Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix and Disney. I gain no profit from this fanfiction.

Note: written for livejournal's 24hourthemes challenge, theme: 20:00 leadership, command and guidance. 1024 words.

Rating: K

Summary: Axel considers the role that Xemnas has played in his existence.

The Superior

When Xemnas had first found Axel and given him his new name he had just been preparing himself to settle down for another night alone. He could remember the scene as if it were playing out again right before his eyes, because in those few moments his life was drastically changed forever.

It had to have been at least eight o'clock by then, and the moon was full that evening, although its splendor was mostly hidden behind the thick clouds that were about. When the dark portal first appeared he chalked it up to be nothing more than a trick of the shadows, after all it was an abnormally dark night. But when he realized that it was not his imagination he surprised himself by how unfazed he still remained. He suspected that this was due to his recent discovery of his ability to conjure fire right out of the palm of his hand. After that it was difficult to be surprised by anything.

No, what really gave him pause was the man that stepped out of the portal. He was covered from head to foot in black: gloves, boots, and a trench coat with a hood to cover his face and some really ornate drawstrings. In Axel's opinion it made him look like a show off. And an idiot.

"Who the hell are you?"

Axel, who wasn't even Axel yet really, had known that he was "different" for a while at that point. He hadn't always been, oh no; he could remember quite clearly a time- most of his life- that he had been perfectly normal. The memories were somewhat distant though, and disconnected; it was more like watching a movie that recalling past events of his own life. And then he'd woken up in this place. He was alone, but that didn't really matter because when other people were around he felt detached from them and usually managed to unintentionally push them away. But it didn't bother him because, quite frankly, nothing bothered him anymore. He didn't feel anything anymore.

And did he mention that he could conjure fire?

So no, it was no secret to Axel that he was unusual. But he was still surprised when the man in the hood (the guy still hadn't introduced himself, something about his name not being important. Whatever that meant.) had asked him, "You're different, aren't you? From the people around you." Considering that Axel had never met this guy before, it should have been a secret to him. I should have known he would be the presumptuous type, Axel could remember thinking, it's the clothes.

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Have you ever wondered why?"

Of course he had wondered why! Who did this guy think he was anyway?! Axel might have been seemingly emotionless but he wasn't complacent.

This answer made the man laugh, a dark sound erupting from deep in his chest and although it sounded amused it contained no joy. To someone else it might have been depressing. As it was, Axel was just annoyed. This guy had implied that he had answers to Axel's questions, and now he wasn't talking. The last thing Axel wanted to do was give in to his curiosity, to give the presumptuous, badly dressed man the satisfaction of having the red head play right into his hand. But still, Axel had to admit that he had been strung along very well. After a few minutes of silence and futile resistance he gave in, and inquired.

The man's face was still hidden in shadow, but just imagining the smirk playing across it would have been enough to infuriate Axel were it actually possible.

Finally the man offered him not just one name, but two. He was Xemnas, and the red head before him could become Axel if he so chose. They were different, because they were nobodies. They had no hearts.

This came as quite a surprise to Axel, certainly he had never expected that he was lacking one of his supposedly more vital organs, but he couldn't seem to get the proper reaction to the news. At first he considered denying it, but the proof was against him there. He thought of being angry at himself- his former self- for dying and getting him stuck in this situation. He wanted to be upset about the knowledge of not having a heart; he tried to be upset. But he couldn't. Given the situation at hand, he supposed it made sense.

So he went with Xemnas- now The Superior, Number I- and he was given one of the garish jackets and a number. But it was different that being reduced to just another number. He was Number VIII. Axel. The Flurry of Dancing Flames.

He'd never had an identity, or a purpose. He'd never had answers. And he'd never had a family.

In a way, Xemnas had given him all of these things.

Axel had always had problems respecting authority. He wasn't good at taking orders, or showing humility. But he willingly called Xemnas his Superior, and there was a long time during which he probably would have died for him.

But it wasn't because Xemnas was a dictator, or that Axel was afraid of him. No, Xemnas had earned the respect he received in another way. He had cared. Or at the very least, he had pretended to care. And he was certainly the first person to ever do THAT for Axel.

Later Roxas would disagree. He would say that pretending to care and actually caring were two completely different things, and that it was doubtful Xemnas was doing the latter. He was a powerful fighter, and to Roxas that was the only area that he really gained respect.

Axel didn't care. He could easily admit that Xemnas wasn't perfect. While nobodies were technically in between being good or evil, he certainly wasn't the former. He wasn't like a father to Axel, and their relationship certainly wasn't more intimate than that. He wasn't a good role model. There were a lot of things, potentially important things, that he wasn't.

But he was a good leader.

END

Note: As explained in the summary, this is the first work in a series of challenges fics that I'm doing for a community on livejournal (if you wanna check it out it's 24hourUNDERSCOREthemesDOTlivejournalDOTcom, just replaces the caps with the appropriate symbol). This was the first I did, and I'm more proud of it than some of the others I've written so far. The members of the organization deserved a lot more character development than they got.