Chapter 1
Unease
Diary entry: Day #84
Ever since I heard its name, I have felt something I couldn't explain. Kingdom Hearts is the hope that we would have a heart someday. Saïx says that a heart will give us feelings, emotions. Apparently, you weren't complete without one. If the laughter that I had shared with Xion and Axel wasn't real, what did true happiness feel like?
*vv^^vv*
Roxas closed the small bound notebook and flopped backwards onto his bed, laying the little journal on his chest. He stared at it. What was the point of reading past entries that he had written so long ago if they only gave him uncertainty? Xion had disappeared again and the castle was on the brink of chaos. They had found her the last time she vanished, but he knew that this time won't be so easy. Where was there left to look? Twilight town had been cleared out and there had been no sign of her anyplace else. Roxas heard the soft patter of approaching footsteps and managed to get the Diary out of sight before Axel appeared in the doorway, grinning from ear to ear.
"Hey Roxas!" he laughed. "Guess what? We got a mission together today!"
"Where is it?"Roxas eagerly jumped off his bed and half-ran to the door, ready to get going.
"I have no idea!" The pyromaniac answered and walked out of Roxas' room while motioning the keyblade wielder to follow him. The two organization members walked to the gathering room where Saïx was waiting with their daily assignment.
*That Evening*
Axel waved his half-eaten ice cream over the edge of the bell tower. Several drops of melted sea-salt goo fell to the courtyard below.
"That bastard!" Axel complained. "Saïx said that this was supposed to be an e-a-s-y mission!" The pyromaniac lay on his back on top of the ledge of the Bell Tower's roof. He was exhausted after a very tiring game of "tag" that went on during the mission. "Why can't our targets ever just stay still? Do they NEED to fly around in a confusing pattern?"
"And on top of that, it smelled in that tunnel." Roxas pouted remembering the stench of fish, seaweed and unidentifiable goop.
Axel laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that "Roxas…"
"Ha! I thought that caught a whiff of something a little like that horrible stuff that was served to us last night. I don't even want to call it 'Dinner'. Anyway, I thought nobody liked Xaldin's cooking." Roxas swung off the ledge and sat on the ground under Axel, laughing too much to try to keep from falling to the plaza below.
The pyromaniac grinned. "If nobody eats it, then there must be more for me! "
The sun sank below the horizon and the ice cream began to vanish. When they had finished the last of it, the good mood that existed before, disappeared. Roxas cast an uneasy glance at Axel's face and broke the silence. "Worried about Xion?" he could feel Axel's body tense at the name. "I know that nobody has vanished from the Organization before, but somehow I'm convinced that she's fine. Even if she's hurt, someone's probably helped her-"
"It's not like that Roxas." Axel's tone was ice cold despite the fire that he wielded. "We don't really mingle too well. I'm sure you've realized that. Or have you just not memorized what Saïx told us about not being seen or talking to people and the consequences? They can sense that we aren't one of them. Some know that we lack a heart and then…they…well, I'll just say it's not pretty.
Roxas moved against the giant clock and let the cool rays of the rising moon bathe him in pale light. "Where could she have gotten to?" He asked the sky.
*vv^^vv*
Saïx was watching the cameras that were stationed around certain parts of Twilight Town which were meant to locate Xion. He looked at Roxas' expression. "Xion, a nobody among Nobodies and yet they still care for her."
Xemnas sat in a chair a little behind his subordinate. "Well she is their friend. But she is also the key to our plan. It just disturbs me that our little puppet has created a will for herself."He growled softly. "Xion thinks as long as she can stay out of our reach, that she is safe from our wrath. Sadly, however, she is mistaken. The chance of her coming back to us on her own is slim. So I guess we'll need to make her unneeded."
"But who could possibly replace her?" Saïx was confused. "There is no other who can do her job in so little time. Anyway, we need someone who can be close to Roxas. There's no chance for anyone else to build a bond with the keyblade wielder now that he's developed such a close relationship with Xion."
"Oh we'll get her back." Xemnas smirked, "We just need someone to fill in for the moment. Our puppet will be drawn here eventually. I have chosen the new recruit. I'll leave the rest to you." Darkness enveloped him and he vanished. He was replaced by a little piece of paper that contained the codes needed to access all the information the Vexen had collected when he researched in Castle Oblivion. Saïx picked up the little scrap, turned and walked out of the room. He had a few things to take care of before her could start on what Xemnas wanted him to do.
*vv^^*
Roxas and Axel sat in silence until a dark corridor appeared aside the two of them. "Hey." Xigbar grinned as he stepped out. "I'd hate to be the wet blanket but, Roxas; Saïx wants you back at the castle."
"If it's another mission I'm going to lose it." Roxas slowly stood and turned towards the dark corridor.
"What?" Axel jumped up. "Another mission? We don't get more missions until morning. Why would you be sent out this late?"
"I don't know why I've been sent out. I just go and do what they tell me to do. It's not my place to question the orders that Saïx gives me. I just carry them out. Though, they have been giving me a lot of work. I mean I know Xion's gone and all, but I shouldn't be getting this stuff." Roxas closed his eyes and stepped through the portal to the Castle.
Axel was about to follow his friend when Xigbar stuck out one of his arrow guns. "I was also ordered to occupy you for a few minutes." The sharpshooter added with a gleam in his good eye.
*vv^^vv*
It's my….
FIRST STORYY!
And I know the things that many people say when they publish their first stories and I feel the need to copy them! (Because it's the first chapter of your first story only once!) NO FLAMES! They aren't helpful at all. Constructive criticisms only pretty please!