plain than the ones to the training room. “You
ready?” He was smiling, grinning almost. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he
was giddy.
“As I’ll ever be. Let’s get this over with.” Axel pushed open one of the doors
and stepped through, me following.
The room was large, but not outright huge. There was a sitting area, or lounge
of sorts, am array of couches to one side of the room and a small kitchen on
the other. A large flatscreen TV also sat on the wall by the couches. There was
also a medium-sized round table between the two sections of the room.
And then there were the people. I recognized Larxene immediately, sitting at
the table with a close shaven blonde man with a trimmed goatee, and another man
with – strangely – pink hair. I couldn’t see number IV, the man in the labcoat,
and I relaxed slightly.
The next thing I knew, Axel was dragging me towards the lounge area. “Hey,
Slacker!” At his words, a young man around 18 or 19 turned, and I noticed his
odd hairstyle. It seemed to be some sort of Mohawk/mullet hybrid, or something
along those lines. The man turned, and a look of absolute glee erupted across
his boyish face. “Hey, it’s the new kid!” He leaped over the back of the couch,
a large blue guitar-like instrument in hand. He set the instrument down and ran
forward to pull me into a bear hug, which I promptly fought off.
Axel laughed. “In case you didn’t notice, Dem, the kid isn’t exactly fond of
hugs.” He turned his green eyes to me. “Roxas, this is the Organization’s
designated slacker and musician, Number IX, Demyx.”
I smiled hesitantly at the energetic young man. “Uh… hey.”
Demyx beamed. “Axel, he’s so adorable! Can I keep him?” I was slightly taken
aback, but the redhead just laughed. “Nice try, Dem. But no.” He leaned towards
me to whisper something in my ear. “Although he’s technically not the youngest,
he still acts like a child.” Raising his voice, he continued. “Which means he
can be a pain in the butt during missions.”
“Ain’t that the truth. Almost got me shot on our last round.” I turned to the
newcomer in the conversation. He looked to be one of the older members, with
multiple silver-white streaks running through his black hair, drawn back into a
low ponytail. The man also had an eye patch over his right eye, and a large
scar stretching up over the side of his jaw on the left side, ending above his
cheekbones and below his golden eye. He grinned mischievously as he talked, and
although his words were accusing, he was still very relaxed. If you counted
fighting off laughter as relaxed.
He stood up from the couch he was sitting on and moved over to us. “The name’s
Xigbar, kid. Also known as Number II.” He held out his hand, and I took it,
introducing myself. “I’m Roxas.”
Xigbar nodded. “Roxas. Lucky number XIII. Congrats, newbie.”
I looked over at Axel. “Lucky number 13?”
“You’re our 13th number. And since our name is Organization XIII…” I nodded at
the explanation. Made sense.
“Come on. Let’s get you meeting the rest.” Xigbar looked over the rest of the
room, hollering “Oi! Newbie’s here! Come on and introduce yourselves.” At the
words, every eye in the room focused on me. Larxene’s were glaring with hatred,
and the pink-haired man looked almost disdainful at my presence. But everyone
else just seemed mildly curious.
The blonde from the table stood up first, placing a hand of playing cards on
the table. “Luxord. You?” He said when he got to me, shaking my hand. His voice
had a hint of a British accent.
“Roxas.” The man was brief, to the point when he spoke, his words clipped. “You
met Larxene, and you have probably figured out that she hates you. And the man
with pink hair is Marluxia. He’s… with larxene, so don’t take his dislike
personally. You did beat up his girl, after all.” With that, he walked back to
the table, sliding into his chair and picking up his cards, nodding at the
other two players to continue.
I purposely ignored the mental daggers Larxene was thowing at me via her eyes,
and noticed a few others coming over to Axel and I.
The tall, burly man with brown hair, who was in the kitchen at the time of my
arrival to the room, introduced himself as Lexaeus. I got the impression from
him that he was a man of very few words. Another man, Xaldin, as he introduced
himself as, had a mass of long dreadlocks pulled back into a ponytail. He
seemed nice enough, although he was a little quiet as well.
Finally, only one person in the room had yet to introduce themselves – a man
looking to be the same age as Axel, if not a little older, with long blue hair.
He was standing off to the side, leaning against the far wall of the room. I
walked over to him and put out my hand. “Roxas.”
His yellow-orange eyes blinked, and he shook my hand once, his grip firm. I
could feel the raw, animalistic power radiating from him, and my instincts told
me to stay as far away from this quiet man as possible.
“Saix.” The voice had come from behind me, so I turned around to see Axel
standing right behind me, his green eyes trained on Saix’s golden orange ones.
I saw something pass between them, but the feelings I was picking up on were so
mixed, I gave up trying to figure out whether they liked each other and were
just having a fight, or if they just merely tolerated each other.
Then Saix spoke, his words directed at me, although he was still looking at
Axel. “Numbers IV and VI have arrived. Why don’t you go introduce yourself.”
Spoken with the wording of a suggestion, his tone betrayed the fact that it
was, in fact, an order. Looking back at Axel, I started to walk away from the
two of them. As soon as I was out of earshot, I saw them begin to talk. Saix
kept his cool, but Axel was clearly bristling at the blue-haired man’s words.
I walked over to the door, not really paying attention. So when the door opened
to reveal the man in the lab coat, I jumped, making him sneer.
“Oh, it’s the newbie. Fine, my name is Vexen, but you will call me Number IV,
as I am your superior.” I looked at him, and decided that the dislike was
mutual. “Roxas,” I stated shortly, turning my attention to the other new
arrival behind the man.
I froze. The person was slightly taller than me, with slate-coloured hair
falling in a sheet over one eye. The other eye was trained on the floor, lashes
covering the iris that I knew was a beautiful shade of grayish indigo.
“Z-Zexion?!”
Chapter End Notes
     Short chapter. i know. i need to start making them more lengthy.
***** Magic *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas finds his magic!!
Chapter Notes
     Ya, again, sorry about missing the chapter. i honestly feel horrible.
     and thats not just cuz im sick. i feel like i've let all you (those
     of you that have been awsome enough to follow my story) down.
“I – I’m sorry I didn’t tell you – it wasn't that I didn’t want to, but rather
I would get in a lot of trouble if I did.”
Zexion’s words fell on deaf ears. I was too busy going through all our time
together, searching for when the betrayal had first begun.
My chest tightened. Betrayal. It seemed like a strong word, and I would
probably regret thinking it later, but at the moment, it felt like an apt
description. We had promised each other at the beginning to never keep anything
from one another. No matter how big, no matter how small. We were brothers –
no, we were closer than brothers. I was closer to Zexion than I had ever been
to Sora.
Or so I had thought.
I stormed out into the hallway, grabbing the collar of Zexion’s lab coat on the
way, pulling him with me. I shut the door behind us – I might not be happy with
him, but I didn’t want to embarrass either of us by yelling at him with an
audience.
“What happened to telling each other everything?” I was pissed, and now that we
were away from everyone else, I let my voice rise.
“I already told you, I would have been in a lot of trouble – and pain – if I
had even done so much as hinted at anything.”
I glared at him. “How long? How long have you been lying to me?”
Zexion still hadn't met my eyes this whole time, continuing to stare at the
floor as if it offered an escape from my anger. “Almost a year now. I had to
give my word that I wouldn't tell anyone, so I could continue to live outside
of the compound.”
A feeling of confusion welled up in me. “Why not just disappear? Why hang on to
your life before the organization?” My tone was still accusing, but I couldn't
help it – I was still mad, and I hadn't finished venting.
“I wanted to actually finish my schooling this time around. And I didn’t want
to abandon our friendship.” Zexion finally looked at me. “Look, I know you’re
not happy with me, but I chose what I thought was best at the time. What I
still think was best.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the door to the common room opened a crack,
and Axel poked his head out. “Roxas? Where’d you – oh!” He came out into the
hall. “There you are. You disappeared on me.”
Turning away from Zexion, I walked down the hallway Axel had led me down to get
to the common room. The redhead looked at Zexion inquisitively, then jogged
after me, catching up quickly with his long legs. “What was that all about?” He
asked, his voice a mixture of curious and concerned.
I shook my head. “I’ll tell you later. Right now I just need to vent off some
anger.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Axel grin. “Well, I did want to see what
other tricks you've got up your sleeves… c’mon, let’s go to the training room.”
With that, he walked ahead of me, his long legs forcing me to jog just to keep
up.
When we reached the large double doors, he pushed them open, striding into the
large room. After he got a fair ways towards the center, he turned to face me.
I was a few feet away from him when he held up his hand, motioning for me to
stop, and I did so.
“Do you remember how you beat Larxene?”
I nodded, remembering how I had been on the ground, about to get a dagger in my
throat, when Oathkeeper had appeared in my hand.
“That was magic.” Axel’s eyes were trained on me, watching my reaction.
“I can do magic?” I was surprised, although in the back of my mind, I felt like
I had already known this. “So you’re saying I summoned Oathkeeper, or
something?”
Axel nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. How about you try it again?”
I stared at him. “I don’t even know how I did it the first time! And even if I
did, it was a few feet away, not in a completely different room!”
Axel chuckled. “Relax. Distance doesn't matter. Think of it this way: instead
of calling the weapon to you, imagine you’re reaching through a… rip in the
dimension and simply grabbing it from its current location.” To demonstrate, he
held his own hand out to his side, and I noticed the air around it begin to
shimmer. “Focus. Clear your mind, the picture where the weapon is, grab it,
and…” There was a sudden burst of flame, and a large red and white metal wheel
lined with spikes materialized in his hand.
“See? Not that hard.” He paused, seeing me eyeing his weapon cautiously. “It’s
a chakram. I've got two of them, but I only needed one to show you.” He lowered
the chakram, and I brought my hand up in front of me, copying what he had said.
I pictured Oathkeeper lying on the floor of Axel’s room, at the foot of the bed
where I had left it this morning. In my mind’s eye, I grabbed it, pulling it
from there to here, and the next thing I knew, there was a flash of pure white
light and Oathkeeper was settled in my outstretched hand. My eyes widened.
Magic…
Without moving my other hand, I pictured oblivion, and even faster than
Oathkeeper had done, it was in my other hand, this time darkness swirling
around it, dripping off the blade in streams of blackness.
Even Axel looked impressed. “I think I might have figured out what your magic
is,” he started, but I cut him off before I could finish.
“You mean that wasn't it?”
Axel shook his head. “No, everyone who as any amount of magic can summon a
weapon. Or anything else, really. I've seen Zexion and Vexen summon books from
the library when they were in their labs. The public library. No, I have a
feeling your magic might be associated with the light and dark forces. You
noticed the darkness dripping off the second Keyblade when you summoned it?”
I looked down at Oblivion, seeing the last tendrils of black vaporizing as they
fell away, and nodded. I made sense. Axel’s magic was fire, and his chakram had
materialized in a ball of fire. When I summoned Oathkeeper, it had appeared in
a burst of pure white light, as opposed to Oblivion’s darkness.
“How do I know for sure?” I was intrigued. I could do magic. I felt like a
little child all over again as a giddy feeling went through me.
Axel shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s different for everyone. I found mine while I
was playing with an old lighter of mine, and I realized I could make the flames
dance along my fingers without burning myself.” He ruffled his hair, chuckling.
“I actually set my bed on fire once. I was sick, and I sneezed… not fun.” He
paused, regaining his composure. “Demyx found out when he almost drowned,
Larxene got pissed and shocked everyone within a 10 foot radius, putting Demyx
in the medical bay for a week, despite Vexen’s concoctions.”
Axel began chuckling again, and I looked around, looking for something to
attack as practice that wasn't Axel. I saw a wooden dummy, riddled with holes
and slash marks, missing part of its head, among other chunks, that made me
wonder just how old the thing was.
I put Axel, Zexion, and everything else that had happened to me over the last
few days out of my head, and looked deep in my soul, searching for the light
that was connected through Oathkeeper. It didn't take long to find it, and when
I did, I just… channeled it, through the Keyblade. I felt the metal warming up,
vibrating in my grip, as if it was building up it’s power. I held it back until
the pressure in my head and the vibrations of the weapon were almost to strong
to bear, then aimed the blast at the dummy.
Pure white light shot out of the end of the Keyblade and enveloped the wood,
then seemed to almost implode, like a secondary attack in itself. The dummy
still stood when the light dissipated, although it looked a lot more damaged
than before.
I glanced over at Axel, who was watching me, eyebrows raised. “I guess you were
right. Now how much you wanna bet Oblivion’s darkness?”
Axel chuckled. “Go ahead and see if you can destroy the dummy. It’s been with
us since the beginning, and no one’s been able to destroy it completely. Sure,
part of the head is gone, and there are a good number of chunks gone, plus all
the pieces of ash and splinters hanging loose, but the bulk of it? Obviously
still there. Even Xemnas can’t destroy the bugger. The thing’s been through
hell and back alive. Mostly.”
I nodded, turning back to the dummy. I noticed Axel was right. The dummy did
look old, the wood worn not just by attacks, but age as well.
Looking inside myself like I had done with Oathkeeper, I searched for the
darkness. This was harder, and it fought me, but I drew on the emotions of
anger, fear, and betrayal, among others that I had felt over the last few
hours.
All of a sudden, I felt the darkness build up in the Keyblade, and I had to
switch gears, pulling the power back instead of drawing it out. I held it back
for as long as I could, trying, but the pressure was too great, and the power
exploded from the tip.
The tendrils of darkness snaked out, most aiming for the wooden dummy, but a
few separated from the main body and headed towards Axel. He summoned his
second chakram to defend himself against the unexpected attack.
The blast was much more powerful that the white light of Oathkeeper, and it
ravaged the dummy, blowing it to smithereens. Thankfully, Axel only caught a
small fraction of the attack, and was merely knocked off his feet.
I stood there, my eyes wide at the show of power I had just performed. The
dummy was almost gone, only a few pieces bigger than a baseball, and those were
dripping with excess darkness, pooling around the remains. Axel was staggering
to his feet, his chakrams also dripping with darkness. He shook one of them,
and the darkness fell away, turning into wisps of smoke. Then he made his way
towards me, stopping right in front of me.
“That was...” He trailed off, eyes flicking up to check if anyone was watching
from the mezzanine. “Holy. Wow. Uh, you might not want to let too many people
know about the true power of that attack of yours. Xemnas doesn't often
appreciate people being stronger than him, and you could be in some serious
danger if he finds out you could beat the crap out of him.”
I nodded, taking it all in. “Well then. I take it that wasn't exactly normal?”
Axel shook his head vigorously. “Hell no. Definitely not. Most people don’t
reach even near that level of attack until years of practice. Face it, Roxas.
You’re the Organization’s strongest – and most dangerous – member. But you’re
also in the most danger.
***** New Uniform *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas gets his Organization XIII coat. Some awkward stuff happens.
     The usual.
Chapter Notes
     I AM SO UNBELIEVABLY SORRY!!
     I snuck onto my parents computer last night and printed off the next
     few chapters, then I typed them up today during my lunch break at
     work. So there is no italics, and to be honest, it's really annoying
     me, but whatever. Just remember, when you see words typed 'like this'
     it means its supposed to be italicized. Aka, thought/memory/etc.
     But it's here. Which I hope is good enough for you.
     And thanks to MrCupcake for the motivation - really needed that :)
See the end of the chapter for more notes
"Wait, I haven't even finished my first day, and I'm already being sent out on
a mission? I don't even know how to fight properly yet, and I literally just
figured out my magic - I can't even control it yet!"
Axel laughed, and Demyx made his way over to us. "You guys ready for the
mission?"
I shook my head. "Not really. Are you coming too?"
I swear, Demyx practically started bouncing up and down at the question. "Yup!"
I shook my head, slightly overwhelmed by the young man's reaction. "I thought
you were the 'slacker' of the Organization, not the over enthusiastic one."
Axel collapsed onto the couch, chuckling. "He's both. Now come on, let's go get
your coat."
I followed Axel out of the common room where we had migrated to after our
little practice session in the training room.
'Don't tell anyone about that little power display, got that memorized? If
anyone asks, you merely figured out you had power over light and dark.'
I sighed. It was hard, suddenly having that kind of ability, then being told to
hide it. I forced my mind off the subject. "So, where are we going?"
Axel looked over his shoulder at me. "To get your Organization coat. Everyone
has one - It's what we wear on missions."
A memory flashed in my mind of when I had first seen Axel. "Like the one you
wore when you saved me in that alleyway?"
He nodded. "You remember what I was wearing? I didn't realize you were
conscious enough to pick up on something like that." We walked down a few more
hallways, and I had a vague sense of recognition. I stayed silent for a second
before it clicked, at which time, I stopped dead. "Xemnas? We're seeing
Xemnas?"
Axel nodded. "He should have your coat ready by now, so come on, before we hold
everyone up."
I followed silently. I decided I really wasn't fond of the Organization's
leader, but I would have to deal - and just stay out of his way, off his radar.
We arrived at the door to Xemnas' office, and Axel knocked quickly on the wood.
Almost immediately, Xemnas' low voice reverberated through the wood, telling us
to enter the room. Axel opened the door, motioning for me to enter before him.
I did so, albeit reluctantly, keeping my eyes on the floor.
I'll be the first to admit it - I was scared of him.
I felt Axel walk in behind me, tense. Apparently, I wasn't the only one
uncomfortable around Xemnas. "Is his coat ready?" Xemnas didn't say a word at
the question, but merely nodded in the direction of a chair near the door. Axel
walked over to the piece of furniture and grabbed the coat, which had been
hanging over one of the armrests. He then turned and put a hand on my shoulder,
steering me out of the room before he closed the door with something akin to
haste. Not that I needed encouraging to leave. I had had to hold myself from
bolting since I stepped in. I had a feeling my newfound power would still be
considered insignificant beside our leader's.
"Come on - let's go to my room so you can strip down a few layers." I chocked
on air at Axel's words.
"What?!"
Axel looked at me oddly, then the confusion fled his face, understanding taking
hold. And I could have been seeing things, but I swore I saw a light tinge of
pink spread across his cheeks, accentuating his cheek bones for a split second
before he looked away, a laugh bursting out of him. "Not like that! Jeez, I'm
not always the pervert you make me out to be, Roxas."
I raised an eyebrow. "Not always?" Axel looked embarrassed by the slip, but he
covered it well with another one of his typical comments. "Well, I gotta be a
perv some of the time. I am a guy, after all."
"And so am I, but I don't seem to have those moments."
Axel grinned. "Ah, but your mind still went there, didn't it?" I fell silent.
He did have a point.
"Fine. But why do I have to she'd some layers?"
Axel held up my new coat. "These things are infused with magic - they regulate
your temperature. And they're not exactly designed to have more than a thin
layer underneath. It's too bulky, it limits maneuverability." I nodded. Made
enough sense. And it explained what they did in the winter - I had been having
a pretty hard time imagining the members all swaddled up in coats and scarves
while fighting. I laughed at the picture my mind was producing, and Axel looked
at me, bemused by my seemingly random burst of laughter. I shook my head to
dismiss the question I could see him wanting to ask.
We got to his room, and he unlocked it, then walked in, me following. He tossed
the oat on the bed and turned to me. "Okay, the sweater's got to go, at the
very least."
Grumbling at his straightforward approach, I unzipped my hoodie, setting it on
the bed beside the coat, revealing my tight grey v-neck T-shirt underneath. I
felt his eyes on me as I did so, and I looked up to meet Axel's vibrant green
eyes. My face flushed as I realized he had been watching me, and judging by the
light dusting of pink colouring his cheeks, it hadn't exactly been innocently.
He broke eye contact, looking at the floor, and I grabbed my coat and shrugged
it on. I zipped it up, then started fiddling with the chains - there was one
that went across the front, attached to either side of the zipper. I was having
a little bit of trouble getting the one side to clip on, and I was focused on
it, so when Axel grabbed the chain from my hands and connected it effortlessly,
I was more than a bit startled.
I looked up at his face when he didn't remove his hand from the clasp, and his
eyes jerked up to meet mine, emerald gems swimming in an ocean of blue.
"Um… thanks." My voice was quiet, barely above a whisper, and Axel all but
leaped away from me. He went over to his closet and pulled out his own coat,
identical in design to mine, and tugged off his T-shirt. I felt my eyes roam
over his muscles, then land once again on the large burn scar. Then my view was
obstructed when Axel pulled on the coat, turning to leave as he zipped it and
connected the chain.
I followed him quickly, closing the door behind me, staying silent the whole
way above ground.
What had that been? Residual feelings were still swirling around in me, most of
which I had no clue as to what they were. Shaking my head, I sped up so I was
walking beside Axel, taking two steps every one of his to keep up with his long
legs.
We reached the end of the hallway, and Axel opened the trapdoor before
ascending the ladder to the room above. I followed, right behind him, and I
began to feel a bit of apprehension about the mission. What were we going to be
doing? Was I going to joining in, or merely tagging along? The questions
swirled in my head as we made out way through the house.
It was sunny when we got outside - a change from the almost daily rain we usual
got in April. I looked up at the clear sky appreciatively, almost forgetting
what I was about to do, but Axel walked over to a black service van and knocked
on the metal loudly, bringing me back to the moment. I moved down the steps and
got to the van the same moment the side door slid open, revealing a bunch of
computer equipment, weapons, and sitting In the middle of it all, Zexion.
Axel climbed in, careful not to step on anything, and I followed suite,
settling down beside a box of what looked like grenades of some sort. Axel
popped his head between the front seats, and I heard Demyx's voice. "Axel! Took
you long enough!"
Axel replied quickly. "Had to grab Roxas' coat. So, what's the mission?"
Chapter End Notes
     Yaaaay!!!! Finally posted! Gonna go celebrate - and type up the next
     chapter. Maybe I'll get it posted by Monday - you deserve the faster
     update, at least this one time, to make up for me ditching for so
     long...
***** Mission *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas' first mission. will it go according to plan? (or will the
     author be a complete ass to the poor boy?)
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
“It's the same as usual.” Zexion was the one who answered Axel's question, and
the redhead retreated from the front of the vehicle, settling down beside me.
“More Hearts?” Zexion nodded, and I both felt and heard the van start up.
Zexion spoke again once again the vehicle had started moving.
“The Heart is in the possession of a woman named Selena Faerine. She lives in
the outskirts of the city, in her manor, with her husband, Xander, and their
child, Naminé. They are all of strong Wiccan blood, and their magic is very
strong, associated with death. And be wary - there are also tales of a small,
dark-haired girl haunting the woods on their property. She completely destroys
her victims, usually in the most bloody way possible, and has a tendency to
leave them in pieces. Many pieces.” He paused, letting the fact sink in, and
the driver chuckled.
“You really do you research well, don't you, Zex?” I recognized Luxord's voice.
So, it was Axel, Demyx, Zexion, Luxord, and me. I didn't see anyone else in the
van, so I assumed that that was our team.
Zexion glared in Luxord's direction. “It's my job, so of course I do it well.
Besides, if I didn't, all you'd do is get yourselves killed. How many times
must I tell you, knowledge is power.”
Luxord outright laughed at this. “Yeah, whatever, bookie. I got my magic, so
I'll be fine.” Zexion grumbled, then went back to prepping us for the mission.
“Your job is to get in, find the heart, grab it, and get out, hopefully without
casualties. There shouldn't be any need to engage them in combat, so avoid it
if you can.” With that, Zexion turned his attention away from us. I looked over
at Axel. “What did Zexion mean by ‘heart’?”
Axel looked over at me. “Not actual hearts. They're called ‘Hearts of Magic’
but people call them Hearts for short. Hearts are basically... a large
concentration of extremely powerful magic, contained in a small stone. They
enhance the magic of the person in possession of them, so people tend to attach
them to weapons, or make them into jewelry.” I nodded, understanding.
“So we have to break into a manor, find a tiny stone that could be anywhere,
then escape, and do so without drawing attention to ourselves? Do we even know
what these hearts look like? I mean, are they shaped like hearts or something?”
Axel ruffled his hair. “Eh... That's the thing. Each heart is different in
appearance. The last one I saw was an ocean blue colour - kinda like your eyes,
now that I think about it.” He seemed to realize what he was saying a second
too late, and stuttered the rest of what he was saying quickly, face reddening.
“I-it was a teardrop shape, and the one before that, I heard it was a yellow
five-pointed star.” I nodded, and he continued. “So yeah, basically all you've
got to go on is that it's a small crystalline stone. But you'll fell your magic
react to it, growing stronger the nearer you are to it. So if you feel that,
start searching hard in that spot, cuz you're close.”
I took a deep breath, then blew it out, exasperated. “Lovely.”
“Okay, we're gonna have to walk from here,” Luxord said from the front.
“Zexion, you connected?” I looked over at Zexion, who nodded. “Yes. Line 3. I'm
also tapping into their security system, so I can watch everything.” He dug I a
box beside him and took four small headsets out, passing them to each of us,
then took out another for himself.
Luxord turned the van off and hopped out, Axel, Demyx and I following suit.
Luxord's turned to us. “Okay. It's still a ways to the manor, but as soon as we
get there, we'll get inside and split up in pairs. He turned to Zexion. “Can
you tell where our best entry point is?” Zexion consulted one of the screens on
the inside wall of the van.
“There are cellar doors on the left side of the manor. They look to be locked
with a padlock, but that shouldn't be a problem. The door out of the cellar
comes into the kitchen.”
Luxord nodded. “Keep us informed, got it, my little bookworm?” Zexion grumbled
and closed the van door, shutting himself inside.
Luxord chuckled. “That little guy... It can be so fun to piss him off.”
“You realize I can hear you, right?”
Zexion's voice came through my earpiece, along with a burst of static. I jumped
slightly, making Axel raise a questioning brow at me. Luxord laughed. “That's
the point, my dear Zexy.”
“Luxord... Don't push your luck. And Don't call me Zexy.” I chuckled at the
nickname Zexion truly despised with every fibre of his being. The last guy that
had called him that had ended up being bitch-slapped with a giant dictionary. I
smiled at the memory as Luxord gestured for us to get going. “Whatever you
say... Zexy.”
It took up a few minutes to walk through the forest, and my shoes, along with
the hem of my pants, were soaked from the water still seeping into the ground.
It was April, after all, and the ground here obviously hadn't absorbed all the
water from the latest rainfall yet.
Silently, Luxord made his way from the tree-line and crept to the cellar doors,
right where Zexion had said they would be. He knelt down and inspected the
lock. After a moment, his voice came over the headsets. “Axel. Get over here.”
Axel grinned over at me, flipping his hood over his flaming hair. He moved low
to the ground, then crouched next to Luxord. I moved as close as I could
without leaving the cover of the tree-line, and was just able to make out Axel
taking the padlock into his palm. He held it there, and after a minute, it
began to glow. A minute after that, it turned white with heat. At that point,
Axel yanked on the lock, and the metal snapped like a twig.
Luxord motioned for me and Demyx to come, and the two of us made our way
quietly across the grass. By the time we got to the cellar doors, Luxord had
pulled them open, revealing a staircase descending into darkness.
“After you,” Axel whispered in my ear, and since I didn't hear his voice
through my earpiece as well, I figured he had removed his own earpiece. I
looked up, and jumped a little when I realized his face was right by mine, his
mouth literally right next to my ear. I could feel his warm breath hitting the
shell of my ear as he chuckled. “Well? Surely you aren't afraid of the dark -
after all it is one of your powers.”
I shook my head, as a shiver went down my spine. I looked around, trying to see
if Luxord and Demyx were still aboveground. They weren't. Then, as if on cue,
Demyx's voice sounded in my other ear - the one with the headset. “Hey Axel,
where are you? We need some light!” I turned towards the said redhead,
momentarily forgetting just how close he was standing. I was suddenly faced
with the sight of his eyes, blazing green and staring wide into mine - very
close; too close.
My face flushed, and I took a step back, tapping my headset as I did so. Axel,
getting the hint, put his back on just in time to hear Luxord's voice.
“Axel?”
“Yeah?”
“Where are you?”
Axel looked over at me. “Just heading in now. Roxy was feeling a bit nervous.”
I glowered at him, and stalked down the cellar stairs.
“Don't call me that, flamsilocks.”
I heard both Luxord and Demyx snort with laughter, and I could also hear Zexion
laughing, although with his voice came a bit of static.
Suddenly, Axel gripped my shoulders from behind, and was whispering in my ear
again - and thanks to the headset, he was in both ears. “Flamsilocks? I'm hurt.
Why resort to such childish name-calling?”
I raised an eyebrow, and reached over my shoulder to flick Axel between the
eyes.
“Ack! Roxas!?” He let go of my shoulders and stumbled back slightly. I laughed
as Demyx started bugging me to tell him what just happened.
"He got what he deserved" was all I said.
I blinked as a light flared up beside me, illuminating the darkness. “Hey,
Luxord, Dem, can you see the light?”
“Yup.”
Within seconds, the other two Organization members entered the small circle of
light cast by Axel’s conjured flame. “So, you think the Heart could be down
here?” Luxord asked.
“Probably not, but it really wouldn’t hurt to check anyways.” Zexion’s voice
came over the headsets, and I shook my head. “How are we going to check if we
can barely see in front of us?”
Axel looked over at me. “Hey, Rox, can you use that Keyblade of yours? See if
you can light up the space.”
I realized that he was right – the light from Oathkeeper would be a lot
stronger than Axel’s flame, and a lot less dangerous. I raised my hand in front
of my face and shut my eyes, summoning the Keyblade in a flash of light.
“Gah! Could’ve warned us, couldn’t you?” Luxord exclaimed. “Even if the light
will help us, I think you may have just blinded me.”
I opened my eyes. “Sorry.” But I was preoccupied, trying to figure out how to
make light without actually releasing it, since the light had died off when
Oathkeeper had fully materialized in my hand. Then, as if tuned into my
thoughts, Oathkeeper began glowing until it was a pure white light nestled in
my palm, illuminating the whole room when I lifted it above my head. “Will this
do?” I couldn’t help the small amount of pride in my tone.
“Awesome! C’mon guys, we don’t want Roxas standing there forever – let’s look!”
Demyx’s reaction made me laugh, and I looked over at Axel, smiling. I could see
a flash of pride in his own eyes as he watched me, before he turned to search
for the Heart with the others.
I stood there for only about five minutes, testifying to the fact that they did
this often and knew how to search the large cellar efficiently without taking
too much time.
“C’mon. It’s not down here, so let’s head up and split.” Luxord’s voice came
over the line, and I saw Axel and Demyx head towards the stairs Zexion had said
led to the kitchen. I started walking as well, still holding Oathkeeper high. I
lowered the Keyblade only when I reached the stairs and started climbing up
them. Oathkeeper’s light diminished as I ascended, going out all together when
I reached the last step.
I looked around as I let Oathkeeper fade away. There were windows, and the
moonlight streamed through the sheer curtains drawn over them. I could see
dirty dishes, pots and pans, and various utensils scattered over the various
counters.
“Don’t these people ever do dishes?” Luxord was leaning over the sink, a look
of disgust on his face. “This place is dirty enough that I’d say the owners
have been gone for a week at least, if I didn’t know any better.”
Axel glanced through one of the windows. “Whatever. C’mon, lets get this over
with – this place is giving me the creeps. Feels like I’m being watched.”
“You are, remember? I tapped into their security system.” Zexion’s words didn’t
seem to make Axel relax in the slightest. “Not you, Zexion. Something… inhuman.
Malevolent.”
Demyx laughed. “Aw, come on, Axel! Don’t tell me you’ve suddenly become afraid
of the dark!”
I shook my head. “I'm with Axel on this one. Something's not right with this
place.” Luxord looked at me, and I could almost see his train of thought. One
person was a misread feeling. Two people, however…
“Let’s split, then, and get this done quickly. Demyx and I will take this
floor, and you two take care of the second. Everyone will rendezvous up on the
third floor when they’re done their own floor.” Axel and I nodded, then exited
the kitchen, stepping into the dimly lit hallway. “Where’s the staircase?” I
asked.
“To your right, near the end of the hallway, before it turns right.” Zexion’s
voice paused over the line. “Wow. You guys get the labyrinth floor. The
hallways are so maze-like – lots of dead ends. Good luck.”
Axel nodded, even though Zexion couldn’t see him. “Thanks for the heads-up,
Zex.” We started down the hallway, slowing down when we neared the end. “Now,
where’s that bloody staircase…?” Axel looked around before finding it. The
staircase was small, narrow, and very rickety. I found myself ascending them
carefully, fearful they would collapse under me. “Are you sure people actually
live here?”
Axel chuckled. “II sure hope so, or this mission would be a worthless waste of
my time.”
I smiled as we reached the top of the stairs. “So, how do you guys do this?” I
asked.
Axel shrugged his black-clad shoulders. “Just look anywhere someone might hide
a small stone about the size of a dollar. Check any weapons, too, remember?” I
nodded, and we worked our way down the hallway, checking any rooms we came
across.
A ways down, I noticed something liquid had seeped out from underneath one of
the doors and had dried. I eased the door open, my heart pounding. And what I
saw made me stumble back into the hall and start dry heaving.
Axel came running over to me, putting his hand on my back. “Hey kid, what’s
wrong? You okay?” I shook my head. I felt very not okay.
“Axel… don’t – don’t go in there…”
He ignored my pleading, and moved to the door I had left slightly ajar.
“Oh shit. Good god…” He backed up like I had done, and I looked up at him, then
immediately wished I hadn’t. he hadn’t closed the door behind him, and it had
swung wide, giving me a clear view of the room – and the massacre in it.
I couldn’t look away. The scene was horrendous, blood covering everything,
including the walls and ceiling; body parts torn into pieces scattered all
around the room. I could see the remnants of a person’s head – it’s skull was
cracked open, and pieces of now-dried braid had leaked out. Everything was
dried, and the identifiable parts of the bodies were shriveled up, so I guessed
that they had been like this for a while, weeks at least. But what was weird
was that there were no traces of any bugs or any other lifeforms feasting on
the dead flesh. By all means, the pieces should be swarming with maggots and
other bugs, but there wasn’t even a fly to be seen. Something was wrong. Very
wrong.
“Hey Zexion, why didn’t you say anything?” Axel’s voice brought me back, and I
tore my eyes from the gruesome sight of the room.
“I can’t see in that room, that’s why. What's in there, anyways? I don’t think
I've ever seen you this freaked out before.”
“Do you want us to come up?” Luxord’s voice came over the line, and Axel
glanced at the room, all but shouting “no!” into his headset. “You deal with
your floor.” He paused, then addressed Zexion. “It’s a massacre. Two people,
I’m guessing. Ripped to shreds. There isn’t an inch of the room not drenched in
blood and or guts.”
The line went silent, then there was a burst of static crackling through the
headsets. “Hey, Axel? Wh–t h––nd? Th– –meras ar– –ut!” I looked at Axel. Why
was the line breaking up so badly? “What?” I asked. “You're breaking up. We
can’t hear you.”
“– cam–as –– out. I c–n’t see any–ng. I ca– –rly he– –ou!”
“Zexion, what’s going on?” Axel growled into his headset. There was a large
burst of static, then the headsets went dead. Axel cursed. “Roxas, stay on
guard. Someone’s interfering with the signal.” I nodded, then noticed I wasn’t
hearing his voice through my headset as well. “Uh, Axel? The headsets aren’t
working. At all.” Axel furrowed his brow, then removed his earpiece.
“You might as well take it off, then. They’re useless.”
I shook my head. “What if they start working again?” Axel grunted.
“Fine. Keep yours on and keep an ear out. Tell me if they say anything, then
repeat what’s said to me.” With that, he tossed his to the ground and summoned
his twin chakrams. I followed suit, Oblivion appearing in my hands in a burst
of seeping darkness.
Suddenly, I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise, and a chill ran down my
spine. Axel must have felt something similar, because he whipped around, facing
behind me. I turned as well.
There in the darkness stood the form of a girl, around 13 years old, dressed in
a ebony black dress. It had thin straps and a sweetheart neckline, and I could
see a small red pendant at her neck, glowing slightly. The Heart? I
contemplated the chances. Maybe. But what would such a young girl be doing with
it? I looked at her closely. Her hair was long and stringy, black as space, and
it fell just past her shoulders. Her face was mostly in shadow, so I couldn't
see her eyes, but her lips seemed to be stained a dark red that stood out
against her porcelain skin that was streaked with visible veins, creating a
spiderweb-like effect. In her hand, I thought I saw what looked like a small
doll, no bigger than an adult's hand.
Then she brought the doll to her mouth, and my stomach churned as she bit into
it - and blood began to flow out, dripping down her chin.
Chapter End Notes
     A/N - I am SOOO SORRY!! I don't have ready access to a computer, and
     between co-op, schoolwork, and college research/applications, I
     barely find enough time to even think of working on typing this up. I
     seriously feel like I've failed you, but I also NEED to get this
     story out there, so I will just update when I can - probably making a
     pretty erratic schedule.
     A/N -- and in case you cant figure it out, here is what Zexion is
     saying when the line breaks up: “Hey, Axel? What happened? The
     cameras are out!”
     “The cameras are out. I can’t see anything. I can hardly hear you!”
     A/N --- also, even though I won't be working on it for a bit, I'm
     contemplating on a new fanfiction - I've recently caught up with the
     Noragami series (anime subbed and dubbed, and manga) and I've decided
     that I seriously ship Yato and Hiyori. So I got a little fic planned
     out. Kinda like a Accidental pregnancy thing, although I'm not
     completely sure what that would produce. Also, Yato has no idea, even
     years after. Now that I think about it, I might make it Yukine X OC
     as well. PM me if you have any ideas or problems, or if you're lazy
     and don't care (like me) then just comment below. Or even just leave
     a yay/nay comment. Either works. I know I don't respond much or
     anything, but I really love when you guys comment, even if it is to
     shoot my work down.
     Love you guys!! ☆〜（ゝ。∂）
***** Battle *****
Chapter Summary
     Axel and Roxas engage the mysterious girl... and something weird
     happens to Roxas along the way.
Chapter Notes
     YAY I UPDATED!! i had lost a page out of the original work (i write
     it out on paper before typing, so i have a hard copy) so ive been
     spending the last week rewriting the stupid page - which was the
     first third of the chapter btw. really annoying. BUT ITS DONE and im
     seriously proud of the out come. So here you go! *hands chapter
     reverently to readers*
See the end of the chapter for more notes
I felt bile rise in my throat as I realized that the doll she was hold wasn’t a
doll at all, but instead was a chunk of flesh. Human flesh. Axel made a noise
beside me, and I guessed he had realized this fact as well.
The girl stepped forward, stepping into the light of a large window, and she
grinned at us, teeth stained red as she swallowed. Dropping the hunk of flesh,
she moved forwards with a slow, stalking gait, and Axel and I backed up, ready
for the attack.
But neither of us anticipated for what happened next.
A small voice emanated from the girl, gravelly and thick.
“Help... me….”
I shivered at the torn quality of the voice, the words in complete contrast
with the appearance and actions of the girl. My thoughts spun. What was wrong
with her? Or was she perfectly fine and just trying to get our guard down?
Her eyes locked with mine, a pleading look in the glowing red irises. I
frowned, glancing over at Axel. “What’s with her eyes?” Axel shook his head.
“Dunno. Probably possessed or something. I’ve never seen this before.” He
crouched down, battle ready, and the girl screeched as his chakrams burst into
flames. They rushed at each other, and I could help but stand to the side,
enthralled by their fast-paced duel. Sparks flew as her bare hand caught one of
the blades of a chakram, and I realized something was affecting her body,
making it as hard as steel, maybe harder. She yanked on the weapon, and he
stumbled off balance, right in to the path of her claw-like nails. He narrowly
avoided them, rolling to the floor and coming up a few feet away.
“Roxas!” he called, and I snapped to attention. “A little help here?”
I nodded, and warily stepped towards the girl, who was now snarling in my
direction. I decided to make the first move and surged forward, Oblivion
swinging along a trajectory to her neck.
She stopped the blade just shy of her skin, and pushed it back. I spun with the
momentum, coming around with another attack, which she also blocked in the nick
of time. She started to go on the offensive now, and her hand raked towards my
face. I ducked, and as I rolled to the side, I felt a heat surge above me.
Knowing if I stood up at that moment, I would get my head taken off by a
flaming chakram, I stayed low until the second spiked wheel spun over me. She
had caught the first, but as she moved to grab the second out of the air before
it hit her, I rose, surging towards her, Keyblade once again poised to strike.
She hesitated in her choice of which to defend against, and she staggered away
a second later with a long cut along her cheekbone. I stood my ground, not
following her retreat. I felt Axel’s presence behind me as he spoke.
“Use your magic now that she’s weakened a bit.”
I nodded, and focused all my energy into Oblivion’s blade. It stared to
vibrate, glowing a deep black, and black crawled along the metal. I stayed
still, eyes straight ahead at the girl until I felt like I couldn’t hold it
back any longer. Pointing the Keyblade’s tip towards my opponent, I released
the dark magic, pure blackness exploding out from around the blade and honing
in on the girl, who disappeared in a mass of blackness.
When it cleared, she was on one knee, breathing heavily. I looked over at Axel,
grinning in triumph. I had done it. I had used magic in a real battle and had
severely injured the enemy. He grinned back, and was reaching out a hand to
ruffle my hair when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.
A pain exploded in my chest as I turned towards to girl, who was no longer on
her knees. Instead, she was now colliding into me with the weight of a freight
train, and I was slammed into the wall, the plaster cracking from the impact.
She looked into my eyes and grinned, and suddenly the burning in my chest got
worse. Something imploded, and my vision blacked out for a second. I could feel
Oblivion slip from my grasp, and then I was filled with the sensation of being
lifted up and being tossed through the air, before the impact of slamming into
the ground like deadweight registered in my brain. I could feel a wetness
seeping out from my chest, and inched my head down to look at my chest.
I didn’t even have the strength to retch at the sight. There were five large
punctured in my upper torso, each the size of a swollen finger. I could feel my
heart struggling to keep a beat, and I was sure at least one of my lungs had
collapsed. My vision dimmed, and I heard Axel shouting my name through the fog,
before his cry being cut short.
I could see his limp body collapsing to the ground and a pool of blood
expanding from his chest.
Suddenly, a new pain surfaced, and I felt a large pair of claw-like hands clamp
around my throat. My airway was crushed, and what little breath I had been able
to draw before suddenly vanished. My vision continued to dim, blackening around
the edges. Then something strange happened.
“Call me! Call me now, Roxas!”
A woman’s voice echoed through my head, rising above the incessant ringing of
my ears.
“Roxas! Call me to you!”
Who was that? The only girl I remember being in the Organization was Larxene,
and she wasn’t on this mission – and besides, it wasn’t her voice, it sounded
too pure and sweet, if not a little urgent.
“Roxas!”
I opened my eyes, not really seeing anything, and willed my eyes to focus on
the splash of white behind the figure of the little girl, still with her hand
around my throat. As I concentrated, my vision cleared slightly, and I was able
to make out the silhouette of a woman, glowing a transparent white, bright as
the sun. She was stretching an arm out towards me, and in my confused semi-
conscious state, I reached out to meet her halfway.
As soon as the tip of my finger touched hers, I felt a warmth flow into my
body, and all the pain disappeared, as well as the weight of the girl on my
neck. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I knew that my eyes were no longer
their sea blue, but rather a light blue, so light it was almost a glowing
white. I don’t know how I knew this, I just did.
I stood up, legs not the least bit shaky, despite my wounds and the blood loss.
I looked towards the girl, who was now cowering by the wall, snarling, her lips
and teeth still dripping blood. I turned away from her, focusing my attention
on Axel’s limp body in the middle of the hall. I felt a faint twinge of anger
towards the girl for what she had done, but it quickly melted away, and I
returned my attention to the girl.
I my hand, and my body began glowing, much like my eyes, and I materialized
Oathkeeper subconsciously, then pointed it at the cowering girl. The light
flowed out in a continuous stream, an instinctive attack – my mind was void of
almost every thought.
The Light flowed towards the girl swathed in black and blood, the glowing
tendrils engulfing her tiny body. The light tightened around her frame, hiding
her from sight, then exploded outwards. As the last of the light died away, her
small body sank to the ground unconscious. I noticed that her black dress was
now white, and the blackened veins that had been spreading out along her skin
were gone. Her hair fell to one side, flowing over her shoulder in small blonde
waves. Her hands were no longer were encased with the large talon-like black
substance, and were once again petite, with perfectly sculpted nails.
I walked over to her, curious about her transformation, and I could feel the
light fading from me. Strangely, my wounds had healed, so I found myself still
able to breathe as I knelt next to her unconscious form. I moved her hair
slightly, revealing the res necklace, which I undid the clasp to before palming
the gem. I could feel the power surging through me, just like Axel said it
would.
Axel. I whipped around, and my eyes closed on Axel’s still form, the pool of
blood beneath him still growing. There were five large punctures in his chest,
just like I had received. My heart leapt to my throat as I rushed to his side.
“Axel! Axel, wake up!” My coat was getting soaked from his blood, but I didn’t
care. My voice caught, and I fought back a sob as I touched his chest, gently
laying my hand over the injuries.
An idea formed in my head as I became aware of the Heart still clenched in my
fist. I placed the small red stone on top of Axel’s chest, next to the worst of
his wounds, and I called upon Oathkeeper’s power. It had kept me alive somehow,
so it should work the same for Axel, I thought.
At first, nothing happened, and I felt tears sting my eyes, threatening to
spill over. Then, I felt a heat form over my hands, and they started glowing, a
white light mixing with the stone’s red. Seconds later, although it felt like
ages, Axel’s breathing started up again, although it was rough, and his eyes
opened. They widened in shock as they took in my face, and he reached a hand up
to my cheek. “Your eyes…”
I looked away, the light dying down. Pulling my hands away, I put the Heart in
my pocket. I could feel my eyes change, the normal blue returning.
Axel struggled into a sitting position, and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look
at him. “Huh… they’re normal again. What was that? What happened?” I shook my
head. To be honest, I had no clue.
“I have the heart. Should we find the others now, or help the girl first?”
Axel looked over at the girl, surprised. “What happened when I was out? And why
does she look… human... again?” I realized he didn’t know just how close to
death he had come, and decided not to tell him that bit. “Something with
Oathkeeper’s attack… it was like it cleansed her or something. Like she was
possessed, and it exorcised her.” Axel nodded, then got up, making his way to
the girl. He picked her up, cradling her small body bridal-style, then walked
down the hall to the stairs. I followed, glad to leave the blood-stained
hallway behind.
As we got to the bottom of the stairs, Luxord and Demyx appeared around the
corner, Demyx crying out in surprise.
“Oh my god, what happened to you? And who’s the girl?” He gestured to out
bloodsoaked and slightly ripped cloaks, then to the girl in Axel’s arms.
Axel explained to them everything that had happened, except for how I had
defeated her, at which point he looked at me for explanation. I just shrugged.
I didn’t really know anything more that he did, everything that had happened
still made no sense.
I handed Luxord the Heart, and we made our way out the front door – since there
was no need to sneak around anymore, considering the owners of the house were
probably the bloody chunks of human upstairs.Which made us figure that the
young girl was in fact Naminé, the owner’s daughter.
When we reached the van, Zexion practically flew out of the vehicle. “What
happened? I lost all contact, all visuals!”
Luxord looked grim. “Demon interference, I’m guessing.” He walked over to the
driver’s side and hopped in, and Demyx followed suit, getting into the
passenger seat. Axel hopped in back, still holding the girl, and I was right
behind him – until I was pulled into a tight hug by Zexion.
“Please… try not to get into so much trouble next time…” He trailed off, then
continued quietly, “I know you’re still angry with me, but I really don’t want
to lose my only friend.” I could feel the young man trembling slightly, and I
reached up to put my hand on his upper back, returning the embrace.
Immediately, he backed up, a light in his eyes that I hadn’t seen in a while,
and I knew he was happy I had forgiven him.
Our friendship now fixed, we jumped into the van, shutting the door behind us.
As I settled down, Axel spoke, a hint of laughter in his voice.
“So, how was your first mission, Roxy?”
Chapter End Notes
     hehehe hello Namine, and sorry to do that to you. but y'now.. to be a
     good writer, you gotta be a bad babysitter.. and a bad babysitter
     would let her kids get possessed, right?
     Augh, at this rate, im gonna get carpal tunnel in my fingers..... SO
     MUch TypING
     Also, not guarunteeing the next chapter soon, but ive already started
     typing it... i guess im just in the mood right now.
***** Naminé *****
Chapter Summary
     The group takes Namine to meet Xemnas. Add a small crush, a pint of
     jealousy, and a little cold shoulder, and you've got the perfect
     recipie for a bit of almost-Akuroku action
     Hee, i'm so proud of these little guys. Like, i couldnt stop grinning
     while typing this, for real. im such a nerd.
Chapter Notes
     the school is on OSSLT schedule today... so 3 hours of first period.
     i was lucky and got a teacher who didn't plan anything but games the
     entire time, so i asked to go type with my friend. This is the result
See the end of the chapter for more notes
The girl – Naminé – woke up minutes before we pulled into the driveway. She was
confused and scared, but Demyx helped cheer her up a bit.
Luxord turned the van off while everyone climbed out. I stumbled slightly, a
little lightheaded from exhaustion, and Axel grabbed my shoulders to study me.
I thanked him quietly, my voice barely above a whisper. A second later, there
was a quiet “oof” from behind me. Axel and I turned to see Naminé picking
herself up off the ground – she had collapsed when she had tried to climb out
of the back of the van.
“I – I feel sick…” My eyes widened at her words, and I rushed forwards, Axel by
my side, and helped her to the line of bushes along the edge of the driveway
just in time for her to hurl. I caught a quick glimpse, and had to fight back
getting sick myself as I noticed the contents of her stomach. Blood, and what
appeared to be flesh. I looked away from the sight, and I saw Axel grimace and
begin to look a little green out of the corner of my eye.
When she was done, she wiped her mouth, turning to me and Axel. “You didn’t
have to help me, but thank you.”
Axel, who was still looking a little green, shook his head. “Come on – decide
whether you’re grateful or not, kid.” Although I knew he was trying to be
humorous, I could hear a bit of an edge to his voice – though it was probably
because he had just watched someone puke up another person’s guts rather than
annoyance. Of course, Naminé had just met Axel, and didn’t seem able to discern
this, as her eyes widened in fear. “S-sorry!” She squeaked.
I placed my hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. He’s not angry, just a bit…
queasy,” I explained, and she visibly relaxed.
“Come on. She needs to meet Xemnas,” Luxord said, walking up behind us. I
helped Naminé stand, and we all made our way to the door. When we got inside,
she seemed confused. “Your boss lives here?”
I chuckled, and indulged her since she was going down with us anyways. “The
compound’s underneath the house.” I said as we made our way to the trapdoor in
the basement. “And yeah, I understand,” I continued, smiling at her. “I was
confused at first too. To be honest, I still am.”
Naminé smiled faintly, clutching at my arm. By the time we got to the basement,
Luxord had already opened the trapdoor, and he, Demyx and Zexion had
disappeared into the darkness below. Only Axel stood waiting for us. A frown
settled on his face when he saw how Naminé clung to me. Quickly turning his
back to us, he jumped down, ignoring the ladder. My eyebrows drew together at
the thought of what could have made him so distant to just leave me behind like
that.
Shaking my head, I led Naminé to the edge of the trapdoor, then started down,
making sure she followed me.
A few rungs down, now in complete darkness, one of Naminé’s sandals slipped on
the bar, and I reached a hand up to steady her. “Are you all right?” I asked.
She was shaking.
“Yes…”
I nodded, then hastily removed my hand when I realized it had settled on her
hip in my rush to make sure she didn’t fall. Quickly climbing down the rest of
the way, I stepped back to allow Naminé some room.
Demyx bounded up to her the moment her second foot hit the ground. “Come on,
Nami!” He grabbed her arm lightly, and pulled her down the hall. I shook my
head, chuckling as I followed behind.
Clack, clack, clack..
I turned my head towards the noise, recognising the sound of shoes hitting the
concrete floor. Axel stopped hehind me, and I looked up at him. “What’s wrong?”
I asked.
He looked at me oddly, like he wanted to say something, then a guarded look
settled over his featured. Without answering my question, he moved around me
and followed after Demyx and Naminé. Confused, I followed behind. What was that
all about?
I still hadn’t figured out what the silent treatment was all about by the time
I reached Xemnas’ office, so I gave up for the time being. I would deal with it
later.
I entered the room to Luxord explaining Naminé’s story to Xemnas, with the girl
filling in the blanks.
“My parents were trying to do a protection circle, but something went wrong – a
demon showed up, and… I can’t remember anything but bits and pieces, but I
think it possessed me and killed Mom and Dad. Any every time someone came onto
our property that I know of, it massacred them. I remember becoming conscious
during a fight, but then everything blacked out again, and I woke up in the
van.” She had started shaking when she mentioned her parent’s deaths, and I
wanted to go and comfort her, but I stayed put out of fear of attracting
Xemnas’ attention.
“You’re a witch, like your parents, I presume?” Xemnas’ voice still had that
heavy quality, one that made my stomach shrink in fear. Naminé nodded “Then
I’ll put you under Marluxia’s keep.” He paused. “Luxord, take the girl to
Marluxia and get them aquainted.”
Luxord nodded, and everyone filed out of the room. Naminé grabbed my arm as she
passed me, and pressed up against me, still shivering in fright. “That man…
that’s your boss?” I nodded.
“He’s scary.” I nodded again.
“Yeah, I know.”
She paused. “Do you know this ‘Marluxia’?” I hesitated before speaking. I
didn’t really know what Marluxia was like, due to the fact that he pretty much
hated me for beating up his girlfriend. “Um… I don’t really… He doesn’t really
like me all that much, but that’s just circumstantial. I don’t think he’ll
dislike you.” Naminé looked up at me with wide blue eyes and I regretted my
words to the scared blonde. “Relax,” I said hurriedly. “You’ll be fine.”
Luxord came up to us. “Seems like the girl’s taken a liking to you, eh, Roxas?”
I looked down at the girl pressed up against me, her small delicate hands on my
chest. “I guess.” At my words, Naminé looked up at me, a light pink dusting her
cheeks.
I felt my own cheeks heat up. Please don’t tell me the girl’s got a crush on
me…
I heard Axel clear his throat from off to the side, and Naminé backed away from
me reluctantly, moving to follow Luxord to Marluxia’s room.
“Let’s go.” Axel’s words were clipped, and something was obviously bothering
him as he walked away from me, towards his room. I followed silent, my shoes
barely making a sound on the floor.
Axel still didn’t make any move to open up to me when we had reached his room,
and just walked straight to the closed, taking off his coat as he went. I
stepped into the room and followed suit, sliding my own coat off, folding it
and placing it by the foot of the bed where my hoodie sat. I switched my ripped
t-shirt for a new one before I climbed into the bed, muscles aching. I heard
Axel settle down in the same spot he had slept last night, sitting with his
back against the wall. I laid there for almost an hour trying to sleep, but
couldn’t, despite how tired I was.
Something was off. I was freezing. I had multiple blankets over me, and was
curled up in a ball, but I was still cold. Which really didn’t make sense. I
mean, how could I be cold in the room of someone who controlled fire? If
anything, I should be overheating. After another half-hour, I was shivering,
and my teeth had started to chatter. I curled in on myself tighter, but that
didn’t make any difference. I was sure my chattering teeth could be heard down
the hall, I was shivering so violently. What the hell?
Then I felt a weight on the bed, as if someone had climbed onto the mattress. I
started to roll over, but a long arm draped itself across me, pulling me close
to the warm body lying behind me. The scent of leather and burnt wood permeated
my nostrils. I stiffened at the contact, not really relaxing then I realized
Axel had climbed into bed with me. “What are you doing?” I asked, grinding my
teeth together, only partially to stop my teeth from chattering.
Axel’s voice was low in my ear. “You were shivering. And the noise from your
chattering teeth was keeping me awake, so I decided to keep you warm.” For some
reason, the back of my mind was telling me he was the reason I was cold to
begin with, but I ignored it in favour of the heat emanating from Axel.
“Thanks… I guess.” My lack of sleep was catching up to me now that I wasn’t
freezing cold – Axel’s body pressed up against my back and his arms wrapped
around me were like a furnace, and honestly, I was melting. Not in a bad way,
either. One by one, my sore muscle relaxed, and soon, I was asleep in a cocoon
of warmth, Axel’s breath stirring my hair in a steady rhythm.
Chapter End Notes
     AKUROKU ACTION, FINALLY!!! sort of. close enough.. and yes, Axel was
     the reason the room was cold. while everyone else has a furnace in
     theoir room, axel just constantly uses his magic to keep his warm. so
     if he turns it off... insta-freezer, and perfect excuse to climb into
     bed with a cute little blonde.
***** Chapter 12 *****
Chapter Summary
     Time skip forward a month, and roxas has become a bigshot in the
     organization... and theres someone running around causing trouble, so
     roxas is sent to find some information about him.
Chapter Notes
     IM ON A ROOOOLLLLLLLLLLLL
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Over the next month, I had settled into a routine. Wake up, check for missions,
complete the mission with whoever I was assigned it with, then I would head
over to the Twilight Town clock tower where Axel more often than not waited for
me with a sea-salt ice-cream for both of us. We would hang around on the top of
the tower until dark, then head back to HQ, where I either went off to hang
with Zexion in his lab, with Naminé in the lounge, or stayed with Axel to
train. Usually, we were up most of the night fighting each other, honing our
skills, before we finally retired to his room. Axel had also taken to sleeping
in the bed beside me, although he hadn’t held me in his arms since that first
night.
And a part of me missed that feeling of enveloping warmth.
Sadly, that basic routine was about to be altered. My room – which had been
under construction since I had been initiated – was only a few days from
completion, meaning I would be moving out of Axel’s room.
Or at least I had thought it was still a few days.
“Hey XIII! You hear? Your room should be done by tomorrow night – no more
sharing quarters with Flamsilocks after tonight.” Xigbar chuckled, slapping my
back humourously. I smirked. My nickname for Axel had swept like a hurricane
through the Organization, much to Axel’s dismay.
Then Xigbar’s words sank in. “Tomorrow? I thought it was going to take a few
days still.”
Xigbar shook his head. “Nah, they made some unexpected progress, so you’ll be
on your own a bit sooner than anticipated.”
I nodded, and saw Saix walk up behind the scarred man.
“Roxas, you have a solo mission today.”
I perked up, full of apprehension at the thought, mixed with a certain amount
of excitement. This would be my first solo mission, and I didn’t know what to
expect.
Saix motioned for Xigbar to leave before he spoke again. “You are to do
intelligence gathering on a Keyblade bearer running around these parts. He has
been destroying every Heart he comes across, Hearts the Organization wants.” I
nodded, and he continued. “There’s a lead, saying he was spotted somewhere
around Twilight Town.” With that, the man turned and walked away, probably to
bark at Demyx for shirking his duties again.
I headed out of the lounge, through the familiar halls to Axel’s room, to grab
my coat.
When I got there, Axel was putting his own coat on. “You got a mission?” He
asked.
I nodded. “Solo. Intelligence gathering.”
The redhead whistled. “Solo, already? I know you’ve built up a reputation, but
wow. It took me months before they sent me out solo. Looks like you’re on the
fast track up the ranks.” He paused. “Oh, and if it’s Intel, then don’t wear
your coat – people tend to open up more if you don’t look like you belong to
the Organization. Unless you plan on torturing them. Then it would be best to
keep the coat.” It made sense, and I nodded. It was true that I’d built up a
reputation. Now, more often than not, people would run when they saw a small
boy in a long black coat carrying Keyblades. Not that I was scary or anything.
I had just developed the habit of finishing my jobs quickly, not wasting any
time toying with my opponents. Made me seem pretty badass and untouchable, I
guess. People didn’t tend to pay attention to the fact that most of my
opponents didn’t end up dying, like they did when they went up against the
other Organization members.
So instead of donning my coat, I placed it on the bed, placing my Keyblades on
top of it. I had developed the ability to summon my Organization coat not too
long ago, and if everything was in the same area, I could summon my Keyblades
and coat in one shot. I had definitely caught more than one enemy off guard
with that ability.
“You want to meet up for ice cream after you’re all finished?”
I smiled as I got dressed in my casual clothes – complete with the short
sleeved jacket, despite the warmth outside. “I’m in Twilight Town today, so I
guess I’ll wait for you?”
Axel chuckled. “Nah, I’ll be the one waiting. I got an easy one today.” I
looked at him curiously, and he shook his head, anticipating my question. “You
know the rules. No talking about each other’s missions, so why bother asking?”
I opened my mouth to tell him I hadn’t actually verbalized my question, but he
continued, lowering is voice.
“But I’ll indulge you. I gotta take out some kid who’s been running around with
the group that’s been destroying Hearts.” He grinned. “I’m gonna teach him a
fiery lesson!”
I laughed at his giddiness. The man was a pyromaniac, that was for sure. He had
the habit of summoning a handful of fire just to play around with it. “Well
then. Good luck and have fun,” I said, exiting into the hallway, then heading
on my way.
I was just about to start climbing the ladder to the trapdoor when Naminé came
running up behind me. I turned to face the blonde, and she hugged me and
planted a shy kiss on my cheek. “I heard it’s your first solo mission. Good
luck, Roxas.”
Smiling, I hugged her back, just as Axel rounded the corner. The redhead
stopped short, and a range of emotions flew across his face, too fast for me to
identify, before his face went blank. I thanked Naminé, turning to the ladder –
but not before I saw Axel shoot a glare at Naminé. I started to wonder what
that was all about, but I shoved that train of thought off its rails, stopping
it before it started. There was no need being distracted, especially with my
first solo.
-oOo-
I walked towards the ice cream shop in Twilight Town, hoping to get some
information from the shop owner. Or at least, that was the plan. I didn’t
really get that far.
“Hey, blondie! You knew here? I ain’t seen you around before.” I turned around
to see the owner of the voice, and was greeted with the sight of a tall blonde
in a beanie holding a Struggle Bat – a blue bat that I had learned was used in
the Struggle Battles held by the town.
“I’m just visiting. Trying to find someone actually, actually.”
The boy grinned, and his entourage – a tall, dark-haired boy, average height
silver-haired girl, and a short person in too many layers and wide-brimmed hat
to tell whether it was a boy or girl – backed up. “The name’s Seifer. And I’ll
answer any questions you got – if you can beat me, that is.”
The next thing I knew, the other boy behind him tossed another Struggle Bat at
me, and I fumbled the catch slightly, startled at this turn of events. I was
trying to get information, not fight, dammit.
The boy, Seifer, laughed, and something about his demeanor grated against me. I
had a strong urge to just kick his ass in record time and force him to answer
my questions, but something in me made me decide to toy with him a bit.
I relaxed my muscles, dropping my guard completely as I looked over my shoulder
as if checking the time on the clock tower. As soon as my eyes were off him,
Seifer lunged forwards, and I could hear the telltale sound of something
swinging through the air towards my head. I ducked, and without even really
even looking at him, I jabbed the end of my Struggle Bat inti his solar plexus,
dropping him to the ground. I stepped back and started examining the Bat’s grip
as he scrambled to his feet, shock evident on his face. He came for me again,
and this time I stepped around him, swinging and hitting the back of his neck,
sending him stumbling. The larger blonde recovered quickly, and started
attacking me, raining blow after blow at me – all of which I blocked without
trying. I had fought much tougher opponents than him, and I wasn’t even having
to pay full attention.
We went on like this for a few minutes, and with each blow deflected, I could
feel his irritation growing. After I decided I was getting a little bored, I
met his attack instead of merely deflecting it like I had been.
He struck down with an overhead attack, and I lifted my bat to absorb the blow
before pushing back, the strength behind my attack sending him flying. He
landed on his back, head cracking against the gravel, and his friends rushed
forwards. One of them – the girl – stepped up to me, her own Struggle Bat
raised, ready to defend Seifer. I shook my head at her. “I just want
information.”
She glowered at me. “Who are you? No one’s ever just beaten Seifer like that.”
“Oh, leave him alone, Fuu, you stupid bitch.”
I turned to see the newcomer, a boy my age with blonde hair that stood on end
wearing head to toe camo, followed by a sweet-looking brunette girl and a
slightly overweight boy with spiky black hair.
Fuu snarled at the newcomer. “He just beat up Seifer! I can’t just let him get
away with that, so stay out of it, Hayner.”
Hayner laughed. “It looks like he was getting what he asked for, if you ask
me.” I chuckled. I liked this kid already. Fuu sputtered, then stormed back to
Seifer, who had gotten back to his feet and was pointing a finger at me. “I
ain’t telling you nothing, you fucking cheat.” I looked at him, indignant.
“Oh, shove it where the sun don’t shine. I didn’t cheat, you just suck.” At my
words, Seifer turned an unsightly red, while Hayner and his friends laughed.
Clearly embarrassed and pissed beyond words, he stormed off, defeated. I turned
to Hayner. “My name’s Roxas. Hayner, right?” I put my hand out, and he took it.
“Yup. And this is Olette,” he nodded to the girl, “and Pence.” He gestured to
the other boy.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Hello.”
Hayner grinned at me. “So what kind of information did you want?”
I sighed, putting up the act of faint annoyance. “I’m looking for a friend of
mine. He ran away, and has been causing a bit of trouble. Have you heard of
anyone going around destroying little stones wherever he goes?”
The trio looked at me weird. Olette spoke up. “What’s his name?”
Crap. I thought of a lie on the spot, hoping it would be convincing. “Uh, his
family doesn’t really want everyone to know he’s been missing, so I’d rather
not say. The three teenagers looked at each other, consulting.
“Wasn’t there a boy…?”
“… Yeah, about his age, maybe a few years older…”
“He was lugging around some giant key-thing…”
I cut in. “A Keyblade?” They nodded, and my hoped soared. Maybe I could finally
get some information. “That’s him!” I said.
Hayner looked at me. “Are you sure? Cause he wasn’t exactly secretive about his
name…”
I nodded. “Just to be sure, who did he say he was?” Saix had said Intel…
Hayner looked at Pence, then at Olette. The brunette spoke up.
“He said his name was Sora.”
Chapter End Notes
     eeehehe.
     thats it. thats all the notes you get, because i feel like an evil
     child of Luci right now..
***** Clocktower Company *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas just found out that his brother is a target of the
     Organization. How will he react? And what more will we learn of his
     past?
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
My blood ran cold as the name passed through Olette’s lips. Sora… my brother.
What was he doing, running around with a Keyblade of all things, destroying
Hearts and painting a target on his head like that? And how did he know about
the Hearts? I had only found out about them through the Organization. If not
for them, I would still be in the dark.
“Sora…” I recovered, blinking. “Y-yeah, that’s him. Do you know any details
about what he’s doing, about where he is now?”
Olette and Hayner shook their heads, but Pence spoke up. “He said he was trying
to get rid of all the evil or powerful magic that could help his enemies win…
and he said he was trying to find his brother, too… That someone had taken him,
and that was what got him started in all this.”
My eyes grew wide at the boy’s words. For his brother… That meant I was the
reason the Organization was looking into him… and since he was destroying the
same Hearts they wanted, I had a feeling their attention on him wasn’t exactly
friendly.
“Did… did he say where he was going?” Maybe if I could find him, I could warn
him…
Pence looked thoughtful for a second, then answered me. “He didn’t say where he
was going next, but he did say he was working with a Reconstructive Committee,
or something like that, in Hollow Bastion.” Hayner and Olette both looked over
at the boy, surprised.
“When did he say that? I don’t remember him saying anything of what you just
said…” Hayner looked slightly lost.
Olette just smiled at the blonde. “Hayner… he did say that, remember? Pence
asked what he was doing, and that’s what he said.” Hayner’s shoulders drooped.
“S’not my fault I didn’t remember…” I chuckled at the trio’s antics. It
reminded me of what Sora and I had been like. Except Sora was always the one in
Hayner’s position.
“Hey Roxas?”
I looked over at Olette, and she continued.
“Do you happen to be Sora’s brother?”
The question caught me off-guard, and I took a step back, surprised. “W-what
makes you say that?”
Olette smiled, almost sadly. “He said his brother’s name was Roxas. And then
there’s your eyes – theyre the exact same as Sora’s.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “Yeah… I am, I guess. I didn’t know he was
looking for me.”
The girl cocked her head to the side. “Of course he is – He’s your brother, and
he loves you.”
-oOo-
I sat on the edge of the clock tower, waiting for Axel to show up. I had spent
a few more minutes with the Twilight Town trio after Olette had figured out my
identity, but they didn’t know anything else about my brother, and neither had
anyone else when I asked them.
I was debating on how much to tell Xemnas about the whole thing, when Axel
plopped down beside me, two ice creams in hand. He handed one to me, looking
peeved.
“What’s up?” I asked.
Axel glowered. “The bastard wouldn’t let me touch him. He kept jumping around,
teleporting with the shadows. Freaking ass didn’t have the nerve to attack me
to the face, kept hitting me from behind. I only got a few good hits in before
he booked it….”
I was only paying half of my attention to his rant, my mind still on Sora.
“He- Hey, Roxas, you planning on eating that? Your ice cream’s melting.” I
looked down to see that the light blue icy goodness [A/N: What the fuck was I
thinking when I wrote this line…] was indeed melting, dripping down my hand.
I licked the melted ice cream off my hand, the worked on finishing the rest
quickly.
“Something’s on your mind.” It wasn’t a question, but more of a statement. I
nodded.
“You know how I was supposed to do some intelligence gathering? I was supposed
to find some Intel on some kid running around with a Keyblade, destroying
Hearts that the Organization is after.”
Axel nodded to show that he was following, and I licked ate another bite of my
ice cream, flinching at the cold. “Well, I found out his name. Sora.”
“What’s so special about his name?” Axel was confused, I could see it in his
eyes. I took a deep breath, then let it out.
“That name… means he’s my brother.”
Axel reeled back, almost losing his balance. “Your brother? You have a brother?
And he’s destroying Hearts?”
I nodded. “Yes, I have a brother. Two, actually, but I haven’t seen Cloud in
years. Mom pissed him off and he left – I’m not even sure he knows she died.”
The redhead stared dumbfounded, obviously trying to compute everything I was
saying. “S-sorry about your mom,” he said, finally finding his words. “It must
have been hard.”
“The only hard part was accepting the fact that she died before I could work up
the guts to kill her.”
That caught Axel’s attention. “You – what?” He choked out. Probably more than
surprised at my suddenly livid tone.
“Relax,” I said, calmer this time. “It was a mutual hate. The bitch treated me
and Cloud like we were the spawn of the Devil just because we’re spitting
images of dad. Sora got lucky – he looks more like Mom. Sort of. He’s got brown
hair instead of Dad’s blonde. And it’s spikey.” Axel reached over and fingered
the tips of my own spikey hair, and I chuckled.
“Much spikier. It makes mine look tame.”
Axel raised his eyebrows. “Must be pretty spikey then,” he said, giving my hair
a tousle before pulling his hand back. Then he sobered. “You might not want to
tell Xemnas that specific tidbit of information, if you value your freedom. Or
life, for that matter.”
I gave him a look practically screaming duh. “You think I would be stupid
enough to cut my life short like that by telling him? Of course I’m keeping it
a secret. And you better too,” I added on.
Axel let out a breath he had been holding. “Good. Come on then, let’s go
report.” He bit off the last of his ice cream, and I quickly finished my own,
noting the WINNER printed on the stick, before putting it in my pocket and
standing up.
Chapter End Notes
     I apologize for the really weird A/N. i normally dont do that (in
     case you didnt notice), but i really just had to put that in there. i
     seriously have no idea what the hell that descriptionos all about.
     that was written a while ago, so for all i know, i had just finished
     an ice cream and was still on a flavour high. or sugar high. really,
     could be either.
     Aaaannnyways, moving on.
     I like this daily update speed. So i'll try to keep going with it.
     Also, feel free to mentally shoot his mom. I've been using her for
     target practice, myself.
     (I really hated to write her like that, but i needed a little oomph
     to Roxy's past. Sorry.)
***** Secrets *****
Chapter Summary
     This is where the rating goes up. If you dont like *coughcough*
     scenes *coughcough* like this, then you can just skip the last half
     of the chapter. This is really just a filler for the plot anyways (if
     you dont count AkuRoku as part of the plot).
Chapter Notes
     I warn you, my smut sucks. and not in the good way. but theres some
     redeeming fluff at the end, so there you go.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
“Well, that went well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone pull one over Xemnas
like that before.” Axel flopped face-first down on the bed, then rolled over,
grinning. “You’re more special than I thought.”
I shook my head, grinning myself. “And then there’s you, a different kind of
special, Incompetent Flamsilocks, as Xemnas said. Nice to know even the
Superior’s caught on to you nickname.” I sat down beside Axel, who started
mumbling profanities under his breath – hopefully at Xemnas, not me.
I took a breath, letting it out slowly. “So. Tonight’s my last night.” Axel
looked at me, propping himself up of his elbows.
“Last night?”
“Sharing a room. Xigbar said it would be done by tomorrow.” I chuckled, a grin
rising on my face. “And just as I’d gotten used to sharing a room with a pyro
like you, too. Too bad.”
“Yeah.” Looking over, I saw that Axel was now staring off into space, lost in
his thoughts.
“Axel? What’s up? Something bothering you?” His eyes snapped to meet mine.
“Sort of. It’s nothing, though.” His face was blank, no emotion, and my
curiosity piqued. What was he hiding?
“If it’s nothing, then it wouldn’t hurt to tell me.”
Axel was silent as he laid back onto his back, closing his eyes. He didn’t
answer me, didn’t even acknowledge that I had spoken. Frustrated, I climbed
onto my hands and knees on the bed and crawled over to him. I placed a hand on
both sides of his head, my face hovering over his. He still didn’t open his
eyes, so I kneed him in the side. He grunted, acid green eyes opening, then
widening at my close proximity. The thought quickly crossed my mind that the
position I was in might be considered provocative to some, and my stomach
twisted with butterflies before I pushed the thought from my mind, focusing on
the task at hand. “Tell me.”
Axel just looked at me, still startled. “Axel…” I said warningly, and he spoke,
although barely above a whisper.
“So anxious to put our friendship at risk, aren’t you?”
I blinked at his words. What did he mean by that? Had he done something he was
afraid I would hate him for? I pulled back so I was sitting beside him and not
hovering over him. “What are you talking about?”
“Fine.” Before I could blink, Axel had sat up, pushed me down by my shoulders
onto my back, and had positioned himself above me, face inches away from mine.
“Axel?” I squeaked, staring into his eyes, ablaze with a heat that set my body
on fire immediately. Oh. Oh. His gaze was hooded as he shifted, bringing his
knee to connect with the most sensitive part of my body, and heat pooled in my
abdomen, white-hot. I bit back a groan, and Axel leaned down, brushing his lips
against mine, butterfly soft.
I was having a revelation as I reached up, running my hands up his chest to end
at his neck. This explained everything. Why he was always around when he wasn’t
on a mission, why he was always glaring at Naminé whenever she crushed on me.
All of it. I pulled down on his neck, bringing his lips back to mine. And while
the first kiss was sweet and soft, a declaration of feelings, this one was
lustful and sensual. Needy. The taste of him filled my mouth when he slipped
his tongue past my lips, running over my own, our saliva mixing.
His hands roamed my body expertly, and I let myself become lost in the
caresses.
The heat in my abdomen was starting to get uncomfortable, and I shifted my
hips, grinding myself against his leg in hoped of relieving the pressure. Of
course, that did nothing but make it more unbearable.
Axel began to attack my mouth with his own with added vigor, and his hands
slowly made their way lower on my body until he was cupping me through the
fabric of my jeans. I shuddered with desire, and felt his hands undoing and
sliding my jeans and underwear off. I lifted my hips to help him, and he
stopped kissing me so he could slide them down past my ankles and toss them
onto the floor.
I stared at him, chest heaving and eyes blown wide as he ran a thin finger down
the underside of my erection, then grabbed the base. I shuddered as he brought
his head down, not breaking eye contact even when he teased the tip with his
tongue. My erection twitched in his hand, and he grinned, a second before he
took my entire length into his mouth. I gasped at the feeling of the wet warmth
that enveloped me, and my hips buckled. Eyes fluttering closed and head falling
back, I let out a long moan of pleasure as he deep throated me.
“Axel… unh...” I reached down, hand finding his hair and fisting the red
strands. I was coming undone so fast, much faster than when I did it alone.
Axel started moaning as his head bobbed, and the sensation almost sent me over
the edge. “Nn… A- Axel, I … I’m close…” I gripped his hair tighter and cried
out as he chucked around my dick. A bone-deep shudder went through me as I came
in a blinding wave of ecstasy, and I cried out. Axel sucked harder, draining
every drop of cum as I orgasmed. Only was I completely dry did he pull away,
swallowing as he did so. He crawled up the bed, lying down beside me and
pulling me into his arms before draping the thin blanket over us. I rolled onto
my side, facing him. “What about you? I asked. He still had a raging hard-on, I
could feel it pressing up against my leg.
He gently pressed his lips to my forehead. “I can wait. You’re probably pretty
worn out right now.” I nodded, lethargy already taking over as I snuggled
closer.
“So that’s what you were so scared to tell me?”
Axel chuckled. “Seems kinda silly now, I know, but I had no way of knowing if
you were even gay. And I wasn’t about to ask out of the blue. Besides, Naminé
has been crushing on you since she got here, and you hadn’t exactly been
pushing her away – which you better start doing now. But I thought you liked
her, or something.”
I smiled. “I do like her.” Axel stiffened, but I kept talking quickly, afraid
he would kick me out of the bed. “I do like her, but not like you think. She’s
cute, sure, but there’s the small fact that she’s a girl. Makes things a bit
problematic, you know?” Axel relaxed at my words, once again holding my closer.
“Good. I don’t want anyone stealing you away from me, Roxy.”
I almost told him off for calling me that, but I figured he’d earned the right.
And besides, I was already drifting off to sleep.
Chapter End Notes
     AKUROKUUUUUUU MY BABIES ARE ALL GROWN UP!!!
     is is sad that i fangirl over my own stories? jeez im such a hopeless
     nerd.
     also, wow short chapter. not my best.
***** Brothers *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas meets with Sora and his friends... and someone else.
Chapter Notes
     hehehe
     short chapter. but important chapter. :P
See the end of the chapter for more notes
I stood outside the house that Sora was staying at, my gut twisting in
anticipation. It had been two weeks since I had first heard of my brother’s
actions through Hayner, Pence, and Olette; two weeks of using all of my spare
time to gather more information on Sora.
When I wasn’t using up my spare time with Axel, that was.
The redhead had told me the dangers of seeking out Sora on my own, against the
Organization’s wishes - especially to talk and not to fight. But he also knew I
couldn’t just let my brother get himself into any more dangerous situations,
and that I had to try to talk him out of what he was doing.
Of course, this still didn’t mean he was happy about the whole thing. But here
I was, about to meet with my brother for the first time in over a month and a
half.
I reached up and knocked on the door, lightly, but still loud enough to be
heard.
I could hear footsteps coming to the door, and pause – the person was probably
checking the peephole to make sure I wasn’t any threat. Not that a threat would
be dumb enough to knock. Still, I raised my hands to show that they were empty
– not that that meant I was unarmed, since I didn’t need to carry my weapons on
me anyway. Not that they needed to know that particular detail yet.
The door opened and an older man stepped out, with light blond close-cropped
hair, chewing some stick of some sort. “Whadd’ya want, kid?” He asked, his
voice gruff.
I took a breath. “I need to speak with Sora.”
The man glared at me. “Who are you, and what do you want with that boy?”
Obviously, the man was a little protective of my brother.
“I’m someone who needs to talk to Sora.” I raised my voice, yelling into the
interior of the house. “Hey Sora! Tell this old coot to let me in!” I bit back
a chuckle as a vein visibly pulsed in the man’s temple.
Then I heard a load “Whoa!” from inside, followed by a dull thud of a body
hitting the floor, and a scrambling sound. The next thing I knew, my brother
had pushed the older man aside and had literally leapt forwards, tackling me to
the ground in a hug.
“Ow!” I cried out as my head cracked against the concrete. “Is that how you
greet your brother after all this time? You tackle him to the ground and bash
his head in?” Sora sat up, laughing and wiping tears from his eyes. I pushed
myself into a sitting position and then ruffled my brother’s overly spikey
brown hair.
“Brother?” The grumpy man was pushed to the side again, this time by an
energetic-looking girl carrying a large ninja star. “I thought Roxas was
missing?” She bounded down the steps and stopped short when she saw us fully,
her dark eyes flicking between our faces. “Wow. Okay, are you sure you guys
aren’t twins? ‘Cuz apart from your hair, you guys look… pretty much identical.”
Sora laughed at the notion. “Nah, Yuffie – he’s my younger brother.”
I snorted. “Not like I act like the younger one. You still act like a grade
schooler!” Sora laughed. That’s the thing about my brother; you could make fun
of him all you want, but he won’t care. Chances are, he’ll probably join in.
“Come on, I want you to meet everyone!” Sora stood up, pulling me with him. He
almost tripped going up the stairs, but I pulled him back on balance, amused by
his excitement. Yuffie followed us in, practically bouncing with a big grin
plastered on her face.
Sora led me through a small entryway, opening up into a larger area which had
probably been a living room at some point. Now, although it still had couches,
it also had multiple chairs, computers and weapons scattered about the space. I
looked down at a box beside the doorway, and picked up what appeared to be a
flash-bomb before setting it down again, shaking my head in amusement.
“Ooh, who’s this? Sora, why didn’t you tell me we were having a guest?” A young
woman stepped into the room from another doorway and immediately walked up to
Sora, Yuffie and I.
“Aerith, this is Roxas. He’s my younger brother.” As Sora spoke, Aerith’s eyes
went to me, widening as my relation to Sora was mentioned.
“You’re the brother… that went missing?” I nodded, and the next thing I knew,
she was pulling me into a hug. “Welcome, Roxas, dear. We’re glad you found us.”
I smiled as she pulled back, tears burning at the back of my eyes. I had just
met her, and she was already acting like the loving mother I had never had.
“Everybody,” she called out. “We have a guest! Come meet him.” People started
trickling into the room, curious, and Sora introduced them one by one.
“Leon, this is my younger brother, Roxas.” I shook hands with the tall brunette
with a scar across his face.
Next to be introduced was Cid, the man from the door, and a very old man with a
grey beard reaching down towards the floor, going by the name Merlin.
A boy with silver hair came in next, stopping when he saw me. “Roxas,” he
whispered, surprise evident in his tone. I felt my guard go up. How had he
known who I was on sight, when I had never set eyes on him before in my life? I
looked over at Sora, who was blushing, gazing at the silverette with a look of
pure joy in his eyes.
“Riku!” Sora shouted, lunging to hug the other boy, who stepped forwards to
meet my brother halfway. “You’re awake! When did you wake up, Riku?” He froze,
probably just now registering what the other had said. “Oh, um… yeah, Roxas.”
He turned to me without extracting himself from Riku’s arms. “Roxas, this is
Riku. He’s… um, he’s my boyfriend.” Sora was gay? What were the chances?
I smiled. “I hope you’ve been treating him like a king, Riku. Or else I’d have
to hurt you.” I was only partly kidding, and I think the silverette noticed,
judging by the flicker his eyes gave before he grinned.
“I do. Even when he definitely does not deserve it,” he said, pecking Sora on
the cheek. The brunet grinned at both of us, visibly overjoyed that I had
accepted Riku, and his sexual orientation.
“What’s all the *yawn* commotion?”
I froze as the familiar voice filtered through the room, and Sora looked
sheepish. Um… I guess I should have warned you, but…” The brunet trailed off as
he realized I was not paying attention to him anymore. All my focus was on the
tall, spikey-haired blond man that had just entered the room and froze mid-
yawn, staring at me.
“Cloud… you came back,” I whispered.
Chapter End Notes
     CLOUD! I honestly couldn't resist putting him into this story, even
     though I tweaked his personality just the slightest. Whatever.
     Creative licence. I call claim to it.
***** Past Unveiled, Future Planned *****
Chapter Summary
     family drama. and lots and lots of tension. how will everyone handle?
Chapter Notes
     this was a bitch to type. not kidding. i hate long-ass chapters,
     especially ones i didn't write all that well.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Cloud chuckled. ”You’re one to talk, little brother. You – ngh!”
My eldest brother stumbled back as my fist connected with his face. “You left
us! Why come back now? You left us alone with mom, who hated us, and now you
come back, acting like nothing happened?! Why? Why not take us with you, you
selfish bastard?!” Tears from all my pet-up frustration and anger welled up.
“Why?!”
Cloud held his hands up in surrender. “Roxas, I –” I shook my head. I didn’t
want to hear his excuses, not when I was seeing this much red. So instead, to
shut him up, I socked him in the stomach then jabbed at his solar plexus,
turning as he dropped to the ground. I stormed out of the house and sat down on
the steps, wiping at my eyes. Damn tears, I thought. They make me seem so weak,
so childish.
I sat there for a few minutes, memories of my two brothers surging through my
mind, when I heard the door open. It closed, and I looked over to see Cloud
sitting down beside me.
I opened my mouth, the words “Shove off” on the tip of my tongue, but he held
up his hand.
“Wait, let me speak before telling me to shove it and leave.” The corner of my
mouth twitched. Even after all these years, he still knew me well enough to
predict what I was going to say. I stayed silent, although a part of me wanted
to beat him into a pulp, especially since I had a feeling he would probably
wouldn’t fight back, accepting my anger.
Cloud took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I left you with mom –” I snorted, and
without looking over, I could tell he was pinning me with a glare telling me to
shut up and give him a chance.
“I want you to know that if I could have brought you with me, I would have, in
a heartbeat. But I had no idea where I was going, how I was going to live, to
get a next meal. All I knew was that I had to get out of that house before I
committed homicide. And I’m honestly glad I didn’t take you with me – I was
living on the streets for the first month until I found work and someone who
was willing to take me in.” I blinked in surprise. I had always assumed he had
left with a plan, not just on a whim.
Cloud continued. “After the first three years, I had settled down, gotten an
apartment, and a steady job. Then I heard from dad. Or rather, from one of his
coworkers.” I perked up at this. He had been in contact with dad? I knew that
both he and Sora had seen the man before, though Sora hadn’t even been a year
old – our dad had left a few months before I had been born.
“She – the co-worker – told me that dad had terminal cancer, and that she’d
been trying to get in touch with his family members, but I was the only one she
was able to track down.” He paused, and I looked over to see Cloud staring at
the ground, tears glistening on his cheeks. “I stayed in a motel so I could
stay closer to him, but he died a month after that. And he was on life support
for most of that time, unconscious. I only had a few days to speak to him. I’m
sorry, Roxas. You would have loved the man.”
We sat there in silence, him regaining his composure, me trying to imagine what
dad had been like. Finally, Cloud cleared his throat before speaking again.
“Anyways… After that, I moved back to my old place, and started to get involved
with a bad crowd. Both mundane and magical. You know about magic, right?” I
nodded. “Well, I started a relationship with someone. A man named Sephiroth. At
that point, I was far too gone to care about how badly he treated me, and I put
up with his shit for two years. Then I heard about Sora, running around and
destroying the very things Sephiroth was looking for – and he heard too. So
when he went to… dispose… of Sora, I tagged along. Then I stabbed him in the
back. Not literally, of course, it was more like the side, but you get the
point. I’ve been helping these guys out since.”
Cloud fell silent once more, and I let his story sink in. if what he had said
was true…
Then I was glad he hadn’t taken us with him. At barely 9 years old, I wouldn’t
have lasted the month of homelessness, and with Sora also in tow, there would
have been no way Cloud could have provided for all three of us. And even if he
had managed… after dad’s death, what would have happened to us?
I sighed. Either way, everything worked out on its own, and it wasn’t like we
could change anything anyways. I turned to Cloud, who was waiting patiently for
me to decide whether or not to forgive him, and I hugged him. “Sorry for
hitting you.”
Cloud chuckled. “Nah, I deserved it. I should have come home after dad died, at
the very least.”
I shook my head. “Forget about it,” I said, standing. Then we went back inside,
side by side.
Sora looked up from where he was sitting – Riku’s lap – as we came in, face
anxious. “Are you…?”
I nodded. “We’re fine. Everything’s sorted out.”
Riku nodded, and Sora visibly relaxed, as did everyone else in the room.
“So… I’m gonna go ahead and ask what everyone else is thinking,” the silverette
said, his blue eyes staring into my own. “Where did you disappear to for a
month and a half?”
I stiffened at the question, and Cloud put a comforting hand on my shoulder,
sensing my guard going up. I had known this question would come up, and
quickly, but I still found myself caught unawares. I considered lying, but I
knew I had to tell the truth.
“You heard of Organization XIII?”
At the words, a tension erupted, and the entire room burst with sudden
conversation.
“The Mafia…”
“… collecting those damned Hearts…”
“They kidnapped you?”
I bristled. “No! They didn’t kidnap me! Well, I guess they did at first, or at
least, Axel did, but…” I took a breath, calming myself down. “I joined. I
wasn’t forced to do anything.” I decided to leave out the fact that my only
other choice at the time was death.
The occupants of the room stared at me in shock, and I looked around, eyes
finally meeting Sora’s, which were swirling with confusion and hurt.
“You’ve been with the Organization this whole time… helping them?”
I scowled. “They’re not all bad. Sure, our leader is absolutely terrifying and
evil and everyone would probably better off with him dead, and there’s two or
three members that I hate with a passion, but I’ve got some good friends in
that group. Actually, I’ve been in a relationship with one of them for about
two weeks now.” Sora looked confused, and Riku was downright pissed.
“Good members? One of them tried to burn me to a crisp two weeks ago! How can
you be friends with anyone in a group like that?” The silverette was fuming,
his lip curling. “I’ve still got burn scars from that fucking fire mage!”
I froze at his words, everything clicking into place. Two weeks ago… attacked…
flame-user… the colour drained from my face. “You… you’re the one Axel was sent
after?”
“That’s what that bastard’s name is? Maybe it’ll help me find him so I can kick
his ass again.” I felt a wave of protectiveness well up in me.
“He’s not a bastard! Axel is my best friend! No, he’s more than that, he’s…” I
trailed off. They didn’t really need to know the nature of my relationship with
Axel. At least, not yet. So I switched my train of thought, bringing up
something I had promised not to tell anyone. “He’s not the ass you think he is.
When he came back from his mission –“
“To kill me.”
I nodded, reluctantly. “Yes, those wore Xemnas’ orders. But Axel never planned
on killing you. He hates killing, even though he’s known as the Organization’s
assassin. And when he reported back to Xemnas, he told him that he’d killed
you.”
Riku cut in again. “Yeah, so he could keep his pride intact.”
Again, I shook my head, fighting annoyance at Riku’s lack of understanding.
“No, he did it because he didn’t want them to send him, or anyone else, after
you again. He figured he could say that he left you for dead, assuming you
wouldn’t survive.”
Riku still didn’t relax, although he didn’t seem to have anything else to say.
So I turned to Sora.
“Zexion’s with the Organization too, and I know you approved of him being my
friend. It’s not like he’s changed any since you last saw him. The only thing
that’s different is that he’s got more room and equipment for his experiments.”
Sora’s eyes widened.
“Zexion’s…”
I nodded, and the brunet turned to Riku. “If Zexion’s with them… they can’t be
all bad. Maybe he’s telling the truth about this Axel…”
Leon spoke up then, bringing the conversation back a bit. “So… how’d you get
them to let you in? Don’t you have to be really powerful?”
I sighed, then told them everything from the beginning, starting with Axel
saving my life in the alleyway, beating Larxene and finding my magic, and my
first mission. By the time I reached the end of my fight with the demon that
had possessed Naminé, I had enraptured everyone’s attention. The entire room
was silent when I had finished speaking about my history until now – with the
parts about my relationship with Axel left out.
“Roxy, you got Keyblades too?” Sora was looking at me with excitement in his
eyes. I nodded, despite his use of the nickname I only allowed Axel to get away
with, and summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Almost everyone in the room jumped
at the sudden presence of my two Keyblades, except for Sora, who merely grinned
and held out his hand – in which a simple silver-bladed Keyblade formed, with a
gold hilt. The design of the blade was an inverted crown, and was also very
dull, not looking weapon-like at all.
“And how do you fight with that? Smack people with is? There’s no proper
blade!”
Sora laughed. “I usually bash people over the head. Or use magic. Mostly magic.
Besides, it can change forms.” With that, he reached into his pocket and pulled
out a charm on the end of a chain, and proceeded to switch it with the charm
that was currently attached to the hilt of the Keyblade. As soon as it was
clipped on, the Keyblade transformed into a spikey silver-black blade that
honestly looked to spindly to be a proper weapon. But I knew from my own
weapons that looks could be deceiving. I nodded in appreciation of my brother’s
weapon, and he switched the chains again, reverting the Keyblade to its
original form. “See? And I’ve got so many charms, I can’t even keep them all on
me at once!”
“And each form has its own magic or something?” Sora nodded, confirming the
guess.
“Yup! Each form either had its own type of magic, or heightens my own. Gets
really helpful sometimes.” My mouth twitched into a smile as I imagined the
situations Sora must have gone through.
Suddenly a loud knock sounded on the front door, and Cid left to answer it.
Aerith looked flustered. “Two visitors in one day? That’s odd. I wonder who it
could be.” Everyone’s attention turned to the direction of the front door, and
I could hear the mumbles of words spoken through walls. Then a tall form
swathed in black with a flash of red burst into the room, colliding with e and
gathering me into a hug.
“Axel?! What are you doing here?”
Before the redheat could respond, I heard a quiet “you…” from behind me, the
words laced with a thinly-veiled threat of a fight.
I turned to Riku, Axel’s arms still draped over my shoulders. “Riku…” I warned.
Axel’s attention went to the silverette as I spoke, and he tensed around me.
There was a silence that stretched out into almost a full minute, during which,
the tension in the air was thick enough that I’d need a hacksaw to cut through
it.
Then I heard quiet footsteps entering the room, and everyone’s attention went
back to the doorway again, save Riku and Axel’s, who were still shooting
daggers at each other through their eyes.
As I turned my head, I caught a flash of slate-grey hair and a long black coat.
“Zexion!” Sora and I cried out at the same time, our voices perfectly in sync,
and the corner of Zexion’s mouth turned up.
“It’s good to see you alive and well, Sora.”
My brunette brother’s stretched wide in a smile. “You too, Zexy!”
Zexion paused, contemplating something. “Judging by your positive reaction to
me, despite my attire, I’ll make an educated guess by saying Roxas told you
everything?”
Sora nodded. “But I don’t understand how you are in the Organization – you
can’t even fight, not really. Not from what I've seen.”
Zexion sighed. “It’s true, I don’t fight hand to hand. Although I have whacked
Demyx upside the head with a dictionary a few times.” He sent a slightly
sadistic grin my and Axel’s way before continuing. “But mostly, I use magic.
Regardless, I’m not the best fighter, so I’m not usually sent out on field
work.”
I grinned as Axel spoke up, his attention finally on Zexion and not Riku.
“There’s also Demyx. He’s a total pacifist, but they let him in because he’s
insanely powerful despite his, um… lacking… intelligence sometimes.”
Zexion spoke again, turning his attention to me. “But that doesn’t matter. I
came here to ask you something: What are you doing here? Superior will kill you
brutally if he finds out your fraternizing with his enemy.”
I sucked in a breath, then let it out in a rush. “He’ll also kill me, or at the
very least use me, if he finds out Sora is my brother. I came here to try and
get Sora to keep a low profile.”
I saw Sora’s eyes widen at the exchange out of the corner of my eye. Zexion
scowled at me. “He already suspects something. Your behavior change was too
sudden – he sent you out to investigate Sora and since then you’ve been
spending all your free time with Axel or out of the compound on your own.” He
turned his attention to Axel, whose chin was resting on my head. “Superior also
suspects you’re planning on defecting. Axel too, because of your relationship.”
A swell of panic flooded through me, and Axel pulled me close, folding his arms
around me in a protective grip. “I won’t let that bastard hurt Roxas,” he
growled.
“And neither will I!” Sora shouted, reminding me of our audience. Soon after,
murmurings of support were flying about the room, and even Riku had agreed with
Sora. Happiness shot through me. These people loved and trusted Sora enough to
fight for someone they had just met who happened to be working for their enemy.
Axel kissed the crown of my head tenderly. “See? You’ll be fine, Roxas. We’ll
all be fighting for you.” He looked over at Zexion. “And if Roxas does, then
I’ll defect as well, no matter the consequences. I won’t stand for being sent
after him.”
Zexion nodded. “I’ll stay. An insider might be useful, and I doubt they’ll send
me after you.”
Riku cleared his throat from behind me, and I turned, still enveloped by Axel’s
strong arms. “Roxas… you mentioned being in a relationship with an Organization
member. You wouldn’t happen to be gay as well, would you?”
Axel answered before I could even open my mouth. “Oh, my Roxy is completely
gay!” I facepalmed. Axel knew no subtlety.
“Yes, I’m gay, and I’m with flamsilocks, here.”
Axel pouted. “Hey! It’s bad enough the entire Organization calls me that – I
don’t need everyone else jumping on the bandwagon!”
I grinned up at him. “Deal with it, sucker. You get to call me Roxy, so I get
to choose my own nickname for you. And that’s what I chose.”
“Aww no fair, at least choose something better…”
Pretty much everyone in the room chuckled at his childish display, even Riku.
Then Zexion spoke up, catching everyone’s attention.
“Roxas, Axel, we need to get back – but before we do, I suggest we devise a
plan to get you out free.”
Chapter End Notes
     hehehe roxy and Axel are in danger... and i apologize for the next
     chapter in advance. its more of a filler than anything, cuz i couldnt
     figure out what to write.
***** Free? *****
Chapter Summary
     Roxas goes over the events of the past few days.
Chapter Notes
     I am really sorry for how horrible this chapter is. i didn't know how
     to write the actual scenes happening, so i just timeskipped and had
     him reflect on them.
     It is very sucky. Also, i have, like, two weeks left of school and
     TONS of projects due, plus studying for exams, plus all the
     graduation stuff going on, i have had very little free time to write.
     And since my thing is english, not science, wish me luck in my
     advanced-level chemistry class. hopefully i can actually pass the
     stupid thing with a mark over 60..
Two weeks later, I stood at the back door to a run-down house, the place we had
agreed on for me to hide for a few days, completely under the radar. It was an
old Victorian-style house, painted a dark indigo colour that was flaking off to
reveal a pale brown, and the porch seemed to be rotting in certain places.
Vines crawled up the sides of the building, burrowing cracks in the wood.
This was going to be fun.
I reached for the door, half expecting it to fall off its hinges, but it swung
open cleanly, not a squeak to be heard. I smiled. Zexion had probably gotten
someone to fix it up secretly without making it look fixed. To add to the
illusion of abandonment, I guess. After all, the windows were all boarded up in
case I had to venture up from the basement. Stepping through the doorway, I saw
that I was in the kitchen. I walked over to the sink and turned the tap on.
Clean water, sparkling clear, poured out. Good, I thought to myself.
I started to explore the house, ignoring the second floor, not quite trusting
the rickety-looking staircase. It was habitable enough on the ground floor,
anyways. The furniture in the living room was covered with thin plastic sheets
to keep the dust off, but those could be removed. There was a bathroom, fitted
with one of those claw-footed bathtubs, and a closet full of clean, non-dusty
towels. There was also what appeared to be a spare room, what looked to have
been used as a library, shelves lining three of the four walls. I felt a slight
disappointment at the fact that the tomes had been removed, but I knew they had
probably been removed when the person last living here had moved out.
Satisfied with my findings, I headed to check out the basement. The stairs were
silent as I went down them, and I felt along the wall for a switch, but found
none. Then, straining my eyes in the darkness, I spotted a thin chain catching
the light from upstairs. I walked towards it, hoping there was nothing in the
way for me to trip over in the darkness, and tugged lightly on it. I was
rewarded with a bright fluorescent light bulb glaring into my face, and I was
blinded for a moment as my eyes adjusted.
The basement wasn’t special. There were shelves on one wall, stocked with
canned food. A mini-fridge sat beside a small cot piled with blankets, and when
I checked it, I saw that it was stocked with a variety of pops and a few water
bottles. Also beside the mattress, on the other side, was a pile of clothes –
probably spares of Sora’s since someone might catch on if my own stuff went
missing from my room in the Organization. And since Sora and I were the same
size, it wasn’t that far of a stretch to wear his clothes.
Pleased, I collapsed on the cot and almost cried when Axel’s scent wafted up
from the pile of blankets – he must have stuck one of his own in the pile. I
pinpointed which one it was, threw the rest on the floor and curled up, the
soft, slightly worn blanket wrapped around me like a fabric cocoon. I sighed in
content, quickly drifting off to sleep.
Faking my own death had been harder than I had expected, and I was wiped out.
-oOo-
The next few days were pure torture. To make sure there were no suspicions of
my apparent ‘death’; I was completely cut off from any outside contact. I
wasn’t even allowed to so much as take a peek outside.
And all I had for amusement was my mind; which was more of another torture
device at the moment that a form of entertainment.
As far as I knew, my part of the plan had gone well, and Xemnas didn’t expect a
thing. I had gone up to him a little less than a week ago and asked if I could
get another solo mission since I had done so well on my last. I had suggested
sighting a target, so I could prove my strength.
Xemnas had said he would consider it, so I sent word via an anonymous messenger
that the plan was in motion. A few days later, Could had been sighted, and I
did recon, bringing the information to Xemnas along with the rumor that he was
fighting for Sora. After some convincing that I could handle myself, Xemnas had
agreed to send me out the next day on a solo mission to dispose of Cloud. I had
acted eager, and some of it hadn’t been an act. Sure, I had been nervous, but I
was anxious to get it all over with and rid myself of the Organization.
When I confronted Cloud, I hadn’t had to fake my nerves – just what they were
about. I knew my brother would never seriously hurt me, although he still had
to injure me to make our fight look realistic. After all, Cloud had chosen an
area with an audience – witnesses, if you will.
We fought for almost an hour straight, and I still wonder where Cloud had
gotten that kind of stamina – I had started tiring out after half an hour. But
when he decided we had fought enough, he had tossed a bomb at me, a fire and
shrapnel mix. It had exploded at my feet, as planned. Since the shrapnel was on
a bit of a delay, I had let the edge of the flame engulf me before shielding
myself with Oathkeeper’s protective light. I was sure to let myself burn a
little first, and I weakened the protective shell around me so the shrapnel
could do some minor damage, before dropping it just before the fire completely
dissipated, leaving singed and bloody body visible. I had collapsed, making
every muscle in my body go limp, and had heard Cloud walk over to me, sword
still at the ready as he ‘checked’ for signs of life. After muttering “Good,
he’s dead,” under his breath, he had grabbed ahold of my ankle and dragged me
to the river a side-street over. Before he had tossed me in, he had discretely
placed a snorkel-like device that would allow me to breathe underwater in my
mouth.
I hit the water hard, and it had taken all my strength to not tense up, and to
just let myself float like a dead body down the river.
After what had felt like forever, I had felt three stones hit my back, a signal
we had devised to let me know I was far enough from the main city to get out of
the water. When I got out, Riku had given me a change of dry clothes and a
brown cloak, along with the directions to my current hideout.
Everything had gone according to plan so far. The rest was up to Axel.
My gut twisted as I thought of his role in the plan. Certain parts shouldn’t be
too hard, but still…
He had to wait a few days after my “death”, pretending to grieve, then storm
into Xemnas’ office, demanding to be sent after Cloud so he could extract his
revenge.
Everything hinged on Xemnas granting him that privilege. If he didn’t, then
Zexion would have to come up with something else to get Axel out. But if it did
work, Axel would have to face Cloud – and unlike with me, they would actually
fight, not just fake it. If Axel followed the plan, then he would pretend to
get overly worked up during the fight, losing control of his supposed anger.
Under truthful circumstances, Axel’s magic would go insane without his mental
barrier keeping it under control, so that was what they planned on simulating.
“Using magic is tricky. Your amount of power is constantly fluxuating, and it
is possible to drain your magic, at which point, your body starts to use your
life force to continue manipulating your magic. Most people pass out before
this starts happening, their bodies having a built-in safety switch that
prevents from killing themselves accidently. However, since I’m pretty sure
Axel is not one of those unlucky few born without a failsafe, he will still
have to be dealt a finishing blow for him to die. Or appear to die, in our
case."
Since it was virtually impossible to drain your magic, Axel had to actually
push himself to the edge – putting his life in danger by doing so. It would
take him a few days for him to fully recover, and since he would be injured as
well…
I shivered at the thought of what Cloud had to do. I imagined that oversized
sword of his piercing Axel’s side, missing the vital organs by a few
millimeters. If my brother slipped even half a centimeter, I would never be
able to see Axel again.
“Please, Ax, don’t die…”
***** Returning to the outside *****
Chapter Summary
     roxas finally gets let out of his little abandoned house
Chapter Notes
     WHEEEEE IM BACK
     and totally drugged up right now, im surprised i remember how to
     type...
     thank god for spellcheck
     ahhhh i just got my wisdom teeth removed, and it is now reading week,
     so i have an entire week to laze about doing nothing - im supposed to
     stay in bed for the next few days at least, not that im complaining.
     it gives me time to get around to working on my poor neglected
     baby...
     AND IM SORRY IF THE CHAPTER ENDS REALLY WEAKLY i lost the last page a
     while ago, and because i actually wrote it out more than a few months
     ago, i totally forgot what i wrote, and now im not even sure what i
     was trying to end the chapter with....
     but here it is. and im just finishing up typing the next chapter, too
     :) yay for drugs; they make me productive lol
     and talkitive. ill shut up and let you read the chapter. youve waited
     long enough. you deserve more than my prattling on about nothing.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
I unlocked the door to the basement, easing it open, and slipped through into
the half-light of the morning streaming through the windows. It was my third
day in hiding, and I was out of water bottles and almost out of food, so I
decided to raid the kitchen for anything I could use.
I felt myself automatically put my guard up as I strained my eyes in the gray
lighting. And rightfully so, I realized as I heard footsteps near the back
entrance of the old house. I almost summoned Oblivion to defend myself, but
Zexion’s words came to mind, telling me that Xemnas could sense when someone
used their magic – and summoning either of my Keyblades would alert him to the
fact that I was still alive.
So, grabbing a heavy cast-iron frying pan from the counter, I crept back into
the shadows, lying in wait for the unfortunate intruders.
I jumped out at the two intruders as they stepped into the room, swinging the
pan at the figures.
“Sora?!” I yelled as I realized who the ‘intruder’ was, and I pulled the pan
back, barely missing my brother’s face.
The momentum caused the heavy pan to slip from my grip, the heavy cast iron
flying into a cupboard and bouncing, skidding across the floor.
I surged forward at my brother, pulling him into a crushing hug. “Sora, make
some noise, talk next time – I almost took off your head! I didn’t know if the
Organization had found me somehow, and I thought you were one of them…” I
trailed off, my eyes still wide with the fear of what I had almost done.
Aerith, who had come in behind Sora, put a hand on my shoulder, her face still
a little pale. “Roxas, dear, we made sure that would never happen. You should
have realized this.” She breathed deeply for a second, then a small smile
settled on her face. “But now that that scare is over, it’s time to reintroduce
you to the outside world.” She held up a bag. “Everything you need is in here.”
Sora snickered as he eyed the bag, and dread pooled in my stomach. ‘Oh no…’
---
An hour and a half later, after much brushing, scrubbing, and makeup-applying,
I stood in front of a full-length mirror in the hallway, staring at my new
reflection.
Aerith did really have a magic touch. I mean, I had always known I had a girly
figure, but…
I was wearing a long, floor-length ocean blue skirt, the flowing fabric
swirling around my feet. I had a loose sleeveless shirt, a brilliant white,
with a chestnut cord around the waist for decoration. The fabric sat in such a
way that it created the illusion of a female chest, wide hips, and a skinny
waist. On my feet was a pair of simple brown flats, the same colour as the cord
belt.
My gaze went to my face. I didn’t have any acne, so Aerith hadn’t wanted to use
any heavy makeup. A mixture of dark browns and blues covered my eyelids, and I
had a sheer gloss on my lips. My blonde hair was hidden, covered by a wig – a
deep chestnut colour, almost black, it fell past my shoulders to the middle of
my back. There were bangs, cut straight and low enough to cover my still-blonde
eyebrows.
I didn’t even recognise myself – I looked like a complete stranger. And
apparently Sora thought so too. “Wow. Are you sure you’re my brother? Scratch
that, are you sure we’re related?”
I chuckled at his reaction, suddenly grateful for the fact that my voice wasn’t
really low – it made it easier to pretend to be a girl. Pitching my voice high,
I cocked a hip to the side and smirked at my brother. “So, Sora. How do you
feel about having a younger sister?” The brunet looked me over, exaggerating
the movements, then pulled me into a hug, giggling.
“Does this mean I can pull off crossdressing? We look almost identical except
for our hair.” I giggled at his comment, the two of our voices filling the
quiet house until Aerith spoke up.
“I’m sure I can do that for you at some point. After this is all over, that
is.”
We all smiled at each other, and Aerith ushered me to the door, my brother
following behind.
“So Roxas, do you know where to go?” I shook my head. “Head down the road until
you reach the edge of town, then turn left at the first cross street. About a
block down is a small Café. You’ll recognize him when you see him.”
I started to question, but she turned me around and gently pushed me towards
the door.
I stood there for a couple of seconds after she shut the door, still confused.
I tried to get back in, but either Aerith was holding the knob or she had
locked it, because it wouldn’t open.
Giving up, I started walking down the road, the loose gravel getting into my
shoes. I had no idea how girls could stand wearing flats; I could feel every
piece of gravel under the soles, they were so thin.
After somewhere around ten minutes, I reached the edge of town, like Aerith had
said, and I kept going after ridding my shoes of all the accumulated stones. I
followed her directions, turning left at the first intersection and stopping
about a block in, at the entrance to a small café.
“Radiant Gardens”, the sign read, and there were flowers lining the outside of
the front, their scents filling the air.
This must be the place she was talking about, I thought as I made my way to the
door. It swung open as I reached my hand toward it, revealing an old man with a
white beard nearly reaching the floor. Merlin. The corner of my mouth lifted up
in a small smile, and I walked in.
Merlin ushered me through the café to a back room, empty except for a single
person sitting at a small table, his face hidden by a hood. The sweater was
black, and the person was wearing black skinny jeans with red converse.
When I walked into the room, the figure stood up, revealing his height. The
person rushed forward and pulled me into a hug, and I almost fought it off,
except a familiar scent permeated my senses. I returned the hug, pulling Axel
closer to me, burying my face against his chest. “Axel,” I said, my voice
breaking.
I had spent the last few days going over the many “what-if’s” of the plan,
images of Axel hurt, or worse, actually dead, spinning in my head. I felt tears
prick the corners of my eyes, and I fought back a sob. “I – I kept thinking
everything would go awry, and that you’d be dead by the time I came out of
hiding…”
Axel chuckled and pulled back, holding me at arms-length. “You honestly think
I’d die that easily? And leave you to live without me?” Although the top half
of his face was in shadow, I could feel him looking at me. He lowered his hood,
proving me right when I saw his green eyes burning into mine, a mixture of
humour, happiness, and longing in them.
I blinked a few times, noting Axel’s change in appearance. His fiery red hair
was slicked back into a low ponytail – seriously slicked back, not just a
little bit. The strands shone in the low light of the room.
I could tell by how he was standing that he was favouring his left side,
presumably where Cloud had stabbed him. There was a faint sheen of sweat
covering his visible skin, testifying to the pain he was in, an I felt a wave
of sympathy go through me.
It also took me a bit, but I finally figured out what was so different – his
purple tattoos, reminiscent of teardrops, were gone. Well, not necessarily
gone, merely covered in a thick layer of makeup. I had a feeling Aerith had
done it, since I could barely make out the evidence of any cover-up. I smiled
as I reached up and touched his face right below where I knew the tattoos still
resided.
“you look so odd without them.” I said, my voice hushed. In the back of my
mind, I noticed that Merlin had left us, closing the door behind him.
Axel kissed me lightly, a butterfly’s kiss, before responding. “Those tattoos
had become a symbol of Number VIII. Makes my identity a dead giveaway. Aerith’s
researching a more permanent method of hiding them, rather than makeup.” He
paused, kissing me again. “I’ve missed you, Roxas.”
I returned the kiss, this time with more passion. Axel seemed the slightest bit
surprised, but soon claimed dominance, picking me up and setting me down on the
edge of the small table. I wrapped my legs around his waist, drawing him
closer, grinding myself against him. We moaned in unison, without breaking our
heated kiss. I felt Axel’s hands move from my waist down my thighs, and then he
was moving my skirt up – I’d temporarily forgotten about my disguise – running
his hands towards the centre of my desire.
It didn’t take long before I came in a wave of white ecstasy, crying out. I
quickly returned the favor to Axel, and within minutes, Axel was leaning
against the wall, with me in his arms. He was still breathing heavily, just
slightly, and I reached up to brush my hand across his cheek over his hidden
tattoos.
“I missed you.”
He nodded. “I know. Me too. And I’m going to kill Zexion for this, but he wants
us both to lie low for almost another week. Apart.”
I pulled back. “I’m not allowed to stay? And you can’t be moved to where I’m
staying?” I frowned. I agreed with Axel on that point – I was seriously going
to hurt the slate-haired schemer.
“You are allowed to leave because you have an effective disguise.” He kissed my
forehead, over he bangs of my wig. “I wont be allowed outside again for a
while, since my disguise isn’t nearly good enough. It will do if someone sees
me in passing, but I couldn’t pull off walking the streets until winter, or at
least until colder weather arrives.”< />
I frowned at the logic, but stayed silent, burying my face in his chest. I
wouldn’t enjoy being apart from Axel any longer than I absolutely had to, but I
turned the thought away, instead focusing on the fact that we were here,
together, at this moment. We would face the rest as it came.
Chapter End Notes
     and there you have it.
     *blushes* i still find it hard to write smutty scenes... (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄
     ⁄)⁄
     dear lord i have sinned and i do not give a shit
     i am going to hell, this isnt even the last scene im planning with
     them getting all hot n bothered
     aaaaaaand im rambling again. sumimasen, folks, blame the drugs. or
     blame me, im normally like this anyway lol.
***** Deception *****
Chapter Summary
     frenchies and pink.
Chapter Notes
     and here is the second chapter for today.. after which, im going to
     pass out because the meds are making me suuuper tired.. ill try to
     get some more work on this tomorrow.
Over the next week, I made daily trips uptown, sometimes to visit Axel, but
others just to wander and get acquainted with that section of the city.
Radiant Gardens was a beautiful subsection of Hollow Bastion, the main city.
Also, being the French quarter, there was a high concentration of French
accents. I found that even after a few days, I was already adopting the accent
as my own, my words becoming slightly slurred in certain areas and clipped in
other.
I had also made friends with one of the French residents, a young girl by the
name of Aureole. She was petite, smaller than me, and had waist-length wavy
hair, a light silver colour tipped with a rosy pink. Her green eyes were light,
the colour of spring grass, and while still beautiful, they were nothing
compared to Axel’s striking emerald.
Aureole was soft-spoken, her lilting words quiet, but she had decided to teach
me the basics of her language. Soon I could speak simple sentences, perfecting
my accent while doing so.
Axel also noticed the change in my speech, and I had responded in a slew of
French words. It was then that I found out he had a big weakness for French.
Really, I had only spoken random words, talking about a green cat, or something
along those lines, but Axel didn’t understand a word of it and just focused on
how I sounded. Which ended up with him giving me a blowjob, saying it was my
reward for being so adorable.
It was almost noon, and at the moment, I was headed uptown to meet with Aureole
again. Aerith had supplied me with a few clothes like the first set I had worn
as a “girl”, and I was currently walking down the slightly crowded street in a
pale pink dress gathered at the waist, its skirts flowing around my feet.
I nodded at the people passing by, recognising most of them from my times
wandering the streets. For the most part, the people said hello in response,
and a few tried to strike up a quick conversation.
Then one person caught my eye.
Tall, dressed in a pale pink t-shirt and black jeans, his long pink hair
fluffed out around his shoulders, Marluxia walked down the busy street of
Radiant Gardens. I quickly looked away, my heart racing. It was time to test
just how good my disguise really was.
The flamboyant man didn’t seem to see me at first, but he did a little double-
take as he passed by me, turning and setting his hand on my shoulder.
“Roxas? I thought you were dead! Why are you dressed as a girl?” my stomach
sank with his words, and I quickly stammered out my cover.
“Roxas? Y-you know Roxas?” The man’s eyes narrowed, and I could see the
confused light in his eyes. “Is he well? Where is he? Why did he just leave me?
Mon dieu! That boy will be the death of me.” I couldn’t help but slip a little
touch of dramatics into my questions.
Marluxia grabbed my shoulders and bent down to my level so he could look me
into my eyes. “Who are you?”
I huffed, playing the part. “Ça suffit avec les questions!” I gently removed
his hands from my shoulders and took a step back, breathing deeply to regain my
composure. “My name is Annette, and I am la soeur de Roxas.”
Marluxia started at the ‘information’ I had just given him. “Roxas has a
sister?” I nodded. “Well, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but…” He
looked around anxiously, quite obvious in his attempts to avoid eye contact.
“Um… he was in a gang. That’s where he disappeared to.”
I feigned surprise. “Mon dieu! But Roxas… He does not like violence… he is a
quiet boy… how has he survived this long?”
Marluxia fell silent, and he quickly looked around. Apparently finding what he
was looking for, he grabbed my hand in his and led me over to a small café and
bakeshop. He ignored my question until we had settled in at a table near the
back, out of earshot of the majority of the customers.
“You see… I’m not supposed to talk to anyone about this, but you’re his sister,
so you deserve to know.” He leaned forwards, elbows resting on the table.
“Roxas was mugged in the street and one of our members saved his life. Our
leader gave him the choice of joining or dying, and your brother passed his
initiation. He was a good member, strong despite his size. I respected him,
although I didn’t try to get to know him.
I blinked in surprise. What was he saying? I thought he hated me – he had had
such disdain for me when I first joined, and I hadn’t noticed anything change,
but now he was saying he had respected me? I tried to tell if he was lying just
because he thought I was my sister, but all I saw was sincerity.
Marluxia continued, oblivious to my reaction to his words. “To be honest, I
hated him at first. He hurt the person I sacrificed everything for, just so he
could get in, and I let it blind me. I only recently realized that I had come
to respect him as my comrade, not long after he –” He stopped himself before he
said anything more, and I knew he was steeling himself for having to deal with
a crying girl. Which he would get.
“Annette… Roxas died over a week and a half ago, on a solo mission. His body
was thrown into a river, so it was never recovered.”
My breath caught at the words. Hearing from them someone else’s mouth as fact
caught me off guard, and I felt a slight bit of panic well up in me, though I
didn’t know why.
I was suddenly thankful for being a fairly emotional person, as tears welled up
in my eyes, spilling over my cheeks. “Died…? Roxas… Mon petit frère… why?” I
collapsed on the table, shaking with sobs, and I felt Marluxia’s large hand
settle on my shoulder, trying to comfort me.
I felt the tears dry up, and I stood, my face hard. “Who?” I asked, my voice
dripping with venom. “Who killed my brother?”
Marluxia shook his head. “I wasn’t entitled to that information. All I know is
what I’ve heard on the streets – that a man with spikey blonde hair carrying an
oversized sword killed him.” He stood and stared at me for a second, as if
waiting for not knowing anything useful. I let the rigidness drain out of my
body, legs almost collapsing, and Marluxia rushed forwards to catch me,
steering me towards my chair.
“I – I can’t do anything… if Roxas couldn’t, I definitely cannot.” Marluxia
frowned at my defeated words.
“Because you are a girl? Just because you are a girl does not mean you can’t
fight!” He seemed to be quite passionate about this, and I chuckled sadly.
“it’s not that. I’m a pacifist. I hate to see anyone hurt, despite my
occasional temper.” That wasn’t exactly a lie. After leaving the Organization,
I wanted nothing to do with violence, and it definitely had killed me a bit
every time I had been forced to hurt someone – even if they were dead-set on
disposing of me as a corpse.
“oh, crap!” I looked up at surprise at Marluxia’s exclamation.
“What is it?” I asked, my voice still quiet.
He looked at me, his voice sheepish. “I was supposed to meet my cousin a while
ago – it’s not your fault, I just get sidetracked so easily.” He blushed
lightly, and I was mesmerized by this side of him. He was so warm and open,
such a change from his cold indifference an almost anger he had shown me while
I was still in the Organization.
“Do you want to meet her? If you don’t have anything already planned, that is.”
I met Marluxia’s shy smile with one of my own, and stood up. “I’d love to.” I
figured that going over to visit Aureole could wait, since she wasn’t exactly
expecting me today.
We exited the café and made out way down the streets. The entire way, Marluxia
kept up a steady stream of commentary on his favourite cousin, obviously very
excited to see her – something he only got to do a few times a year if he was
lucky, he informed me.
We turned down multiple side streets, then finally stopped at a simple, single-
floor brick home, identical to the others on the street except the pink
curtains hanging in the windows. Marluxia walked up the steps and knocked three
consecutive times, waited a second, then knocked again, this time twice.
Almost immediately after lowering his hand, the door swung open, and a petite
form flew across the threshold into Marluxia’s arms. The large man took a half-
step back, narrowly missing the edge of the top stair.
“Marly! Tu et arrive!” I am so happy; It surely has been too long.”
My eyes widened at Aureole’s voice, and I jumped slightly as she poked her head
from around Marluxia, a grin stretching across her face. “Annette! A pleasant
surprise! I was not expecting to see you today.”
I smiled at her, still shocked at her relation, and Marluxia turned to me,
eyebrows raised. “You know Aureole already?” He asked, and I nodded. “She’s
been teaching me French.”
Apparently, it was possible for Marluxia’s eyebrows to raise further, because
they did. “Aureole taught you French? I thought you were French. You have the
accent of a French-born.”
Aureole spoke before I could. “oh, non, non. She is not French. When I first
met her, she was as English as she could possibly be. Not an accent in sight.”
“Then how –”
I cut him off. “I picked up on the accent.”
“Oui – and not even a week later, here she is, with an accent almost as
pronounced as mine.” Which was saying something, as I had trouble figuring out
what she was saying at times, her accent had come on so strongly.
The petite silver-pinkette gestured for us to come inside, and we did so. I
noticed Marluxia give me a funny look as I passed him, following Aureole
through the house to her living room. She told us to have a seat, then left to
put some tea on.
I sat down on a chair by the window, and Marluxia followed suit, taking a place
on the couch.
“So you moved here recently?” I could hear just a touch of suspicion in his
tone, and my stomach fluttered in anxiousness. I cleared my throat. “yes. I
moved here two weeks ago, just after my mother died.” As much as I hated
bringing the woman into the conversation, I decided it was one of the better
options for a cover story. In truth, she had been dead for years, but I decided
to twist the story. “my father died 2 years before, so I’m on my own now.”
“Mon dieu! Aureole set her tea tray down on a side table and rushed forwards to
pull me into a crushing hug. “Ma chère, why didn’t you tell me?”
I smiled at her concern. “I didn’t want you to worry about me.”
She moved over to the couch, setting down beside, who’s suspicious expression
had softened exponentially. He shook his head sadly. “there has been too much
death lately.”
Aureole and I looked at him. “what do you mean, Marly? Has something else
happened?” Aureole’s voice was sad, and Marluxia nodded.
“Larxene was killed on a mission two days ago.”
The information cane as a shock to me. As much as I’d disliked her, I couldn’t
see the Savage Nymph of the Organization just dying.
Aureole closed her eyes, a grave expression on her innocent face. “I am truly
sorry for your loss, Marluxia. But you know that I have hated that bitch from
the moment I met her, and a small part of me rejoices that she is no longer
with us.” I was shocked by her words, more so than by the news of Larxene’s
death itself.
Marluxia’s eyes looked to the window. “The flamboyant flame-user has kicked the
bucket, too, so that’s a plus, I guess.”
I felt a surge of indignance at Marluxia’s words, and I opened my mouth to
defend Axel, a stormy expression on my face, but then stopped – Annette was not
supposed to know about Axel, and if I was to suddenly come to his defence…
“Marluxia! Don’t be so flippant! You are speaking of someone’s death, a
comrades and not an enemy’s! You can’t just say things in that way.” Aureole
was very passionate in her telling off the large pink-haired man, and I smiled
sadly as she turned to me. “At least your brother is still alive, dear. I don’t
know what you would do if he wasn’t. He’s all you have left.”
Marluxia stiffened, and put a hand to his cousin’s shoulder. “Aureole… Roxas is
dead. And I just told her earlier, so please, do not rub salt on the wound.”
The silver-pinkette looked between Marluxia and I, confusion flickering in her
eyes. “Roxas? Who is Roxas? I was speaking of Sora.”
I stiffened at her words. I should have not trusted her with that information.
“Sora? The one who has been destroying all of the Hearts of Magic he can get
his hands on?” Marluxia’s voice was once again suspicious. I nodded, knowing
there was no way out of this one.
“Yes, Sora is my brother.”
“So Roxas, the same Roxas who was fighting Sora alongside the rest of the
Organization, is Sora’s brother.”
“Yes.”
I could see the pieces clicking together in the man’s head, and he narrowed his
eyes at me. “You’ve been lying to me, haven’t you, Annette.” This was
definitely not a question, but rather aa statement made in all certainty. I
swallowed, my gaze to the floor.
“Or should I call you Roxas?”
Aureole gasped. “What? What is going on here?”
Sighing, I braced myself for a fight. “Fine. Yes, I am Roxas. Now, what are you
going to do? Report to Xemnas? I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that. I have
too much at risk.”
Marluxia just stared at me from his spot on the couch as I stood up. Then he
started chuckling, and my eyed bugged, taken aback by the unexpected response.
“What?!”
The pink-haired man doubled over, breaking into full-on laughter. “To think…
you’ve been living under the Organization’s nose this whole time – and as a
French girl, no less. Brilliant!” He calmed down, finished with his outburst.
“And no, I will not report you. Unless you secretly want me to. I’ve been
wanting out for a long time now, but Larxene wanted me to stay. And on top of
that, the Organization knows where Aureole lives – they will use her if I show
even a sign of defecting.”
I relaxed as he paused, then groaned. “Does this mean Flame-boy’s alive and
kicking as well?” I nodded, a smile seeping onto my face. “Lovely.” But despite
his sarcasm, I could hear the humour in his tone. He might not like Axel, but
they weren’t mortal enemies, either.
We spent the next few hours talking, getting to know each other better, and I
found out that Marluxia had not, in fact, been dating Larxene – he had actually
found the proposition disgusting, but put up with it for Larxene’s sake.
He told me that his parents had adopted Larxene, and before they died, had made
Marluxia promise not to abandon her. Marluxia had stayed true to his word; even
going against his conscience by joining the Organization after she got in. He
had known that if Xemnas had found out about their true relationship, he might
have used it against them, so Marluxia and Larxene had pretended to be lovers
to cover for them spending so much time together.
Now that Larxene was gone, he just wanted out of the Organization so he could
live his live in peace.
When it started to darken outside, I decided it was time for me to leave. I
told Marluxia to speak with Zexion. I couldn’t guarantee his escape, but he
should at least know who else was on our side.
As I was about to walk out the door, he offered to bring Naminé to see me
tomorrow, and I smiled, looking forward to seeing another friend from the
organization.
***** Relationships *****
Chapter Summary
     meeting with the group to go over the plan
Chapter Notes
     aaand im back.
     this is my form of procrastination. i have a grand total of 23
     projects either due or extended to next week.... and i havent started
     any of them. but good news; i have a new chapter for you. and this is
     the last calm chapter. shits about to go down after this. i need to
     relearn how to write fights. havent done any in a while.
I sat in the back room of Merlin’s café with Axel, the two of us waiting for
our visitors. Zexion had used another random person off the street as a
messenger, sending us the message that he would be visiting with a few others
at noon.
I looked up at the clock. 11:59. Knowing Zexion…
The second hand ticked into position, pointing at 12, and the door opened to
reveal Zexion.
“Exactly 12, to the second. Nice, Zexion.” Axel grinned and slid his arm ever
my shoulders as he leant back in his chair, balancing it on two legs.
Zexion stepped into the small room and sat down after pulling a chair up to the
table. As soon as he settled down, Marluxia strode in, Naminé close behind. I
smiled at the blonde, and she smiled back shyly. “Hello”, she said quietly.
“Hello, Naminé.” At my voice, her eyes widened.
“Roxas? You’re a girl?” I chuckled. Apparently, neither Zexion nor Marluxia had
mentioned that my disguise included cross-dressing.
“It’s my disguise.”
She giggled. “It’s good.”
Then someone bounded into the room and draped himself over Zexion, who
immediately grunted from the weight. “Dem… get off.”
Demyx whined, then went and grabbed a chair, placing it beside Zexion’s before
sitting. “But I want a hug!”
I felt Axel sit up straight, surprised by Demyx’s appearance. “Dem! What are
you doing here?” He turned slightly, speaking to Zexion. “Zexion, what is he
doing here?” I giggled at Axel’s reaction to his old friend.
Zexion looked at his lap, blushing. “I – we –” Demyx cut him off by planting a
chaste kiss on his lips, and the slate-haired teen flushed a deep red – much
like Axel’s hair. Both Axel and I gasped in surprise. Zexion and… Demyx? When
had that started? I shook my head, overwhelmed. They were so different, I had
definitely not seen that one coming.
Zexion smiled shyly at the blonde, then his face flushed an even deeper red as
he remembered he was not alone.
“Whoa, Dem…” Axel paused as the scene in front of him registered fully. A grin
slowly split his face. “Nice catch,” he said, his tone impressed.
Demyx grinned, eyes shining. “I know, right? I’m so proud I finally got him to
notice his feelings for me!”
Zexion gave him a dry look. “more like you finally realised what you felt and
decided to make me fall for you – all the science in the world, and I have
absolutely no clue how you managed it.”
Laughter filled the room at the comment. We all knew Demyx had a habit of
growing on you without you noticing. Whether you initially liked him or not.
Face still burning, Zexion cleared his throat, gathering everyone’s attention.
“People. We are here for a reason, and it’s not discussing my love life.”
Marluxia, now standing against the closed door, nodded and set his hand on
Naminé’s shoulder, who was beside him. “I agree. We must move, leave here. So
we can stop living in secret under Xemnas’ radar.” Zexion opened his mouth to
add something, but was cut off by Demyx’s excited cry.
“Yeah! And we’re gonna get out of here, right under moo-moo’s nose!”
Confusion rippled through me at the man’s words. “Moo-moo?” I whispered to
Axel. He chuckled. “Xemnas has a special coat. It turns a black and white
pattern whenever he uses a specific power. We called it his moo-moo suit,
although he would kill us if he ever found out.”
I laughed. They had guts, calling the Superior that, even if only behind his
back.
“Anyway. I have a contact that can make your fake identities official. You will
need to go back to Hollow Bastion, however.”
My blood ran cold. Hollow Bastion? Organization XIII’s home city? Demyx hadn’t
been kidding when he had said right under Xemnas’ nose. “What if we run into
someone?” I asked, nervousness setting in.
“You must either hope they don’t recognise you, or fight.” Zexion’s words were
flat, blunt. He wasn’t joking around. Running wouldn’t do anything, and we all
knew that. “You will leave as soon as we are done here. Speaking of which,” he
turned to Marluxia, “you should go now. Make sure Naminé gets out safely at
least.”
Marluxia nodded, then turned to leave, guiding Naminé in front of him. Demyx
frowned at Zexion. “do we have to go now as well, or can we wait a bit?”
Zexion shook his head, and Demyx relaxed, a grin settling on his face once
again. “Yay!” He turned to Axel. “Hey, Ax, guess how I finally won over Zexy
for good?”
Axel and I burst out in laughter at the look of panicked embarrassment on the
bookworm’s face at the words. “Sure,” Axel wheezed out through his laughter.
“Don’t you dare.” Zexion’s voice was icy, despite the slight quiver. He covered
his face, which was once again rivalling Axel’s hair in colour. “Demyx, we will
leave right now if you don’t shut up about this.” Axel and Demyx grinned at
each other.
“Let’s just say no one really wants to use the baths after what we did.”
I flushed almost as red as Zexion at the implication, and Axel high-fived the
water-mage. Which of course led to Demyx being dragged out of the room
unceremoniously as Zexion called a hasty goodbye over his shoulder. The door
clicked shut to leave me and Axel in silence and the redhead looked down at me,
an impish grin on his face. I groaned in exasperation before walking over to
lock the door. I really didn’t want anyone to walk in on whatever was coming
next.
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