overture. Despite the fact that I've never actually played the main Kingdom Hearts series (in fact, the first ever KH game I ever finished was 358/2 Days, heh), I'll readily admit that Organisation XIII is what drew me to the games. I love them collectively and as a whole (and no, nothing against Sora, even if he decimated most of 'em; after all, he was doing what he had to do), and though my all-time favourite member is probably Saïx, the only real pairing I support is Larxel. Sadly, there just doesn't seem to be enough love for that pairing, something I plan on remedying. Without further ado, I present to you 'Letters to Nowhere', a 100 Theme Challenge centred around the dynamic pairing of Axel and Larxene. Enjoy!

prologue.

prompt - - - 001. shield

genre - - - friendship, humour

rating - - - T (coarse language)

synopsis - - - A metallic click echoed through the arena. "R is for reload," Xigbar drawled, aiming his rifle-arrowgun at her head; she froze, eyes widening. "Looks like I'm going hunting today, Wildcat. Let's see how you dance!"

disclaimers - - - I do not in any way, shape or form own Kingdom Hearts, or any of the characters portrayed in this work of fiction (much to my eternal dismay and perpetual chagrin).

- - x x x x x - -

They often said that the transition from human to Nobody was sometimes traumatic, and the changed being had a tendency to forget who they were, before their memories took root. He had seen it happen in Demyx, who had lounged around aimlessly until, on the third evening, he had summoned his sitar for the first time and then began to strum, as though in a trance. He had seen it in Marluxia, who had only gazed blankly up to the other Organisation members, perched on their towering thrones as Xigbar introduced him to them.

Not Aerlen, however. Everything about her was the same, from her posture – determinedly upright, head raised, eyes challenging all those who met her stare – to her voice, when she sought him out, almost tentatively bringing up memories from their shared past, memories he had thought were long gone.

Whilst it had taken Luxord about a week to produce a deck of cards and propose a game of Blackjack, Larxene had taken it upon herself to challenge Xigbar to a duel just two days after arriving in the Castle That Never Was.

In hindsight, Axel mused from the stands, this really shouldn't have been a surprise. Even as a human, the feisty blonde had always bitten off a great deal more than she could chew, and had no qualms about challenging authority, even long after he and Isa had given up. Casting a sidelong glance towards Luxord, he elbowed the gambler in the ribs, a smirk spreading across his features. "Who's your money on?"

Number X chuckled. "I would say they are both fairly evenly matched, though Xigbar presumably has something of an advantage here."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"He's been a Nobody for a lot longer than the little lady has, ergo he is undoubtedly better-versed with his skills and capabilities."

"Hmm…well, first, Larxene wouldn't take too kindly to being called a 'little lady'. And secondly, good point." Axel watched as the sniper levitated upside-down, greying ponytail dangling southwards as he shot a volley of laser arrows at Larxene, who flattened her body to the ground, before leaping upwards. "Poor Kitten, she must nearly be at the end of her tether. Though she's been able to dodge all of his shots, the poor thing hasn't even been able to land a decent hit on Xiggy." It was true. Whilst Xigbar was having the time of his life merely evading and dodging the blonde's increasingly erratic swipes and slashes, he looked almost entirely at ease, in contrast to her escalating anger and frustration at not being able to reach him. "It's like watching a cat try to catch a canary. A canary who can warp away as soon as kitty's about to pounce on it—woah, woah, shit, what was that?"

In a sudden surge of movement, Larxene had darted forwards, knives poking out from between her fingers as she executed a vicious uppercut; the gunner, in a desperate attempt to dodge, fired a volley of shots at her. The Nymph staggered back, winded and hissing an explosive curse at the sting of her fresh wounds, whilst Xigbar warped away to a safer distance, checking his right arm. "Damn, Kitten, you're good," he said, surveying the damage to his coat, and squinting at the line of gashes on his forearm. "Better than good, I'd say."

She bared her teeth in a mocking sneer. "Why, thank you."

"Now this is something I'll have to report to the Superior," the gunner said, half to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Kitten."

"Don't call me that!" She was upright in a heartbeat, teleporting recklessly across the arena; Xigbar's head swivelled this way and that as he attempted to track her progress, the beginnings of a curse rising to his lips. The onlookers chortled under their breaths.

"Oh dear," Luxord said drolly. "Looks like—"

"Looks like the shit has hit the fan, yes," Axel finished for him, watching as the wild-eyed Savage Nymph sped across the arena. "You sure you don't wanna reconsider the bet?"

"Oh, Axel. Always the eloquent gentleman—"

"Shit!" the sniper growled under his breath, as he tilted his head to the side; Axel could now see he plainly lamented the fact that he only had one eye, as it became harder and harder to pinpoint the blur of movement that was Larxene. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" With each explosive oath, Xigbar fired a round of shots at the direction of the blur, until the empty snick, snick of a blank chamber cut short his increasingly colourful swearing. "Oh, crap."

It was then that Larxene chose to make her move; moving with all the supple grace of a panther, she teleported away from the fringes of the chamber, knives at the ready to carve the gunner several more scars; suddenly, a sharp, metallic click echoed throughout the arena, a sound which froze Axel's blood.

"R is for reload," Xigbar drawled lazily, grinning as he aimed through the sights of his sniper rifle, the barrel of the arrowgun pointed at the Nymph's head; she stopped short, eyes widening. His leer broadened, making the scarred man bear an uncanny resemblance to a shark which had scented blood; the crosshairs of his rifle sights settled squarely in the middle of Larxene's forehead, and his finger rested almost lovingly on the trigger. "Playtime's up, sweetie. Looks like I'm goin' hunting today, Wildcat." A brief silence followed as the two combatants eyed each other: the blonde panting as she glared at the barrel of the combined Sharpshooter, and the greying senior Nobody snickering as he aimed at her, upside-down and merrily defying gravity. "Let's see how you dance!"

"What the shit—?" Axel rose to his feet, but it was too late; the space above the Nymph's head began to twist and warp, and the sniper only chuckled in response. Without thinking, the flame-haired Nobody vaulted down the stands, running towards the middle of the arena; just as the first salvo of shots rained down from the distorted space above their heads, he summoned his weapons in a whirl of flames, shielding Larxene from the brunt of the attack, and surrounding them with a protective barrier of fire.

Upturned face illuminated by the glow of flames, she regarded him suspiciously with narrowed eyes. "What are you doing—?"

Before he could answer, the onslaught of laser bullets seemed to ease; the fire vanished, and Axel straightened, glaring balefully at the gunner. "You bastard! I never expected you to be so serious about this! Since when were you ever serious about anything?"

"Now, really, Xigbar! That was hardly fair!" Luxord, too, sounded concerned, though nowhere near as angry as Number VIII was; if anything, he seemed vaguely bemused, and hugely intrigued. "It's one thing to be dealt a favourable hand by circumstance, but if I could be so frank, I would say this counts as cheating."

"If Kitten wants to stay in our ranks, she's got to prove herself first. We've gotta keep up with appearances, y'know. The Organisation consists only of the best Nobodies, and you know that as well as I do." Xigbar's response was indifferent as he dropped back to earth, landing on his feet with all the nonchalance of a cat, and simultaneously dismissing his weapons. "Relax, I just used her challenge as the grounds on which to test her skills."

"He is correct." Lexaeus said gravely from where he sat, surveying the battle below with an inscrutable expression, and disregarding the started look Number X cast him; it seemed he had only just appeared on the scene, in time to see the tail end of the initiation test. "It was always a tradition of sorts to assess the abilities of new recruits in a mock to-the-death match."

Axel hissed from between his teeth. "Damn it, Lexaeus, I know that. But had I not stopped the trigger-happy old fart over there, we would have had to scrape up the last of Number XII from the tiles and into a dustpan. Hell, had I done nothing, she'd have been the fourth potential recruit we'd have lost." Too bad the impact of his words was lost when the other Nobody ignored him, proceeding to vanish into a dark portal he summoned.

"Trigger-happy old fart?" Xigbar echoed sardonically, crossing his arms as he swaggered towards Axel. "You'd wanna watch your mouth there, Flamesilocks, or you'll find that my trigger-happy old fingers will slip. Just a friendly warning between friends, ya know. But man, oh man, how mighty unusual of you to jump to the rescue of this particular new recruit. Most unusual indeed…" The tail end of his sentence trailed off as he, too, called forth a portal, disappearing from the arena. Luxord followed suit, clapping Axel on the shoulder as he left.

For the first – and, in hindsight, not the last – time, Numbers VIII and XII stared at one another in the ensuing silence.

Finally, she chose to break it. "What the hell was that all about? And why did you interrupt my battle?" The glare she gave him was very much the same as the one Aerlen used to, whenever he had done something especially stupid. Axel ran a gloved hand through his wildly-spiked hair, exhaling heavily through his nose.

"Long story, Kitten."

She bristled at that. "No thanks to you, now everyone seems to be calling me that. What is wrong with all of you? And so help me, you'd better tell me what this was all about, or else I'll—"

"Woah, woah, someone's especially snappy today." He sighed again, before gesturing towards the empty stands. "C'mon, siddown. Ya did a great job just now, by the way. I'm sure the boss-man'll be pleased to hear of that."

Larxene snorted softly at that, but followed silently in his wake, wincing slightly as she sat down. "Ugh, I have no idea what those bullets are made of, but they hurt like hell after a while."

He couldn't help feeling concerned for her. "Look, long stories can wait. Are ya sure you're okay? If not, we'll make a quick dash down to the—"

"No. I'm fine." She jabbed him in the chest with her index finger as she spoke. "So whatever it is you were going to say, spit it out. Now."

"Well, okay. It goes like this. The Organisation consists of only the most powerful of Nobodies, and for a while now, the boss-man – that's Xemnas, by the way. Commit that name to memory – has been looking to recruit new people. So, we're still a few numbers short, and every time we find a potential member, we test 'em, in some way or another."

The blonde frowned thoughtfully at his words. "So…today…when I challenged Xigbar, he was just looking for an excuse to examine my skills?"

"Pretty much, yes. Though we usually wait about a week or so, to allow the newbies to get used to their new powers and all that."

"Hmph." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, expression brightening suddenly. "So…wait. That means even Demyx had to go through this?"

"Yeah. Most of us did. That was a nightmare, man. I had to fight Xigbar as well, which was the hugest pain in the ass ever. He was everywhere and then nowhere, and it was annoying as fuck to hit him…though in the end I got lucky and brained him with a long-range shot. Mostly it's him, Xaldin, Lexaeus, Saïx and yours truly that do the assessments, and let me tell you, none of us are the sorta guys you want to be up against. Like I said, had you gotten the full brunt of old Xiggy's last attack, you'd have been yet another…uh, failed recruit, so to speak."

"I see." Larxene looked thoughtful, and seemed to have forgotten her earlier anger. "How typical of you to include yourself in that demographic," she added almost sourly, glaring at him sidelong. He chuckled in response, ruffling her bright blonde hair. "Stop that," she added warningly, as static crackled under his fingertips; he pulled back, looking shocked.

"Shit, what was that?" Axel gingerly reached forwards to rub the top of her head again, only to nearly have himself electrocuted. "Damn. Looks like we have a real sparkplug on our hands now, huh? Man, I gotta report that to ol' Xiggy so he can give the Superior the full low-down."

She ignored him. "So…the last person to do this assessment…was Marluxia?"

"Yep. He was up against Xaldin. They were at it, hammer and tongs, for ages, until Marly got lucky and managed to jam his scythe between Xaldin's lances when he was blocking a hit, and then disarmed him. It was a pretty good move, too, though Marluxia didn't manage to land a scratch on him. Xaldin's got mad skills with those lances of his, and even after four had been knocked out of his reach, he managed to block Marly's next attack, easy-pie."

"Ugh. So that means Xigbar's probably going to tell Xemnas I failed as well, since I barely even managed to touch him. And then it's hello, Dusk-dom."

"Aww, Kitten, don't be like that! You got him good, and he's probably off telling the boss-man how much punch you can pack, even if you're not that beefy. Y'know why his last attack wasn't that on-the-mark, and seemed to miss us by miles at times? It's 'cause you injured his dominant arm, and it threw his aim off."

Larxene blinked at him, that familiar, slow smile spreading across her face. "Heh, if you say so. Well then, looks like you're going to be stuck with me for the rest of our Nobody lives, huh? Can't say I'd object too much."

He grinned back at her. "Well, well, this is a far cry from that angry little rant you had yesterday, about how you thought everyone here was boring." He paused, smile fading slightly. "After all, all of us here are men without hearts."

The blonde sniffed haughtily. "I can't conclusively say anything on the others, but I suppose you aren't half bad."

And that, Axel decided, was how their new odyssey began. So it seemed, no matter which life they led, be it their childhoods back in the Radiant Garden, or now, in the bleakness of the World That Never Was, they would always end up finding and antagonising one another.

Just like how it was meant to be.

- - x x x x x - -

epilogue. Lol, yes, I managed to turn a nice, easy prompt into something quite irrelevant. I do think it makes for quite the nice starting point to this whole series, though, because it makes it easy to jump backwards and forwards along the timeline. And, aw man, yay for cameos from several other Org. members! I love Xigbar, I swear, he's so awesome. Surfer ninja pirate dude, hell yeah! Of course, to get some of the references here (as well as to understand my skewed timeline), you'll probably have to refer back to my other Larxel fic, Claws. This basically takes place one day after Larxene meets Axel in the Organisation for the first time (chapter two, I believe), but a few weeks before the friendly match they had in chapter one. Confusing, yes? Yes. Sorry about that.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to keep your eyes peeled for updates! Haha. Let's see how long it takes for me to finish this. *u* Even if I have the tendency to write laughably long one-shots.