"Hearts!" Vexen exclaims, slamming his fists down onto the machine in front of him, "I wanted hearts! Not empty shells!" his grits his teeth as he eyes the results of his latest experiments, "Not one, not two, but three failures! The human heart is such a simple thing… why is it so difficult to duplicate!?"
"Vexen?" Larxene calls from the hall outside, "Oh Vexen? The Superior is looking for you! He's dyeing to here all about the results of this new project you've been boasting about!"
"Damn!" Vexen flinches at the girl's call, "I can't let the Superior know about this! Time…" he finally says, "I'll just tell him I need more time!" the scientist turns to leave the room and takes an angry glance back at the three test tubes, "I'll deal with you failures, later!" At that, he storms out of the room, and a gentle beep coming from the counsel on the machine confirms the action requested by Vexen's angry fist: Test Tube Liquid Draining.
As the middle tube drains and the doors open, Roxas's feet touch the slippery floor and he lets out a long yawn.
"Where am I?" he wonders aloud and steps out of tube. Blinking his eyes back into perspective, he sees a foggy test tube to his left, and another to his right, "Vexen's lab?" he says in confusion and turns around to view the tube that he had just emerged from, "What is this?" The boy steps back and then turns to leave the room. As he walks out, another Roxas emerges from a second tube. Moments later, the third tube opens…
"Roxas!" Larxene grins at the boy as he walks through the hall, "There you are! The Superior's been oh so worried about you." She touches a hand to her head in a fake woe.
"Xemnas has been looking for me?" he asks, confused.
"Sure has, and I wouldn't keep him waiting."
"Thanks for the concern…" Roxas scoffs and brushes past the giggling girl on his way to the meeting room.
Meanwhile, another Roxas walks into a stark white room with matching chairs. Axel, who had been sitting with a worried look on his face, jumps up to greet the boy.
"Roxas!" the redhead exclaims, "Where've you been? Xemnas's been looking for you! He even had me deploy an assassin to track you down. You don't look so good…"
"I've been sleeping…" Roxas yawns, shaking off the effects of the tube.
"Sleeping…?" Axel frowns, feeling it anticlimactic, "Right… I forgot that you needed to do that…" he sits back down in his chair, "but I think you should probably go see him…"
"Yeah… fine." Roxas shrugs and turns back around.
"Hey, Roxas?" Axel inquires as the boy goes to leave, "I thought you were going to Twilight Town again today?" Roxas shrugs.
"I might…" he says plainly, "Later…" he then walks out.
Just a moment later, Roxas steps back in.
"Hey." He waves and sits in another chair directly across from his friend. Axel stares at him questioningly.
"Aren't you going to see him?" he finally asks.
"Who?'
"Xemnas." Axel reminds him with a wave of his hand, "He doesn't like waiting you know…"
"Not right now," Roxas shakes his head, "I already got my orders today."
"Alright…" Axel frowns, "But you shouldn't get on their bad side."
"What do you mean?" The boy inquires.
"A lot of the other members aren't so fond of you already… I wouldn't test my luck with him if I were you."
"I'll be fine." Roxas shrugs his shoulders, "Xemnas isn't gonna get rid of me as long as I can use the Keyblade."
"I guess…" Axel mutters.
"Relax a little," the blonde stands and heads for the door "I'll be fine. You want some popcorn?"
"Popcorn? Sure." Axel smiles and Roxas disappears into the hall.
Axel shakes his head with a smile. Normally, he would think this kind of behavior would warrant some sort of eventual punishment, but coming from Roxas it's just refreshing. Instead of coming out as some sort of mockery or traitorous act, Roxas's 'on his own terms' behavior was simply expressed through emotions that the others lacked; emotions of which Axel found himself envious.
"You really are something." he laughs to himself. His smile is replaced by a look of curiosity as struggling noises came from outside the room. Axel steps up out of his chair to investigate. Outside the room, several of Axel's Assassin Nobodies are carrying Roxas to his position.
"Oh!" Axel laughs, "It's okay guys. I've already seen him. He's just making popcorn." The hanging Roxas crosses his arms and glares at Axel as the Assassins drop him to the floor. The boy stumbles for a moment and then regains his footing.
"I'm not making popcorn for anybody!" Roxas flails at the Nobodies and turns to face Axel, "And what's the deal with ordering these things on me?"
"Like I said," Axel shrugs, "We were worried about you."
"Yeah right." Roxas turns away, "Nobodies can't worry, remember?"
"Roxas!" Axel outstretches his arm as the boy storms off down the hall. The redhead lowers his eyes and returns to his seat in the previous room, feeling very much like a kicked puppy… that is, if he could feel. "Ah well…" he frowns, "An order's an order…"
Meanwhile, Vexen returns to his lab and flicks on a light.
"Now…" he starts as he moves towards his machine, "Time to deal with you, failu—" he freezes as his eyes furiously dash between the empty tubes, "Empty!?" he exclaims, "Why are they empty!?" The scientist runs out into the hall and down another. An angry Roxas pushes past him.
"R-Roxas!" Vexen stutters, reaching out a hand.
"Not now, Vexen!" Roxas snaps as he continues down the hall. Vexen's eyes turn towards another room, following the sound of a beep. He leans his head into the doorway to see Roxas taking a bowl of popcorn out of the microwave, and immediately retracts it, pressing himself flat against the wall.
"Oh my…" He says in shock and flinches as a girly voice comes from the other side of him, "Laaaaarxene!" he pushes the girl several feet and pins her against the wall, "Y-you… you're…" he stalls, "You're looking rather… uh, magnetic today, Larxene." Larxene's kick sends Vexen flying into the other wall. He lets himself slide to the floor.
"Get off me you creep!" She brushes a hand over herself, "You better have had some pretty good news for the Superior…" She huffs and turns away, walking down the hall and out of sight. Vexen pushes himself back onto his feet and takes another daring gaze into the kitchen. Roxas is no longer there.
Roxas walks back into the room with a bowl of popcorn and smiles at his friend. His expression changes as Axel looks up.
"What's wrong?" Roxas asks.
"You made popcorn…?" Axel raises an eyebrow. Roxas stares at him for a moment.
"I thought you said you wanted some." He looks disappointedly down at the bowl.
"But… aren't you angry?"
"…About what?" Roxas questions as Axel stares at him in confusion.
"I just thought… ah, never mind."
"You really do need to relax." Roxas laughs as he places the bowl on the table. He goes to sit down and then pauses, "Oh… I forgot the butter. I'll be right back." He waves at Axel, leaving him to his confusion.
The boy walks back in with his hands in his pockets and slumps down in the chair in front of Axel.
"He didn't call me." Roxas says plainly, and met with the questioning gaze of his friend, he continues, "Xemnas. He said he didn't call me."
"Ah…" Axel can only nod at the sudden change in subject, "But what about those orders you got today?"
"He didn't have any." Roxas shrugs.
"I guess I must have misheard you," Axel decides out loud, "…You forgot the butter."
"For what? The popcorn?" Roxas glances into the bowl and pops a butterless piece into his mouth, "You coulda just asked." He uses his hand on the table to push himself up from his seat and strolls out of the room.
"Okaay." The redhead leans back in his seat, "Guess he didn't sleep too well…"
"Roxas!" Vexen stumbles into the room from a different door. Axel greets him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"You just missed him."
"Roxas!" Vexen repeats, "Roxas everywhere!"
"Don't crack on us yet, Vexen." Axel smiles, "Roxas's just having a weird day."
"But…" The scientist twitches as Axel pats him on the back.
"Why don't you go take a nice warm bath?"
"But…" Vexen repeats again as Axel pushes him out of the room.
"What a weirdo." He shakes his head with a shrug and then sits back into his chair.
Roxas walks into the room holding a cup of butter.
"I got the butter," he says and begins to pour it over the popcorn.
"Vexen was just looking for you." Axel says with a chuckle.
"That creep? I'm seriously gonna have Xemnas issue a restraining order or something." He places the butter cup down and moves to his seat, "Just this morning I…" In sync with Roxas's "I", came another one from the door to the room:
"I got the butt…er." A second Roxas had entered the room, and now the two boys had locked eyes with each other, wearing pale, blank expressions.
"Two?" Axel says in confusion.
"Who the hell are you?" The second Roxas takes an offensive position.
"Who am I?" The first Roxas steps away from his seat and gets battle ready, "Who are YOU? And why do you look like me?"
"You look like me!" The second protested, "You're the doppelganger!" A third Roxas steps in from a different door.
"Axel…" the third one says, "I guess you…?" he stops to look at the other two boys whose anger just switches to confusion as they stare back.
"Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?" The first Roxas clenches his fists, "'Cause I'm not laughing!"
"Axel!" The second one flails his arm to the side, "You should know! Can't you tell who's the real one here?"
"Axel?" The third one waits. Axel frowns.
"No, he can't," Vexen huffs as he steps into the room, "Because none of you are real Roxas!"
"What are you mumbling about, Vexen?" Axel questions the scientist.
"None of them are real!" he snaps and points his finger to each of them individually "All three of them stepped out of my lab this morning. It's unfortunate to see that the three accidents can even walk. That will make their disposal rather difficult."
"Disposal!?" The third Roxas protests.
"Now's not the time, Vexen." Axel frowns, "We should at least ask Xemnas about—"
"NO!" Vexen exclaims, "The Superior can't find out about this!"
"Fine," Axel smiles, "Then I'll just hide them for a bit."
"Fine…" Vexen agrees, "I need some time to think anyway… but I swear! If you don't keep this a secret I'll—" before he can finish his sentence, Axel takes the three fuming boys out of the room.
"Alright! Stop screwing around!" Roxas flails out of Axel's leading grasp as they enter Axel's room, "What's going on? Who ARE you guys!?"
"Don't start!" Roxas interjects, "I know that YOU'RE the fake!" As the third Roxas begins to pipe in, Axel considers the question that was posed to him just a few minutes before. Can he tell who the real Roxas is? He feels as though he should be able to, he feels that after spending so much time with him, he should be able to pick the real Roxas out of one-hundred clones, and he knows that he really can't feel anything. Why should he be able to tell? Nobodies don't have feelings. They can't make this distinction. But Roxas… Roxas does make him feel. He doesn't know if it's emotions, temperature, or illusion, but he gets a tingling, a kind of warm sensation in the boy's presence. That has always been Roxas's distinction from the other Nobodies. Roxas's the only one that he really likes, but now there are three, and the strangest thing is that they each give him this warm feeling. Is it really just a lie? Is this feeling nothing special, but just another illusion created by the longing of a Nobody?
Axel blinks back into awareness as Roxas, having just dodged a punch from another Roxas, slams into his chest by accident.
"Oof…" Axel frowns and then grabs Roxas's arm as he goes to make a retaliation. All three of the boys stop what they're doing to look at the red haired man, "Come on, guys." Axel shakes his head, "None of us know who the real Roxas is, so there's no point in squabbling until get some proof, right?"
"Proof?" Roxas frowns, "How about your Assassins? When you sent them out to find Roxas, they brought me, not either of these other two."
"Come now, Roxas," Axel raises an eyebrow, "You really think the Assassins know any better than us? You're probably just the first one they found."
"So I'm wrong?" That Roxas clenches his hands, "You think I'M the fake?"
"I didn't say that," he points out with a finger aimed at Roxas's nose, "You all have the same memories of stepping out of test tubes in Vexen's room, right?" The three boys grudgingly exchange glances and agree, "And you all obviously have the same persistence towards being the 'real' Roxas, which just makes it less obvious who the real one really is. The reality," he pauses to consider the humor in a Nobody discussing reality, "is that all three of you are here, and you're gonna have to learn to deal with yourself or things'll get messy."
"I guess…" Roxas frowns.
"Yeah…" Another finally agrees.
"Sorry…" The third one hangs his head a bit.
"Apologize to yourself, not me," Axel smiles, "Now I think you need a few moments alone, and I've got a couple of words for Vexen, so I'll be right back. Promise me that they'll be no fighting in my room, okay? Why don't you all just have a talk? I'm sure you have plenty of things in common." Axel turns heal and strolls out of the room, leaving the three Roxases glaring at each other.
Heading down the hall, Axel stops short as Roxas stands, arms crossed, blocking his path.
"R-Roxas?" Axel blinks in confusion. Roxas stares directly at him and points.
"I though you were coming to see me in Twilight Town!" he stammers, "I've been waiting there for a while. Your ice cream melted…"
"Roxas?" Axel repeats, "…Twilight Town… It's really you isn't it?"
"What are you talking about?" Roxas complains, "And why didn't you show up?"
"I got side tracked…" he frowns as Roxas glances past him.
"Who's in your room?"
"Nobody." Axel waves his arms unconvincingly.
"I hear voices…" Roxas narrows his eyes.
"Uh…" Axel begins as Roxas brushes past him towards the door. Axel throws himself in front of the boy's path. "You can't go in there, Roxas."
"Why…?" The boy eyes him suspiciously.
"You don't have… permission." Axel searches for reasons. Roxas rolls his eyes and tries to push past him, but he back steps and continues to block the path.
"Axel…" Roxas begins to sound angry, "What's going on?"
"I'm making you a present!" he grins. Roxas shoves him out of the way and begins to open the door. Axel is running out of time. The door moves open and before Roxas could see anything inside, Axel grabs his arm and quickly turns him around, meeting him lip to lip in a passionate kiss.
"Mmmf?" Roxas questions as Axel's hand pulls him in by the hip. The three boys in side the room look on, mouths agape, as Axel guides Roxas away from the door and into the adjacent wall, pinning him against it. Pulling back for air, Axel looks down to see how bad his impending doom was going to be. Roxas was looking angry, but it was clear that it was somewhat forced as a blush began to permeate his face.
"You're cute when you blush, Roxas." Axel smiles, "What do you say we take this to your room?"
"You think you can just stand me up and still have your way with me?" Roxas pushes Axel back into the opposite wall, following and pinning him. He goes to kiss Axel and draws back, "You'll have to make it up to me first." Axel droops as Roxas steps back and crosses his arms, "We meet at Twilight Town later, and this time YOU bring the ice cream." He laughs, "I'll expect two after this morning…"
"Make that eight…" Another Roxas interjects from behind the couple. Axel grins a frightened grin as Roxas turns around to see the three duplicates glaring fiercely. The red haired man begins to eye the area for an escape root.
"Who the hell…?" Roxas trails off looking at the others, "…Axel!?"
"Vexen!" Axel raises a finger in defense, "Vexen did it, not me."
"And why were they in your room?" He glares.
"Alright, listen…" Axel shuts his eyes, "I know there're a few of you who would like to shoot this down, but for explanation purposes, let me talk, okay?" All four Roxases just continue to glare, "Vexen created these other three Roxases by accident during some experiment while you were out. He doesn't want Xemnas to find out, so I was hiding them in my room for the time being." Roxas's glare slowly fades as his gaze drifts off to the side in thought.
"Well…" he finally says, "We're just asking to get caught by staying in the castle." He looks to the other Roxases who have also eased their expressions, "We should go to Twilight Town. The other members don't go there too often, and it's not a bad place to hang out for a while."
"So… you're not mad?"" Axel inquires.
"Not at you." The boys shakes his head, "Just Vexen… Unless you're talking about the no-show earlier, in which case I'm still holding it against you." He smiles jokingly.
"Yeah, I forgot," Axel smiles, "I was just about to give Vexen a little talking to before you showed up."
"Why don't you do that." Another Roxas says, "We can go to Twilight Town in the meantime."
The four boys vanish into portals of darkness while Axel heads down the hallway towards Vexen's lab.
"Vexen!" Axel coolly greets the scientist, but with an intentional hint of anger. Vexen jumps at the sound and spins around to face the approaching man.
"A-Axel? What do you—?"
"I think you should tell me what's going on, Vexen." Axel stops in front of him, "What were you doing that resulted in copies of Roxas?"
"I…" Vexen stutters, "I-I was trying to create hearts!"
"Hearts…?"
"Yes!" Vexen snaps, "Hearts… I told the Superior that I may be able to create a machine that produces hearts, but what I didn't tell him is that it would require an experiment using fragments of Roxas's DNA."
"Oh?" Axel says in intrigue, "And why's that?"
"You know why!" Vexen flails, "The Superior's been coddling that boy ever since he proved useful against the heartless. He would have never let me do anything that could potentially…" He trails off. Axel raises an eyebrow.
"Potentially what, Vexen?" he asks threateningly.
"Well… if the experiment went wrong…" Vexen reluctantly continues, "The hearts produced could have been failures, and their resonation with the real Roxas's heart…" he pauses a final time, "It could have permanently damaged it and the boy would end up being a shell."
"Oh, what a dangerous game you've gotten yourself into…" Axel steps forward and takes the scientist by the collar of his cloak, "I want you to get rid of this machine, and I want to see proof." He leers at the scientist, "Or else I'll tell Xemnas about both your mess up, and the possible damage you could have done to his favorite member."
"B-but… the research! The time!" Vexen stammers. Axel simply tilts his head a little and Vexen gets the point, "Fine… I'll have it done by later today… but I have a condition too!"
"And what's that?"
"If the Superior should find out about the extra Roxases…" Vexen begins, "I had nothing to do with it! Forget you ever heard about this experiment!"
"Fair enough." Axel agrees and pats the chilly academic on the back.
Meanwhile, the awkward silence grows longer and longer as the four Roxases stand amongst each other at Station Plaza in Twilight Town. Hayner, Pence and Olette had obviously been here recently as their skateboards were resting by the wall next to Roxas's. All four of the boys contemplated what they would say if their friends returned to see four of them.
"So…" Roxas finally brakes the silence, "You guys know it's just me and Axel today, right?"
"No way!" Roxas exclaims, "I'm going too!"
"I have the exact memory of making plans to see Axel," another one says, "There's no way you're cutting me out of this."
"We can't all go!" The fourth one frowns.
"Well Axel doesn't know which one's real, so how could only one of us go?"
"No offense, guys, but I was here waiting for Axel all day. You guys just woke up at Vexen's lab…" Roxas points out.
"So? Maybe your memories were altered."
"Even if they weren't… that doesn't make you any more real than the rest of us."
"One of us has to be real, though."
"Do we? We are Nobodies…"
"Hmmf…" Roxas shrugs, "Well I'm pretty sure I'm the real Roxas."
"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure I could prove you wrong." Another Roxas becomes defensive. A third Roxas grabs Roxas's skateboard and grins.
"I bet I could beat you all on a skateboard!" he pushes off and the other Roxases all glare.
"Hey! That's my skateboard!" Roxas says chasing after him. He stops and grabs Hayner's skateboard, then pushes off to follow the first. Another Roxas grabs Pence's, and the third Roxas hesitates but then takes Olette's to complete the chase.
All four Roxases are now speeding down the streets of Twilight Town.
"It's one thing to ride," Roxas begins, "But watch this!" He grabs a bag of letters out of a confused post man's hands, and proceeds to speed left and right, delivering letters to shops and houses without stopping.
"That's nothing!" Another Roxas exclaims, grabbing a stack of posters from a stand. As the four begin to speed down the downhill path of Station Heights, the poster bearing Roxas rides along the wall for a moment, posting the Struggle Tournament posters as he goes. The first Roxas glares at the postings and causes a man to spin when he shoves him a letter at top speed.
"Yeah?" A third Roxas gets involved. He grabs a large ball out of the air as a young girl tosses it up, "Check this out!" He then proceeds to use the awning above a store as a trampoline, propelling himself high into the air and performing a series of kick stunts on the ball, keeping it afloat the whole way. He clutches the ball once again as he falls back towards the ground and lands successfully. The three other Roxas's sneer as cheering is heard from the streets. The last Roxas, unable to find any opportunities to show off, uses the moment to speed by the others and take lead.
"Hey, punk!" Seifer calls as Roxas zooms by. He jumps as three other Roxases follow.
"Woah. I'm seein' double, y'know?" Raijin blinks, "Four of 'em, y'know?"
"Idiot." Fuijin responds.
The four Roxases now find themselves skating down the allies of the Tram Common. The Roxas in the lead skates by a moving tram with a near miss. It honks its horns as the other Roxases all skate around it in different way. One of them posts a poster on the tram as he goes by, another hops of the roof and delivers a letter into the mouth a bird that lets out a confused squawk. The last one kicks the ball back and forth with his skateboard and hops over the tracks.
In the lead, the boastless Roxas finally finds a moment to show off.
"Check this out!" He yells to his followers as they enter an ally. Hopping up several extrusions on a nearby building, Roxas jumps high into the air, grabbing the end of his skateboard in a fancy pose. As he reaches the height of his jump, he uses a flagpole sticking out of the building to spin himself into even higher air. His eyes comb the area, looking for the beehive that he had become unfortunately familiar with in the past. When he spots it, he performs a trick, knocking it out of place and then kicking it at the three Roxases that still chase him. The two boys in front dodge the beehive to the left and right, but the forth one gets hit it the stomach with it, scattering his letters everywhere. Although quick to discard it to the side, that Roxas is met with a horde of angry stingers and skates away in another direction in an attempt to shake them off. Grinning at his accomplishment, the Roxas who threw the hive begins to turn pale as he realizes that his upward momentum had brought him close to the top of some of the buildings, and was now being slowed by gravity. Flailing, Roxas manages to position his skateboard against the wall of a near by building and finds himself riding it at a very fast speed towards the ground. Right before he hits pavement, Roxas hops off the building and sloppily lands the skateboard a few feet away. Unfortunately, he can't keep his footing and trips off the board, scraping his knees and rolling down a set of nearby stairs.
The two remaining Roxases wince at their clone's fall, but continue the chase. The Roxas in front spins around and plasters a poster right onto the face of the other. Surprised by this, the now blinded Roxas flails and skates directly into the wall. He is quick to recover, however, and tosses his ball at the still skating Roxas's back, knocking him face first off his board and onto the cement. The knocked over Roxas rolls to the side to dodge his falling skateboard and wipes his mouth with his wrist, revealing blood.
"Why can't you just admit that I'm Roxas!?" The other one shouts, climbing to his feet.
"No!" Roxas yells, also standing, "I'm the only me!" He runs at the other one and throws a punch. The other Roxas jumps back to dodge it and grabs a Struggle bat that was resting against a wall. He then jumps forward and knocks Roxas back with a hit to the face. He goes for another hit and his bat clashes with the Oathkeeper Keyblade that materializes in his foe's hand.
"See?" That Roxas snaps, "The Keyblade listens to me!" He knocks the Struggle bat out of the other Roxas's hand. As it flies through the air, it's caught by the Roxas who has recovered from his fall down the stairs and scraped knees. He goes to hit the Keyblade bearing Roxas with the bat, but is knocked to the side by the Oblivion Keyblade, being held by an angry, bee stung Roxas.
The disarmed Roxas holds his hand out and materializes the Oathkeeper, stealing it from the original wielder.
"It listens to me too!" he says with a grin and moves to attack the now empty handed Roxas. That Roxas forms the Oblivion to protect himself and clash the Oathkeeper, saving the bat wielding Roxas from another hit.
"The Keyblade belongs to me!" he says parrying the attack.
"No! I'm the Keyblade master!" The struggle bat using one steals the blade.
Axel frowns as he clumsily makes his way down the Twilight Town streets. He isn't sure whether Roxas was kidding around when he asked for two ice creams, but today isn't the day to get on his bad side. So he now finds himself holding three sticks of sea salt ice cream in both hands and three more by the sticks between his teeth, slowly chilling his nose.
"Whewe awre they anyway?" Axel attempts to speak with his teeth shut tight, "It isn' eksacly easy to walk like this." Finally, after having checked Station Plaza, the Struggle Arena, and the Usual Spot, Axel steps into the Tram Common. The area is completely covered in letters and posters. A frustrated conductor is peeling a Struggle advertisement off of his tram, and angry bees survey the remains of their broken home. In the middle of the common, Axel sees the four boys, exchanging blows and trading Keyblades. He jumps at the sound of Vexen's voice next to him.
"I had a feeling this would happen…" Vexen frowns at the sight.
"Vesson?" Axel says, muffled by the ice cream, "Wha're—?" Vexen rolls his eyes and removes the three sticks of ice cream from Axel's mouth, examining them with a look of interest and disgust.
"I'm here to see how the clones are doing in the environment you chose." He shakes his head, "Not too well I can see."
"I didn't choose it." Axel shrugs, "This is just where he wanted to go. I think he just let his competitive heart get the better of him."
"Ah, yes… his heart… right." Vexen nods with his eyes shut. After a moment, while Axel is walking towards the boys, his eyes shoot back open, "Hearts!? They all have hearts!? B-but—?"
"Roxas! All right!" Axel smiles as he approaches, "Fight, fight, fight. But you know, you really ought to learn to stop hitting yourself."
The four Roxases stop in their tracks to stare at Axel.
"I brought you some of that ice cream you like." He says, holding up both handfuls, "Two for each of you."
"But there's only six?" Roxas points out.
"Oh? Oh! Vexen, bring those other ones over here." Mumbling something, Vexen hands his three ice creams out to the Roxases who return glares, and Axel hands out the rest, keeping one for himself.
"What's he doing here?" Roxas frowns.
"I was just asking him the same thing." Axel turns to Vexen.
"Grrr…" Vexen creates a portal and leaves the four boys and Axel alone.
Later on, the five of them are all back in Axel's room in the castle, having caused quite the scene at Twilight Town, and Axel is bandaging them up.
"You really fought pretty hard didn't you, Roxas?" He says as he wraps up the boy's scraped knees.
"Yeah, I guess…" he frowns.
"But it's weird," another one continues, "Half way through it didn't really feel like a fight anymore."
"Yeah," a third agrees, "I may have been trying to land every blow, but I didn't really want to. Every time I hit one of you guys, I felt it too."
"I know what you mean." The fourth one says with a nod, "It kinda just felt like being mad at yourself." Axel looks back and forth between them and smiles.
"You all seem to be getting along now." He says hopefully.
"It was a learning experience, I guess." Roxas says wincing as Axel tightens the bandages, "I mean… one of us has been around longer, but we all have the same memories, the same thoughts, and the same feelings."
"It doesn't really feel like any of us are fake." Roxas notes, cleaning the dried blood from his face.
"So if we all feel the same things, and we start to calm down…" Another Roxas considers, "I guess what it comes down to is that there's no reason to fight."
Axel lets out a laugh and flops down into his bed, arms outstretched to either side.
"It's about time you figured that out." He sighs, shutting his eyes.
"Oh, like you're an expert." Roxas laughs, sitting down on the bed beside him.
"Axel…" Another Roxas sits on the other side of him, "I'm sorry about earlier…" Axel opens his eyes and looks at Roxas questioningly, "About when I said that Nobodies can't worry? I shouldn't have—"
"Don't worry about it." Axel smiles sitting up. The other two Roxases have now taken seats on the bed as well, "It's not like my feelings were hurt if that's what you're getting at." He laughs, but stops as he sees that Roxas turns his gaze downward, sadly.
"I just…" he frowns, "I think you were worried and…" Axel kisses him on the cheek, stopping him short.
"Don't worry." The redhead insures him, "I'm not mad. I don't really know what parts are real, if any, but all I know is that when you came back earlier I was… happy." All four Roxases blush and turn their heads in an attempt to shake it off.
"I don't usually get to see myself blush…" Roxas scoffs turning even redder, "but this is the second time today."
"Heh… yeah… sorry about that." he laughs, "I was trying to keep you all from being introduced abruptly."
"No… don't apologize!" One of the boys says looking back at Axel, "It was nice… just unexpected."
"I don't know why none us of are saying it 'cause we're all thinking it, but…" another Roxas mumbles.
"Can we…" a third one finishes his sentence, "Can we do that again?" Axel looks on at the boys as their faces begin to match his hair.
"Yeah," Axel chuckles, "Go right ahead." He waves his arm and then just sits up on the bed, waiting.
Roxas scoffs at Axel's ability to just sit there calmly. Right now he can feel his arms begin to shake as he holds himself up on the bed. He moves towards Axel, growing weaker by the second. Holding his breath, he moves towards the man's face and connects his lips with the redhead's. He can feel his blush deepen, but he ignores it and closes his eyes as Axel pulls him closer. Axel feels the boy's tense body soften as it presses against his. He can feel Roxas's arms move up his back, and then his neck, finally resting on the back of his head to aid the kiss. Roxas is now straddling him, and he can feel another one's hand on the upper thigh of his cloak.
"I…" That Roxas whispers into his ear, "I-I'm not sure if we should be doing this in the castle." Another Roxas grips Axel's left hand and begins to kiss his neck lightly.
"We won't get caught." Axel says as if he's sure. The last Roxas slips Axel's cloak off from behind, leaving his chest exposed and showing off his leather pants. The Roxas that's straddling him breathes for a moment and then, along with all three other Roxases, removes his cloak as well. With one Roxas on top of him, one at each side, and one behind him, Axel can feel the warmth of their bodies all around him. The one from behind begins to kiss the back of his neck.
Although they seem to be at peace with each other, each Roxas still seems to be in competition with each. After just a moment, Roxas slips Axel's pants down past his waist, swallowing nervously. Noticing Roxas's hesitation, Axel grins and flips the boy over onto his back, pinning him on the bed. Roxas looks up, surprised and blushing, his arms bent to his sides. Axel, as well as Roxas, is now sweating. He's not sure whether it's because the other boys are or not, but he's definitely sweating. He's never even broken a sweat while fighting before.
"You really are something." Axel says with a smile and reaches his hand down to grope Roxas's thigh.
"Ngh…" Roxas flinches as Axel's hand moves slowly upwards and then down into his pants. Axel strokes him with a smile, watching his body twist and bend in rhythm. The other Roxases hang on Axel, panting, feeling the same pleasure as the one he's handling. Soon, all five of them are exposed, naked on the bed, and Axel is on his back again. Axel knows now as Roxas slowly takes position on top of him and releases a gasp, that this isn't a lie. He doesn't know how, but he knows that what he's feeling is genuine.
As the boy moves on top of him and he listens to the exhales all around him, he watches Roxas's expression of pleasure. He feels envious of those emotions at first, but as they all release one final gasp and the warm body of the boy leans down on him in a loose and tired embrace, he feels as though he has a heart. He feels as though all those emotions are as real to him as they are to Roxas. Maybe the emotions of a Nobody are the same as those clones, he thinks. You can argue all want about what is real, and what isn't real, but in the end all that matters is that they're there, and they're clear.
"Roxas…" Axel releases as the boy breathes into his neck. He doesn't care any longer whether or not it makes sense, "I think I love you."
"Heh…" Roxas pants, "When did you figure that out?" All Axel can do is laugh faintly at the question. Listening to the sounds of the steady breathing growing softer around him, Axel stares up at the ceiling and thinks.
"Maybe being a Nobody isn't so bad." He considers out loud as the four boys drift to sleep.
"Axel!" Vexen bursts into the room the next morning. The four Roxases had just finished getting their cloaks back on, but they give the scientist an awkward grin as though they hadn't.
"What's up, Vexen?" Axel asks sitting up on his bead.
"What do you mean, 'what's up'?" He grips his fists, "The Superior has asked to see Roxas. Just ONE Roxas! And I thought we decided it wasn't safe keeping them here?"
"Actually," Axel stretches, "I was thinking I'd introduce them to Xemnas."
"No! Are you crazy!? Absolutely not!" Vexen flails in a panic, "I've already thought of a way to get rid of the copies. We can put three of them back in Twilight Town while the real one goes to see the Sup—"
"That won't be necessary…" Xemnas's voice comes from behind the scientist. Vexen slams himself, back first, against the nearby wall and cringes at the sight of the Superior, "Larxene came and told me that she heard multiple voices that sounded like Roxas last night." Xemnas continues as the four Roxases blush, "Tell me… who is responsible for this?" Vexen looks at Axel in a pleading horror.
"I am." Axel smiles and Vexen releases an exasperated sigh of relief.
"You…?" Xemnas frowns and tilts his head. After a few minutes of explanation coming from Axel and nervous shifting from Vexen, Xemnas brings a hand to his chin to think.
"Very good work, Axel…" Xemnas finally says. Surprised looks come from everyone around the room other than the red haired man, "Not only have you multiplied one of the Organizations most useful members…" he stretches his arms out before talking again, "But you have also somehow managed to duplicate the strong heart that allows him to wield that… Keyblade." After yet another pause, he opens his mouth to speak again, "Not even Vexen has managed to duplicate even a normal heart. Your success…" he turns to walk out of the room, "Has been noted…" Vexen stares after Xemnas with an open mouth until the Superior is out of site.
"Chill out, Vexen." Axel gives him a reassuring pat on the back, "You can't win every time." Vexen slumps to the ground as Axel and the four Roxases walk off.
Over the next few weeks, the amount of Heartless killed by Roxas almost quadruples, Vexen sulks over his research on the human heart, and Axel is repeatedly praised for his 'achievement'.
The End.