Well, it's 8/14.

I'm sure there are some people out there that are doing AkuXion fics today, but because I find the pairing kinda gross, I found something worth much more of my time :D Here's what I call "AkuXani", dedicated to the fanfic writer Xanrivash

Setting: Between Xanrivash's works "Nobody Died" and "Into the Nexus"


"Hey Axel, you wanna play Scrabble?"

Said red head looked up from his X-Box game to see Demyx with a 'Diamond-Edition' of Scrabble. "Since when have you ever been into games like that?" he asked.

Demyx shrugged. "I guess since I was extending my vocabulary when I was getting my GED with Zexion," he said. "Sometimes I'd get to play with Xigbar and Zexion, or someone else, though not often. I was just wondering if you wanted to play."

Axel saved his game and shut down the X-Box. "Rox not going to join in?"

"He got sent on a mission, remember?" Demyx reminded. "I can't remember the name of the place, but he and Larxene are supposed to be on a two day mission."

The red head rolled his shoulders and followed Demyx back to his room, only to be surprised when he saw Xanrivash sitting on Demyx's desk chair. "Xan? What are you doing here?"

The newest member of Organization XIV shrugged. "Demys invited me," was her simple answer. "I have never heard of this 'Scrabble', so he offered to teach me."

"She's from whatever world Marluxia and Saïx are from," Demyx said, sitting at the head of his bed and opening the Scrabble box. "And from what I've heard, there wasn't a lot of game-playing, except maybe some cards here and there, so I thought she would want to learn to play something."

Axel took a seat at the end of the bed. "Sounds reasonable enough. It's been awhile since I've played too." He could remember nights as his Other when Ricky was still alive and they had had marathons of the game, Ricky almost always winning. Then again, his younger brother was much better at games like that than Lea ever was. "So we just playing for fun or keeping score?"

"…Kingdom Hearts on a hot dog bun…"

Xanrivash smiled a little at the word she had just put on the board. "Is good?" she asked.

Demyx and Axel just stared at the word she had put down, 'joviality' in the particular colored spaces. The Nocturne, who was acting as scorekeeper for this round, added up the numbers from the letters and bonuses and tallied up her final score. "Uh…yeah…I think you just won the game…you've got over 300 points…"

Axel was a little stunned, considering that this was supposedly the first time Xanrivash had ever played a board game like this before. "I demand a rematch!"

Demyx laughed a little. "While you two have a rematch, I'm going looking for food. Anyone want anything?"

Axel thought for a moment. "Soda?"

"…feeling peaky or something?"

The red head looked at his hand, which was starting to quiver on its own accord. "I think that it would be a safe bet to drink one," he answered. Demyx rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway. "You want anything Xanrivash?"

She just shook her head in response. The Nocturne opened a portal and left in order to get himself some dinner.

As the other two set up their new game, Axel became a little curious. He hadn't spent much time with the new girl, so all he really knew was that she wasn't quite human (what with the dainty claws, yellow eyes, etc.), was from wherever the Graceful Assassin and Luna Diviner formerly lived, her element was poison which earned her the Organization title of 'The Nightshade Stalker', and that she wore green feathers in her hair by braiding them in to keep them in place. Oh, and she had a little bit of a strange accent that was mistaken for a lisp half the time.

"So…what did you do back in your world?" Axel asked, hoping that wasn't too bad of a question as he set up his tiles. He had always been a little curious about where Marluxia and Saïx were from, but Marluxia was too stuck up when it came to that subject to even talk about it and Saïx didn't talk much anyway.

"I was a mercenary," Xanrivash replied, finishing putting her tiles in their place. "I was supposed to carry out a mission, but it was done by someone else before I could do it myself." She looked at Axel. "You?"

"…nothing exciting," the Flurry answered. "Just a little rich kid for most of my life…until someone close to me was taken away." It still hurt too, just to think about it. And he still didn't know how in any of the worlds it had taken him almost three or four years to figure out who had had his little brother killed.

"…my family was killed too. I don't know who in yours is gone, but I am sorry."

Axel looked at her, a little surprised. "How'd you…?"

She gave him a little smile. "You are not hard to read," she said, starting the game by putting down the word 'naiad'. "You loss someone you cared for. Is this how you became a Nobody?"

The red head looked at his letters, finding a word as he thought of a way to properly answer her question. "Yeah…my brother was killed by our parents. It took me a few years to figure it out though and when I did, I ended up in prison with a death sentence. I was only eighteen when my heart was taken." He took a few tiles and put down 'diploma', using the tile the other had put down as a starting point. "What about you? What happened to your family?" He could only wonder if she'd give him a real answer or not as he replaced his letters.

Xanrivash looked for a minute at the board after replacing her letters as well. "Mine were traders, but were killed as…col-eral damage, as Demys has phrased it. I joined the rebellion and was supposed to carry out my mission againss a certain figure…but he died before I could do anything." She put down the tiles to form 'betray', using Axel's end of his last word for her word.

Axel knew what she meant because she couldn't say 'collateral' without her accent getting in the way, and for once he knew not to point it out. And looking at her tiles, it seemed like they were spelling out parts of her life. What else could he get out of her from curiosity's sake? "What race were you guys fighting against? I know you're from the same place as Saïx and Marluxia-"

He didn't expect a scowl when he said Marly's name. "…it has something to do with him?"

W-H-Y

Xanrivash had a look of anger on her face now. "Everything."

R-E-V-E-N-G-E

"I know Marly's a bastard and all, but did he really kill off your family?"

R-E-A-L-I-Z-E

"The elves were responsible. My family had no reason to die"

H-E-A-R-T-L-E-S-S

"And you'll always hate Marluxia? Granted I don't like him either, but that's besides the point."

F-O-R-G-I-V-E

"Always."

N-E-V-E-R


So there it is. A somewhat AkuXani fic, dedicated to my friend and mentor in the Kingdom Hearts fanfic field.