Author's Notes: I'll try to avoid doing these as much as possible, but, uh, there are some things I'd like to say before we begin.
1) I haven't uploaded anything in possibly around five years, so bear with me as I work my way through this, um. New system. ...And formatting.
2) I realize this is probably not what happens when a Nobody and a Heartless are destroyed, but uh. I just wanted to toy with this idea anyway. Hence, the AU.
3) This... is probably going to take a bit for things to pick up, but, uh, in the meantime, if you notice anything off, from spelling and grammatical errors to problems with my charcterization to glaring plotholes, by all means, please point it out to me! I'd prefer this in the form of a nice, civil review o' constructive criticism and stuff, but, um. Beggers can't be choosers?
...ever moves...
...never ends completely
everything...allowed...
His feet touched the floor lightly, and once his weight was settled, he opened his eyes and still saw nothing but
-
I had the weirdest dream last night you guys! Only… I can't really remember it now, I just know I woke up thinking it was weird. Well, actually, that's a lie, I can remember a few things, like a monster or few, and standing on a window or something, Idunno, it was weird.
Axel raised an eyebrow at the entry. Not only was it odd that Demyx was posting this early in the morning, he usually was a little more coherent about what he wrote about, at least when excited. Axel took another sip of coffee and scrolled down.
Oh! That also reminds me! You were in it too, Red!
Hm, weird, Axel thought, then read the next bit.
(Don't get too flattered – it wasn't that kind of dream ;P)
And almost snorted that sip of coffee.
He set the cup down and reached for the keyboard.
Well, I don't know about you, bluefish, but I kind of figured any dream with us getting it on would be classified as a nightmare. Unless you're rabbit-ears, I guess.
Axel paused, thought for a moment and added, By the way, I'm going to kill you when I get to school today. Not that you'll be getting this warning before then, but, y'know, in case anyone is curious.
He sent the comment with a nod, then grabbed his bag and left for school.
-
Later in the afternoon, at a high-school a few streets away, a boy with long, blue-tipped, dirty-blonde hair sat slumped over his desk, doing a very good impression of someone who was asleep. Or dead. He maintained this position as a few people left the classroom and several wandered in, but raised his head the moment he heard the unmistakeable heavy thud of a backpack hitting the ground beside him.
"Hey, Axel!" he exclaimed, shooting a grin up at the messy-haired teen. Axel met his grin with a smirk and took the seat next to him.
"Well, don't you look thrilled to be here," he commented dryly.
The boy shrugged and slumped back on the desk, "Uhn, it's too early for English!"
Axel raised an eyebrow, "Lunch just ended, Demyx."
"Yeah? It's still too early."
Axel rolled his eyes and changed the subject, "So, you dreamt about me last night, huh?"
Demyx looked a bit sheepish, "Ah, you read that already?"
"Yes, Demyx, I do occasionally wake up early enough to check my inbox."
He leaned forward menacingly and continued in a slightly less amused tone, "Especially when I was expecting an e-mail from a group-member."
Demyx smiled nervously, "Uh, didn't I?"
"If you had, would I be giving you shit right now?"
"… Yes?"
"Demyx--"
Demyx straightened and raised his hands, "Look, I swear I sent it to you guys! I don't know what happened! Maybe your sister deleted it or something! You guys still share the same computer, right?"
"Yeah, but I checked this before she even got up today, Demyx. By the way, I had to slog through like, three pages of campy chain-mail on a crappy connection."
"Look, I'm sorry, but I know I sent it!"
Axel crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, looking quite sceptic, "Are you sure you didn't just dream it?"
Demyx glared and frowned, slumping back on the desk and staring at the chalkboard, "Don't be such an ass about it, I know for sure I at least sent it to Larxene and myself."
"Whatever."
They were quiet for a few minutes as more students filed in.
"Oh, hey, how's your shoulder by the way?" Demyx asked out of the blue.
Axel rolled it and winced, "Eh, it's really sore, I think I slept on it funny or-" he stopped rubbing it, sitting up suddenly as he spun to look down at Demyx, "How the hell did you know it was hurting?"
Demyx turned his head slightly and glanced up at Axel, "I said I dreamt about you, didn't I?"
"What, you just dreamt that my shoulder would be hurting today?"
Demyx half-shrugged and glanced to the side as he recounted, "Not really, I can't really remember it now, just a few things, and one of them was you whacking your shoulder really hard on something."
"Huh, weird," Axel thought for a moment, then added, "Anything else you remember?"
Demyx shrugged again and looked back at the chalkboard, "Not much, just these big bright doors, and this floor that was like stained glass."
Axel thought again for a moment, then added, "Was it red and orange?"
"What, the glass? I don't know, maybe – wait," he sat up again, "are you saying you had the same dream as me?!"
Axel shrugged this time and leaned back, "Who knows? They're awfully similar…"
Demyx nodded, "Hm … Hey, did anyone appear in y-"
He was suddenly cut-off as something slapped him in the back of his head, really hard.
"Demyx, you son of a bitch, you didn't send me your goddamn share!" the owner of that something snapped.
"Well hello to you too, Larxene," Demyx grumbled, rubbing the back of his head and sending back a glance that said he was all too used to this.
Axel sniggered, drawing another glare from Demyx, who continued, "And I don't know what you're on, but I sent the friggin' file!"
Larxene dropped into her chair, looking quite ticked despite the size of her grin.
"My inbox was completely empty of new messages this morning, Demyx. Unless it was a magical, invisible message-"
"Bullshit!" Demyx turned around to completely face her, "I sent it! I know I did! I clearly remember hitting the send button! Did you put my e-mail on your junk list again or something?!"
"That box was empty too, Demyx."
"What the hell!" Demyx exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, "—Alright, we'll sign out and I'll show you because I sent it to myself separately!"
Larxene rolled her eyes, "Fine, whatever you say. But I swear, if I have to BS your third of our assignment-"
"You won't," Demyx muttered, turning back as the teacher came in, "don't worry, I've got it."
-
"What do you mean I don't got it!?"
Axel clicked his tongue, "Language, Demyx, 'what do you mean I don't have it' is the grammatically correct response. Also acceptable is 'what do you mean I didn't get it'."
Demyx glared at Axel, "Shut up! I – rgh, what the hell!?" he hissed, clicking around his inbox.
"So, is it there?" Larxene asked as she approached the two. Axel shook his head, and Larxene rolled her eyes, "Colour me surprised then. It's a good thing I anticipated your failure and already asked about it – the teacher says we can hand this stuff in at the end of the day."
"Great!" Axel said with less enthusiasm than the exclamation point suggested, "Then ladies and gentlemen, start your bull-"
"No way," Demyx cut in, sounding determined, "I didn't spend half the night writing that thing just to half-ass my share now."
Larxene raised an eyebrow, "Are we a little upset, Demyx?"
"Darn right, this is personal now! I'm going back and getting the stupid thing myself!" Demyx accentuated his plan by slamming his fist on the computer desk, earning a glare from one of the boys working at the table across from them. After a pause, Demyx slowly turned and looked back at Larxene and Axel.
"Uh, can I borrow your memory-stick-thing, Larxene? I don't trust my e-mail service anymore and I don't think I have anything else to move files with…"
The blonde woman stared at him for a long moment, before sighing and giving in, fishing the flash-drive out of her pocket and handing it over.
"Fine. If you lose it, I'll make a new one from your bones and kill you."
Demyx raised an eyebrow, "Uh, shouldn't you mean it the other way around?"
Larxene just kept grinning, which seemed to closer resemble an animal baring their teeth. Axel just raised an eyebrow, then his hand.
"I'll go with him and make sure he doesn't screw up, Larxene."
"That doesn't actually comfort me, believe it or not," Larxene pointed out at the same time Demyx protested the need to be followed.
Axel rolled his eyes, "Relax, rabbit-ears, we'll see you in a bit," and with a grin, he grabbed Demyx by the arm and they quickly exited the library before Larxene could fully react to her old nickname.
They were silent for a good half of the walk to Demyx's house, when Axel suddenly broke said silence, but not with the usual conversational fare.
"What the hell was that?" Axel said confusedly, glancing to the hedge bordering the lawn they were passing.
Demyx tilted his head and looked where Axel was, "What was what?"
"Didn't you see – wait—"
Axel held a hand out at Demyx unnecessarily as he had already stopped.
"There, in the bush-" they both crouched to get a better look, and after twenty seconds of nothing, they met a pair of yellow eyes.
"Woah, what is that?" Demyx repeated, craning his neck for a better look, "Is it a cat?"
"Nope, cats don't have eyes like that," Axel stated, half-distracted. Why did those eyes look so familiar…
"Maybe it's a new kind of 'designer dog' or something," Demyx tried again, only to have Axel shake his head.
"No, I'm pretty sure dogs don't have antennae…"
"Wait a minute, what?"
Axel pointed vaguely at the thing's head, "See the little antennae-things there?"
Demyx raised an eyebrow, while the thing only tiled its head back at them, "Those aren't ears?"
"Ears typically don't look like that."
"Well, you never know how crazy animal-breeding can get, I mean-"
While Axel would have loved to hear Demyx go on about weird dog breeds, that was about when the thing in the bushes twitched its head again and took Axel's extended arm as an invitation to pounce on him.
"AH – WHAT THE HELL?!" Axel yelled as he went down. Demyx yelped and stepped back before he was realizing it, but seeing the thing in the light, he stopped and rubbed his chin.
"Hm, definitely not a dog…"
"DEMYX! If you wouldn't mind helping me out here?!" Axel cried, "Get this thing off of me!"
"Oh!" Demyx exclaimed, looking around for something to use as a weapon. Not finding anything, he instead settled for kicking the little dark thing away.
The thing flew off Axel with surprisingly little resistance, and crashed into the bushes from whence it came.
Axel sat up and the pair just stared at where the thing had disappeared, and a few tense moments later, the yellow eyes were back. But before either of them could say or do anything else, several dozen other pairs of eyes joined it.
"Holy shit-" Axel started, scrambling to his feet and cut off by Demyx as he shouted "RUN!" and they both did so, sprinting over concrete and grass and not stopping until they were inside Demyx's house.
"What the hell were those?" Axel panted. Demyx shook his head, equally out of breath, "I dunno, that's why I was asking you before."
Axel shook his head in response, then turned enough to look out one of the windows beside the door. Out front was a lovely green lawn, a few bright flowers swaying in the breeze, a line of nearly-identical houses across the street and all the other things you'd expect to see in a middle-class suburb. Which also meant no living shadow-things poking their heads out of hedges. Demyx was following Axel's example, and assumedly finding nothing either.
"Weird," he commented, before silence returned while the pair continued looking.
"So, Demyx, at any point in time today, did we get really stoned? 'Cause, ya know, that would explain a lot," Axel asked casually after a minute, craning his neck.
Demyx answered by shaking his head, before stepping back from the window and straightening.
"Well, uh," he attempted, scratching the back of his head. Axel turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, and Demyx just gave up and shrugged.
"Eh, let's just get that file and go," he sighed, jerking his thumb in the direction his computer was in.
"Right, whatever, mind if I chill on your couch for a bit?"
Demyx shrugged, "If you want, but Axel-"
Axel stopped and shot an annoyed look over his shoulder, "Yeah?"
"I kind of need Larxene's USB-thing first."
Axel tossed Demyx the drive and lingered long enough to see him catch it (to his surprise, really) before heading off to the living room.
-
life ever moves on
refreshes, restarts, but never ends completely
everything is allowed a second chance.
His feet touched the floor lightly, and once his weight was settled, he opened his eyes and still saw nothing but black all around, except for the floor, which seemed to be made of stained glass. He stepped back a bit, and saw that the pattern seemed to be that of a giant
-
"Hey Axel, I've got the goods, let's go!"
Axel blinked, saw Demyx waiting expectantly in the doorway of the living room, then sat up. He tried to recall what he'd dreamed about – he had the feeling that it was important, but every time he thought he got close, well, he suddenly wasn't. But he knew it was almost there, knew…
Demyx reappeared in the doorway, looking impatient, "Well? Come on!"
Axel shook his head, before sliding off the couch and following after his English partner.
This time, the silence lasted until they were inside the halls of the school. Well, silence in the sense that they said nothing to each other. Demyx occasionally filled up the quiet with humming or whistling some tune or another, before finally giving up as they entered the building. Clearing his throat slightly, he shot a glance over at Axel.
"So, uh, how 'bout those things we saw, huh?"
"Hm?" Axel responded, turning from his own thoughts to look at Demyx.
Demyx shrugged and scratched the back of his neck, "Uh, y'know. Those things. The ones that chased us to my house."
Axel shrugged and looked back ahead, "Yeah, what about them?"
Demyx looked at his friend incredulously for a second, "What do you mean 'what about them'?! Shadows came out of a bush and attacked us, Axel! That doesn't exactly happen every day!"
Axel blinked and quirked an eyebrow, "Well, Demyx, what am I supposed to do? Tell the authorities?"
Axel held a hand to his ear, miming talking into a phone, "Hi, 911? These shadows that kind of looked like bugs with big glowing eyes sprung out of a bush and chased my friend and I down the street. What was that? No, we're not under the influence of any drugs, why do you ask? No, I don't have a history of mental problems --- hello?"
Demyx rolled his eyes, "Alright, I get it, but, I dunno, isn't there something we could do?"
Axel shrugged again and turned down the hall, swinging Larxene's flash drive by its strap. Demyx frowned and went to catch up.
"Well?" he pressed.
"Beats the hell out of me," Axel finally responded. Demyx frowned slightly.
"That's it?"
The redhead glanced over his shoulder, "Well, Demyx, what do you want?"
Demyx shrugged and sighed, "I... Yeah, I don't know. Shouldn't we at least... Mention it? I mean, what if someone else gets attacked?"
Axel shrugged back as he answered, "Well, then they can go and report it. 'Cause let's face it, Demyx – our reputations won't exactly back up our credibility."
Demyx was quiet for a moment, before finally nodding, "Okay, you have something there, I guess," he sighed and shrugged again, "I just... I dunno, something just doesn't feel right about this."
"Shadows came out of the bushes and attacked us," Axel repeated, hesitating before the doors to the library to look over again at Demyx, "What is right about that?"
He entered the library before Demyx to respond, prompting the blonde to frown in his direction.
"Whatever, Axel," he muttered, shaking his head, "You and I both know there's going to be more to this."