Axel's Mistake
Chapter one
"Mornin'."
"Wow, you look rough. Why didn't you stay in bed?" Roxas shrugged. He vaguely noticed the assassin get up and only when a mug gently 'thunked' on the table in front of him did he actually acknowledge who it was in the room with him.
"Thanks Marluxia." He murmured, taking a sip of the coffee.
"No problem." The assassin sat back down and carried on eating a bowl of cereal.
"What are you eating?" Roxas asked for the sake of talking.
"Weetabix."
"…Why?"
"Keeps the heart healthy."
"…but…you don't have a hear-"
"Shhh! You'll ruin the magic." Roxas shook his head. "Are you cold?"
"No, why?"
"I am."
"Okay…?"
"Sorry, just wondering. I thought that if you were cold too I could ask about getting some heating installed in this god forsaken place." Roxas laughed. Marluxia was always like this in the mornings. He was hyperactive, spontaneous, amusing, easy to talk to; and all without the aid of coffee. Roxas guessed he was one of those rare morning people.
Roxas liked Marluxia; he was always so laid back and he always somehow managed to make Roxas relax too. That is until another member of the organization came in. Marluxia would quiet down and the atmosphere would become stiff, especially if it was someone he didn't connect with. A noise above his head snapped Roxas out of his thoughts. Marluxia looked up at the ceiling also, a knowing smirk in place. "Axel's awake. Well…at least half awake." Roxas chuckled at the truth behind the assassin's statement. Marluxia may have been a morning person, but Axel definitely wasn't. They listened to the heavy footfalls and a door open then close. Axel was on his way. The footsteps faded as the pyromaniac went off down the long hallway to descend the stairs to ground level. Softer footsteps could then be heard as he approached the kitchen.
"Morning Ax, how you doing?" Roxas greeted is friend, feeling more cheerful now he had had some coffee.
"Mnnh." Axel replied, rubbing his eyes and looking blearily around the kitchen. He spotted the coffee pot and stumbled towards it. Coffee was practically a lifeline in the castle. Only Marluxia could function without it, and possibly Xigbar on a good day.
The three nobodys sat around the table, Marluxia and Roxas chatting comfortably while Axel struggled on a mug of coffee. The red head was on his third mug by the time the second smallest member of he organization came downstairs. Zexion padded softly into the kitchen and sat down on a chair opposite Axel. The red head looked up, muttered a "Morn'n" before letting his head drop back onto the table. The schemer just yawned, showing he wasn't quite awake himself.
"What's wrong with all of you? If you're still tired, don't bother getting up." Marluxia almost reprimanded. "Makes me wonder why you're all this tired anyway, don't you sleep?" Roxas shrugged, Axel still wasn't quite with it and Zexion munched on some cereal, looking like he hadn't listened to a word. "I'm surprised at you Zex." The silver haired boy looked up at his name, "You go to your room before I go to mine, what do you do in there?" Zexion swallowed his mouthful of cereal before answering.
"I read." Roxas had been in Zexion's room only once, and that one trip was all he needed to know that this boy liked books. Stacks of books, five feet tall, filled the room, leaving only a narrow path from the door to the bed, and it wasn't even a bed. Where Zexion slept was just a mass of cushions and blankets up the corner furthest from the door, surrounded by the books he had most recently read or was currently reading. Roxas assumed somewhere in the maze of books there was a path to the en suit bathroom that every room had, but he never saw one.
"Now that I can believe. You shouldn't read so much you know, its bad for your eyes."
"But it's good for the brain." Marluxia went to retort but a yawn from Axel attracted everyone's attention.
"Morning." The redhead finally said after finishing his fourth cup of coffee.
"Oh so you're coherent now are you?" Roxas poked his friend on the shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Axel got up and searched around for something to eat before his eyes settled on Marluxia. "What you eating?"
"Weetabix."
"…that stuff that's supposed to keep your heart healthy?"
"Yes." Marluxia said stiffly.
"You know you don't have-"
"Yes, I am fully aware I lack a heart!"
"Oh well, to each his own I guess…then again, Zexion's always eating Cheerios and they don't do him any good." Zexion looked up again and scowled at Axel.
"…what?" Roxas asked his friend, not understanding.
"You know…Cheerios…CHEER-ios…he eats them all the time but he still mopes about the place."
"…you are so weird." Roxas said finally shaking his head.
"I do not mope. I just have a lot on my mind." Zexion said defensively. Axel laughed.
"What? You hardly ever go out of the castle, all you do is read, eat and sleep. Oh and that crazy thing you do. What the hell can you have on your mind?" Zexion began muttering something under his breath, and Axel leant forwards to try and catch any of it.
"Morning ladies."
"Morning Xigbar." Marluxia greeted bitterly, looking at the table top forcefully. Now Xigbar was someone Marluxia just didn't get on with. Roxas could remember the time the freeshooter had replaced Marluxia's shampoo with a mixture of flour, water and red food dye. Needless to say, the assassin wasn't very happy. He wouldn't come out of his room for a month, and the one time he tried, wearing his cloak and with his hood up, Xigbar had snuck up behind him and pulled it down to reveal a clumpy mess. Marluxia had hid away for a long time. People almost forgot he was there.
"Hey Mar Mar. How are you this morning?" Xigbar ruffled the assassin's hair, laughing at how Marluxia just let him do it with a scowl on his face. The freeshooter headed towards the coffee pot, made a 'tut' sound and turned to glare at Axel. He went about filling it up again for others to use, and looked round when he heard Marluxia get up and leave.
"He's going to kill you in your sleep one of these days." Zexion told Xigbar quietly.
"No he won't." He replied flippantly, waving a hand for emphasis.
"Yes he will, I'm going to tell him to do it." Roxas and Axel suppressed laughs as Xigbar just snorted. Zexion and Xigbar got on really well contrary to popular belief. They sniped at each other, threatened each other, even argued to the point that Xigbar would bring out his guns and shoot off at the smaller man, but Zexion would never move. Xigbar would never hit him. He would always say, 'it was a warning, he knows I will shoot him, I'm just warning him is all.' But everybody knew he wouldn't do it.
Xigbar sat down with a mug of steaming coffee and glared at the silver haired boy across from him. Zexion had resumed his muttering. He sometimes did that. He would walk around the castle muttering to himself, ignoring all the filthy looks he got from the other members. Whatever he was saying nobody knew and Lexaeus had once said, that they didn't want to know. Axel and Demyx had questioned him further, asking what he meant, but he wouldn't answer them, instead Vexen had answered "Zexion is a dark boy, leave it at that."
At that moment, Zexion paused in his musings, looked up at Xigbar and opened his mouth to say something. Xigbar raised his eyebrows in question. The smaller boy then shook his head and carried on muttering to himself quietly. Xigbar rolled his eye and took a sip of his coffee.
"Saix is looking for you." Everyone in the kitchen jumped as the unknown voice rang out and echoed in the small space. Demyx had poked his head through the open doorway.
"God Demyx, don't do that." Axel almost shouted, rubbing a hand on his chest where his heart would have been, he looked at it then let it drop to his side, shaking his head at himself.
"Sorry." Demyx grinned sheepishly, "But yeah, Saix is looking for you, he wants to speak with you about…something."
"About what?"
"I don't know, I forgot." Axel sighed and left the room, gently shoving a hand into Demyx's stomach. "Ow."
"That didn't hurt you wuss."
"Uh-huh!" Demyx disappeared after Axel, their voices fading as they walked away.
"Wonder what Saix wants with Axel?" Xigbar said when they could no longer hear the bickering pair. Roxas shrugged and Zexion was still muttering to himself as though he hadn't noticed anything happen.
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