'Allo 'allo.
Well, after writing so many one-shots in the universe that is Xanrivash's, a plot bunny came into my head and wouldn't leave me alone; namely after the 'Electrical Impulses' two-shot I wrote in the universe of short stories. So here comes a multi-chaptered fic that takes place in the almighty Xani's KH universe.
Disclaimer: I don't own KH, Fori (Fifteen) or Xanrivash (Fourteen). If I owned KH, I'd be insanely, INSANELY rich. If I owned Fori or Xanrivash, then I'd probably be dubbed 'officially OC creative'
"I'm going WHERE with WHO?"
Xigbar grinned. "You, Luxord, and Larxene are headed off to Atlantica. Or did you not read the mission intel?"
Axel was beyond pissed at this point. "Do you not remember the last time I was stuck under the water for a long time?" he asked the gunslinger. "I nearly died!"
"I think you're over exaggerating there dude," Xigbar said. "You were stuck in a cage, mostly underwater, for almost twenty-four hours, while chained up. This however, is only a few hours, plus you'll be able to move around. You'll be fine."
"What about my powers?"
Xigbar finally just gave him 'the look'. "Look dude, I don't make up the missions, I just hand 'em out. Got a problem? Take it up with Xemnas."
Axel scowled. This was not going to be fun if he was going to be stuck underwater. He wouldn't be able to use his powers or summon his chakrams. So why was the Superior ordering him to go on a mission like this? Why not Demyx, he loved Atlantica AND his element was frickin' water!
But instead of going to Mansex and arguing it out, he simply said, "Where are Lux and Larx?"
"Waiting for you in the Grey Area."
Axel headed out of the kitchen and towards the Grey Area in the castle.
This was not going to be fun.
... It's official. I HATE Atlantica.
Axel let his tail - yes, tail - swish back and forth a little as Luxord and Larxene were swimming circles around him. Not literally of course, but still, they didn't mind the water.
Then again, one was a Nobody that could kill instantly if she wanted to because of the mix of her element and the water, while the other didn't have any reason to be hindered. Axel, on the other hand, was pretty much useless, so he had no idea why he was here.
The mission required of them today was to retrieve something from a place called 'Ariel's Grotto', which they didn't know if that was a set up place, or someone's private retreat. Since Axel couldn't use his power over fire, he would be the one retrieving said object while the other two would either distract or…well, whatever was required to get the trinket that both Xemnas and Vexen wanted. Apparently, it was supposed to help track down Heartless, or some crap like that, Axel couldn't remember anymore.
It was interesting to note the trio's changes when they got to Atlantica; Luxord now had a dolphin-like tail that replaced his bottom half, Larxene had a light red mermaid tail and almost-blood red shells that went over her…huge tracts of land…
Anyway, Axel felt cheated. He had the shark tail that he had heard about from Xigbar the one time he had come to Atlantica to check up on something. It wasn't as great as the gunslinger had made it out to be either.
Of course, being underwater for the pyro was weird enough. Having a shark tail in place of legs was just icing on the cake. At least he still had his tattoos…well, the ones he could see anyway. And it seemed that his insulin pump was either hidden or had vanished entirely since it wasn't in its usual spot. The hole (or rather, a closed up version of one) was where the thing usually entered his body, but he guessed that since the trio came here and changed to fish, that the pump probably would've just broken anyway and was convinced it would reappear when they headed back to the castle.
"So where do we go first?" Larxene asked, picking at her fingernails, looking bored as ever. "I mean, how are we supposed to find this place anyway?"
"Good question," Luxord commented. "Didn't Xigbar say something about Ariel being the King's daughter?"
Well that's just great, Axel thought as he started to shiver. How do we find her and ask her about the thing we're looking for?
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a mermaid entering the area the trio was in, a yellow and blue fish trying to follow behind her.
"Think that's her?" Axel asked Luxord, trying to keep his shivering down to a minimum. The Gambler of Fate shrugged. "Only one way to find out," he said, leading the way, Larxene and Axel following after him. " 'scuse me!"
The mermaid stopped in mid-swim and turned around, facing the trio that was catching up. "Can I help you?" she asked.
"Actually, you might be able to," Luxord said, when he, Larxene, and Axel approached. Taking one hand of hers into his, he kissed her hand like a gentleman and asked, "Are you the lovely Ariel of Atlantica?"
Axel rolled his eyes and Larxene looked like she was about to gag herself. The young mermaid, however, blushed a little at Luxord's little gesture. "I am," she said. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"There might be," Luxord said, keeping his poker face up. "You see, we hear you're a…collector of sorts, and myself and my friends are looking for a certain item-"
"You want to see if I have it?" she asked, politely slipping her hand out of the gambler's.
"Only if you're willing to let us see your vast collection," Luxord said.
Ariel smiled. "Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's interested in the human world," she said.
But for entirely different reasons, Axel thought, his shivering beginning to increase.
The red headed mermaid looked at Axel, an expression of concern coming to her face. "Are you alright?" she asked. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone shaking like you are."
"We're not from these waters," Luxord quickly said. "He's just not used to the temperature. It's much warmer where we come from."
"Ooooh, so you're all visitors!" she excitedly said.
Not the brightest crayon in the box, now is she? Axel thought. We didn't know she was Triton's daughter. Wasn't THAT some sort of indication that we're not locals?
"Alright, follow me," Ariel said. "My secret place probably has whatever it is you're looking for. I've got whozits and whatzits galore!" She turned back in the direction she had previously been heading in. The blue and yellow fish looked at her oddly, but then followed after her, as did the Nymph, Gambler, and Flurry.
"Think she's got it or it's a goose chase?" Larxene asked no one in particular.
Axel just shrugged. "Who knows? I'm betting it either exists and it's a hunk of junk, or it doesn't and we just wasted a bunch of time."
...
Well, Axel hadn't been completely wrong when they had reached the grotto belonging to Ariel. She did in fact have the item that they were searching for (which turned out to be an amulet that looked like it had spent quite some time underneath the waves of the ocean), but the question was whether this thing was going to work.
Not our problem if it works or not, Axel thought, as Larxene and Luxord waved good-bye to Ariel. Xemnas and Vexen wanted the damn thing, they can have it.
Axel wasn't feeling his best as the three swam off in a direction that would be hidden from the eyes of Atlantica, so that the three could take a portal back to the castle. As the mission had gone on, he kept shivering, had started to lose the feeling in his fingers, and had found it hard to pay attention to what was going on around him.
Suddenly, he bumped into something. Looking up, he realized that Luxord had stopped swimming. The trio was in the middle of a 'clearing' of sorts, and were far enough from both the grotto and Atlantica to where they could make their escape through a corridor of darkness.
"You alright there mate?" Luxord asked, taking note of Axel's appearance. "You've been acting strange ever since we got here…and you don't look so good either."
"I'm f-f-fine," Axel protested through his chattering teeth. "I j-just wanna g-g-go home and s-sleep."
"Leave 'em alone Lux," Larxene said, waving her hand. "I just wanna get outta here and get ready!"
The Gambler looked at her funny. "Where the bloody Hell would you be going?"
"Mar-Mar and I are going to a fashion show tonight and I gotta look great!"
Axel couldn't help but snort at that. Marluxia at a fashion show? Geez, it was like the guy wasn't gay enough, what with the pink hair, the power over flowers (roses seemed to be his favorite), and the Elven background that he claimed to have.
Luxord just rolled his eyes and turned around, opening a portal. "C'mon you two, through the portal."
"Wait a s-s-sec, won't we j-just end up with w-w-water in our lungs or somethin'?" Axel asked. Since he had never been to Atlantica before, he didn't know how the transition went from underwater to land.
"Doubtful," Luxord said. "S'never happened to anyone who's been here before."
With that, the Gambler went through the portal, Larxene following. Axel hesitantly went through. I've got a bad feeling about this…
…
Meanwhile, in the Hall of Empty Melodies, Demyx sat on the floor, cross-legged, staff paper full of music on the floor in front of him, his sitar in his left hand while he was munching on an apple Roxas had brought him with his right.
He was downright proud of himself with this new composition he had managed to come up with. Not only did it sound great when he had finished it about half an hour ago, he had set a new record for how little time he had put into the music. Usually it took days to write something, but for some reason, Demyx had managed to write all the notes out from after he had eaten breakfast to about twenty minutes before the normal dinner hour. But that didn't matter anymore since he had gone vegetarian, because he now made his own meals after everyone else had left the kitchen.
Suddenly, Demyx heard three thumping noises. Looking up, he saw that Luxord, Larxene, and Axel were back from their mission, but for some reason, were on the ground once they came out of the portal they had used. "Uh…where did you guys go today?" Demyx asked. He knew that the trio had headed someplace where the three were going to transform, but he didn't know where. It couldn't have been the Pride Lands, otherwise he would've heard from Axel about the malaria drug that one had to take at least two-three weeks prior to a mission. So where…?
"To stupid Atlantica," Larxene growled, standing up, Luxord rising as well. "We got this crusty old amulet-" She held up a red star-shaped necklace "-that's supposed to find Heartless. Whether it does or not, I don't care." She tossed the little amulet over to Luxord, who almost dropped it before putting it in his pocket.
"Where's Axel?" Demyx asked, looking up at the blonde gambler. "Wasn't he supposed to be with you-?"
That's when he noticed it. He could hear water somewhere nearby…and it sounded close to the floor…
Demyx looked from Luxord to the floor behind the two blondes, his eyes widening and the apple in his hand falling to the floor when he realized where the noises of water were coming from. "Axel!"
The Gambler of Fate and Savage Nymph looked at each other, confused as Demyx quickly vanished his sitar as he got up and ran around them. Turning, Luxord managed to get out, "What's the ma-BLEEDING CHRIST!"
Axel was lying on the floor behind the two, looking like a drowned rat with his bright red hair nearly flat, his face and lips a bluish-gray tinge, and it looked like he was having trouble breathing. Demyx could remember one other time Axel had looked like this; it had been one of their first missions together after Roxas had joined, when they had gone to New Orleans, only to get stuck in the mess called Katrina.
"I'll get Vexen," Luxord quickly said, creating another portal as Demyx rolled Axel over onto his back. The Gambler left, the portal closing behind him, the Nymph trying to look disinterested in what the Melodious Nocturne was doing.
Demyx put a hand over Axel's face and began to concentrate. This wasn't something new to him; Axel was full of water once again, so he was going to remove it.
Thin ribbons of water began to emerge from Axel's partially open mouth and nose. He inspected the water and could see something that not even Vexen could see without the aid of a microscope. It was salt, like what one would taste when they got sea-water in their mouths on accident.
Must've been in the ocean too long, Demyx thought as he finished emptying Axel's lungs of the salty water. At least there's nothing as disgusting as there was in New Orleans, with the dead bodies, sewage, and…well, whatever else there was in that water.
But now what? Despite the fact that his lungs were clear, there was still a lot of salty water in Axel's stomach and Demyx didn't really want to punch his friend in the gut, like he had to before. So instead, he brought his right hand over where Axel's stomach was, the left helping Demyx level Axel by sitting him up a little, then began to concentrate.
The Nocturne had been to another world once where a young girl had saved her friend from drowning by doing this technique and he was silently thanking any and all gods that watched over Nobodies that he had learned this one from her.
Sensing the water, he began to move his hand from Axel's stomach, up his throat, and to his mouth. An orb of water about the size of basketball emerged from the red head's lips, which he made disappear as soon as he heard the Flurry's deep coughs. Demyx helped his friend sit up a little more to see if the coughing would stop when he heard footsteps coming from somewhere.
"What in blazes-?"
The Nocturne looked up to see Vexen, Luxord, and oddly enough Lexaeus, emerging looking down at him, Luxord looking like he was about to get his head bitten off, Lexaeus with a somewhat shocked look on his face, and Vexen looking like…well, Vexen.
Axel stopped coughing, his breathing coming out in a wheezing sound as he curled up against Demyx. The red head was freezing when normally he had a higher temperature than normal people. And it probably didn't help any that Vexen had knelt next to the two in order to inspect Axel since Vexen's element was ice, thus making him Axel's opposite, second to Demyx.
"I took care of the water in his lungs and stomach," Demyx said, trying to sound brave, despite being scared stiff for Axel and afraid of Vexen since he wasn't usually the one reporting injuries or illnesses; it was usually the other way around.
As Vexen examined the unconscious Nobody, Axel tried to get away from the probing hands. "Calm down Ax, it's okay now," Demyx reassured his friend.
If the red head could hear him, he was ignoring what the dirty blonde was saying, as he started trying to bury his face into Demyx's shoulder, looking for warmth.
Vexen stood from his spot across from Demyx. "Five, take Eight and come with me. Ten, Twelve, you two find Six and Fifteen." He moved so Lexaeus could kneel on the ground and pick up Axel. The Silent Hero gave Demyx a reassuring look before standing. He turned around to follow Vexen through the corridor that was now present when they all heard some sound emit from Axel.
"D-D-Demyx…"
Quickly, Demyx ran in front of Lexaeus to see that Axel's eyes were half-open, searching for Nine. "It's okay, I'm here," the Nocturne said, placing a hand on his friend's forehead. "I'm gonna get Roxas, alright?"
"No you're not Nine."
Demyx looked at Vexen. "Why not?" he asked. "Roxas will wanna know about what happened!"
"I need you to help Nine," Vexen stated. "Your power over water will be an asset to Eight's treatment."
Demyx looked from Vexen to Axel, who was still looking at him. A metaphysical dagger hit him where his heart should've been and he felt terrible. He didn't want to leave Axel, but Roxas would want to know about what had happened-
"I'll inform Thirteen."
Demyx looked up at Lexaeus. "After I leave, I'll inform Thirteen of what's happened," the Silent Hero said, adjusting Axel in his arms.
The Melodious Nocturne smiled a little. "Thank you."
Vexen rolled his eyes. "Do you or do you not want Eight to have treatment?" he asked. "The Superior will not be happy if he hears that one of our own has faded due to delayed conduct."
With that said, Demyx and Lexaeus followed Vexen through the portal…
Once again, my paragraph seperator wasn't working, so I used something else
Anyway, leave a comment! Reviews are the source of my power =3