Disclaimer:

I am not making any profit off of this fanfic. Square Enix and Disney own their respective characters.

After Hours

Plot by: The Can-Can group

Summary: In which Axel goes to the bar in the afterlife and discovers he's underage. Oh, and rooms that will lead him down memory lane and other paths he could've taken and didn't.

0000

Axel had learned from his travels through the various worlds about the concepts of Heaven and Hell. When he first heard about the places, Axel wondered if and where he would go once he no longer existed. This lead to the next question if one, such as Axel, could actually go to either place since he has no heart. According to the doctrines that instigated the places, a soul could go there after the physical body died. Since a heart is the same thing as a soul, Axel figured he would never get the chance to see either place.

After Axel ceased to exist, he quickly learned neither place existed.

Apparently, the afterlife was a bar. It was aptly named After Hours.

Axel stared at the neon sign with its blinking lights. He went on to observed the surrounding fields, which stretched into the darkness. His location was in the middle of a road where both ends had a stoplights flashing red on and off. When Axel first arrived, he tried walking past one of the stoplights only to find himself at the other end. Axel did not like being so blatantly directed to the bar. He like being able to make his own choices.

However, time had passed and nothing was changing. Therefore, he shrugged—more mentally than physically—and he entered.

The first thing he was surprised to notice was the inside was huger than what the outside had suggested. The second thing was a good portion of the Organization XIII members was all ready situated in the room. That second thing should not have been surprising.

"Are you going to move or just stand there, Number Eight?"

Axel moved forward to allow Xemnas enter the room. Axel grinned at the thought that Sora had defeated the leader of the Organization XIII. He never did like the old bastard.

Upon entering the bar room, Axel instantly headed towards the counter and plopped himself onto one of the stools with a shit-eating grin on his face.

To the barkeep, Axel said: "I'll take the strongest thing you've got. I think I'm going to need it."

To Axel, the barkeep replied: "No can do. You're underage."

Axel took offense to that. He used to drink alcohol all the time when he still existed. "I'm effing dead! How can here be a drinking age?" Axel, apparently, could just not understand the logic.

"Okay, I understand you are new here. I really do, but there are rules, even in the afterlife. Death is chaotic enough all ready. The rules just keep it from breaking a part completely. Besides it also creates a sense of normalcy for those who do not exist anymore."

Axel stared in an angry/deadpanned sorta way. "You mean to tell me I'm dead, I'm in a bar, and I can't drink beer because of rules used to keep logic in place?"

The barkeep nodded with a smile on his face. "Exactly."

This, as it would anyone else, confused Axel greatly. What was he supposed to do for the rest of his nonexistence? Axel expressed this question, "What the hell am I supposed to do for all fuckin' eternity? Watch as the rest of the idiots get smashed?"

"No. This is just the beginning. Think of this bar as a rest stop-"

"-certainly smells like one," Axel muttered.

"-just before starting a long road trip," the barkeep paused. "And I just cleaned it three hundred years ago."

Axel, with a disdainful eye, looked around the room. Even his room in the Castle was cleaner than this. And that was saying something. "It really shows."

The barkeep angrily grabbed a cup and proceeded to clean it furiously with a rag. "Getting back to the topic…You won't be here forever. Like I said, this is like a waiting room. Once you are prepared, I'll get you started on your journey."

"What do I have to do to get 'prepared'?"

The barkeep winked. Axel had to forced himself to not say how fruity the wink had made the barkeep look. "That's something you'll have to figure out on your own. Now, if you don't mind, Xemnas has been drinking since he's gotten here and he'll be tossing his cookies, if you know what I mean, any time now." Armed with a bucket and mop, the barkeep went over to where Xemnas was leaning over and heaving.

How the mighty have fallen, thought Axel. He mentally laughed as Xemnas passed out after loosing everything.

Demxy slid onto the stool next Axel's. "Can't drink either, huh? Probably a good thing. All the 'adults' end up like children."

Demxy had only said three sentences and Axel was all ready annoyed at him. "What do you want?"

Demxy sighed. He looked like one of those stupid dogs that get kicked by even more stupid kids. "Nobody—'scuse the pun—talks to me. They still treat me like I'm weak and inferior-"

"-That's because you are."

"—I am not! I'm just a pacifist, okay? 'Got it memorized'?" Demxy had just done a piss poor imitation of Axel. It consisted of deepening his voice and wriggling his phalanges. Axel was not amused. Mainly because his voice was not that deep.

"Listen, kid. Do that again and I'll send you on a one-way ticket straight to Hell. Got that memorized?" Axel imitated Demxy, who, as everyone should remember, was imitating Axel in the first place.

"Whatever, its not like Hell is real anyway."

Axel didn't reply. Not that he wanted to anyway. He was annoyed enough as it were and he definitely did not need Demxy's "half empty" attitude.

Demxy sighed. "I just wish I was stronger. Then I wouldn't have been such a loser. I probably wouldn't have lost against Sora either, or I wouldn't have been picked on so much by everyone else. Man, I wish I never existed in the first place."

The barkeep popped up out of nowhere. Axel would never admit to having jumped when the man just showed up without any warning. "Time for you to go, Mr. Demxy."

Demxy blinked. Axel figured it was because Demxy had never received such formality/respect from someone else. "All ready?"

The barkeep nodded. "If you'll come with me, I'll tell you all about the journey you'll be taking."

Axel watched as Demxy stood and followed the barkeep up a step of stairs to the right of the bar. A door closed behind the pair. The cracks that should've been there disappeared seamlessly. Axel blinked. The doorknob that had been there vanished too.

Axel really wanted to know what was on the other side and why did Demxy leave and not him? He glared around the bar room as if to blame them for his issues.

The glare was lost, however, when he spotted Larxene playing strip poker—he knew this because she was down to her bra—with other Nobodies and members of the Organization. Axel nearly barfed when Larxene lost another hand and was forced to remover her last article of clothing.

Her freakin' bra.

Axel whipped his head back around just as whistles and catcalls started up. Yes, the bottles of alcohol was more interesting than seeing a Larxene without clothes.

Some part of Axel wondered if this was what the rest of eternity was supposed to be like. Hopefully, not all of it was playing strip poker or watching the older nobodies get completely smashed.

Another thought wandered into his brain. It asked aloud, "What would happen if I were to take a bottle and light if up? Would it explode or would it turn all the alcohol like an oil lamp?"

Axel really wanted to try it out. Really wanted to try.

Much like a spy or a suspicious person, Axel checked to see if was anyone who could be watching/looking at him. No one was.

Casual-like, Axel slipped around the counter. He studied each bottle, trying to find the one that is the most flammable drink on the shelf. When he found one with the most alcohol content, Axel lit it up on top of the counter.

It caught fire but did not explode like Axel had wanted. However, the high dancing flames did keep him entertained.

The display reminded Axel of how much he missed his chakrams. It seemed that weapons--if the lacking of the weapons were an indication—did not transverse to the after existence very well. Axel had figured it was due to the weapons not being an organic part of him—much like how his clothes, which also had been lost. Axel was lucky to find a t-shirt and pants on his person after he had been destroyed. He didn't want to think about the significance of the clothes waiting there, it made him shudder. However, he was grateful that he didn't have to feel the cold wind flowing across his nether regions.

The barkeep arrived back, coming through the door that disappeared as soon as Axel blinked. "Where's Demxy?"

The barkeep "tsk'ed" at the sight of the glass and the extinguishing flames. "You didn't drink any of this, did you?"

"Nope," replied Axel with a "woo! I'm the best eva!" look on his face. "Just lit it up. So, where's Demxy?"

"He moved on," the barkeep answered. "He's decided it is time to go unto a new adventure."

"So, there's more to the After Existence?"

The barkeeper nodded. "It's all about a matter of perspective and how much you want to continue on." The barkeep motioned his head to the Nobodies in the room. "The reason why they haven't gone on is because they have too much pride, not enough want, or they are distracted by what the bar has to offer. If they don't continue on soon, they'll fade away into nothing while at the same time being completely aware of it. And there's not much you can do to get out of it."

Axel wearily looked around the room. He did not want that to happen to him. "How do I continue on?"

"That is something you are going to have to figure out on your own."

"You're not very helpful."

"I get that a lot," the barkeep smiled, seemingly not bothered by the comment and in fact taking it as a flattering compliment.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Axel and sitting still for long hours did not mix. Usually, the boredom ended with someone being burned.

"Go mingle or something. I don't really care. Just as long as you don't mess around with my bar."

"Would I do that?" Axel tried his best innocent smile. Unfortunately, Axel's innocent smiles generally told the world he was not so innocent.

"In a heartbeat. Why don't you go gamble or go… do something that doesn't bug me?"

"Right." Axel shoved himself off from the bar. He paused to look around and see whom he could talk to. The underground members from Castle Oblivion were sitting in a dark corner, muttering amongst themselves and doing that mad scientist hackle every so often.

No fun to be had there, Axel figured.

The rest of the Organization, he just did not want to associate with. They were dicks. Simple as that.

Axel had prepared to turn around to ask the barkeep for something to eat, but a hand had grabbed a hold of him. "Hello, Larxene. How's the After Existence?"

Larxene, fully clothed, flashed her "I really wanna destroy you, but I can't because you're all ready freakin' dead!" grin. "Just peachy. It took me awhile to get over your betrayal."

"Oh? I don't recall betraying the Organization. If I remember correctly, that was you who was trying that out."

"Yes. But you betrayed me. I don't take betrayal very well." Larxene's hands clenched into Axel's shoulder.

He didn't wince and stared at her. "I didn't betray anyone."

Larxene's grin turned rather evil looking. "The gaping wound in Vexen and our nifty TV says otherwise."

"How's old Vixen, I mean, Vexen doing?"

"He's fine. The puncture you gave him healed up nicely. I think you're missing the point, you self-serving bastard. We know you didn't kill Vexen because you were ordered to. You did it to meet your own ends. And thanks a lot for letting that little bitch out, you scum!" The grin, by the point, had turned into a seething angry face of doom.

"And what made you realize that I was self-serving?" Was what Axel had wanted to ask. However, he didn't feel like having Larxene blow up in his face.

Instead, he just stood there as she continued, "We've had months to let our anger boil."

Screw silence. "I don't really care."

She ignored him and pressed on. "I bet you are wandering how we allowed our anger to fester."

"Not really."

Larxene's other hand pointed to a TV. "Show him!"

Marluxia, holding a remote, nodded and pressed a series of buttons. Upon the only TV screen, Vexen, about to reveal the truth to Sora about Naminé, was caught off by one of Axel's chakrams putting a rather huge sized hole in his chest.

"I can still feel the wound," Vexen said from his card game amongst the underground members.

"And the other thing!" Larxene shouted to Marluxia.

On the screen, Axel left the door open for Naminé to get out. The TV shut off after that.

To say the least, Axel was not all that impressed. He was the one to do those things. It's not like he was going to forget doing them. Morons.

"This TV is really great," Larxene smiled. "We can see anything except for the future. Our anger had reached apocalyptic proportions. We even made plans to destroy you when you finally got here. However, you can't kill Nothing. So, we make plans to beat you within an inch of your Nothingness."

Marluxia shot off behind Axel and grabbed his arms to pull them back before Axel could react. While Marulxia held onto Axel, Larxene grabbed a bottle and brought the butt against a table, breaking the bottle into two sharp halves. She left the bottom on the floor where it lay and stepped across the broken glass bits. She walked towards Marluxia and Axel, holding the top half around the neck of the bottle.

Marluxia smiled—not that Axel could see—like the pansy he was. "I would have used my scythe, however, the Non-Existence doesn't allow us to have anything that isn't part of our own bodies." He sighed. "This was the best we could come up with."

Larxene smiled sweetly before she brought down her arm. The first was a nick into the stomach. The pain suggested he had been cut centimeters past the skin and the muscle. Some part of him didn't want to see the damage. However, the part that was fascinated by violence looked. Axel's stomach was intact. There was neither bleeding nor any cuts.

"That proves my theory," Vexen announced excitedly.

Through, or because of the pain, Axel hadn't seen Vexen move to stand next to the group. He almost laughed at the sight of Vexen looking like scientist who just discovered the cure to cancer.

"Because we are dead, we can't get hurt," Vexen continued. "However, our minds are expecting there to be pain. Our bodies aren't even real since our minds created them when were destroyed. Moreover, because our bodies were created from our minds, if we imagine there to be a sensation, our 'bodies' will react and make us feel a sensation. I believe its so that we can function in a familiar way. If we were to exist as formless masses of energy, we would become lost and confused and fade into oblivion. It's a way of survival." Vexen smiled at his conclusion. "Or at least, that's the short version. The long version is-"

Larxene sighed with exasperation and pushed him out of the way. "Thank you, professor. Now, why don't you go back to your nerdy games in the corner."

Vexen sighed sadly and walked with a slump in his shoulders back to where the undergrounders were.

"So, what does this have to do with me? I don't really give a damn about any of that," Axel said.

Larxene smiled. "What this means is we can torture you forever and you won't spill a drop of blood."

Great, thought Axel. He really did hate being on the receiving in of her sadism. He didn't say anything though and stared blankly at Larxene.

"What? You think you are better than us? Think you can handle pain? Ha! Boy, I am going to destroy you so that you will feel nothing but pain." She paused at the smirk on Axel's face. "What?"

"You always say the same thing. 'I'll cause pain here and there.' Come up with something original all ready."

Larxene roared and brought down the broken bottle again. The fist cuts hurt as imaginary blood rolled out in waves. As the pain began to be unbearable, Vexen's words about the Afterlife waltzed its way in. He thought of something else. Something that made him feel anything aside from pain.

Roxas.

Yeah. He always did make Axel feel something.

If this were a movie, a montage of photos containing Roxas—and maybe a few with Axel in them—would play and cheesy music would be on tempo with the timing of the photos.

However, this was not a movie and all Axel has was his memories.

There was no pain, not anymore. All the imaginary blood slowed down and cauterized. The imaginary wounds healed seamlessly. Even new "cuts" that Larxene placed on him would not even "appear."

Axel smiled.

Larxene growled. Shouted. Yelled. Threw obscenities. Etc.

He smiled even further.

She yelled even further. Her voice was becoming hoarse. The hand holding the bottle waved around wildly. On one of the waves, the glass nicked Marluxia. She waved again and another nick "appeared."

He was shoved out of the way when Marluxia pushed him away so that he might try to calm Larxene out of her tantrum.

Axel sauntered back to the bar, ignoring the sounds and shouts of the members restraining Larxene as she acted like a rabid animal. "I think I'm ready to start my journey."

The barkeep raised an eyebrow, silently, imploring Axel to continue.

"I regret my regrets. Especially those with Roxas. I wish things could've been different. Like, what if I had a heart? What would life be like? Those types of things."

The barkeeper smiled and wordlessly led Axel to the door that showed up when he blinked.

"If you'll follow me."

Axel did not hesitate when he took the first step.

At the top of the dark stairway, a corridor stared solemnly at Axel. Littered along the corridor stood, like children who were woken up before the crack of dawn, a plethora of doors of different sizes, shapes, and colors.

"Each one of these," explained the barkeep. "Has an alternate version of what could've happened. They show possible paths you could've taken. Ones that couldn't be taken. And ones you should've taken, but didn't. Things to remember, none of the things that occurred in there actually happened. This all is essentially made up from your mind. Once you start, you can't back out. The entire purpose of this is to help a Nobody, such as yourself, gain a heart."

Even before Axel could say, "what the hell?" the barkeep opened the first door and pushed Axel in.

The light was blinding.

And he could faintly feel something beating before it went away.

And then….

End of Prologue

0000

A/N:

This is the start of a drabble series I want to start. The purpose of this prologue was to create a common thread throughout the drabbles and to explain what I believe the After Existence is for a Nobody (because the After Existence is my brain's chitlin, I'd prefer if nobody "borrowed" the concept without asking. I will be much obliged if you were to ask before using. M'kay?)

Also, I apologize if this sounds dry or makes no sense whatsoever. :insert sweatdrop:

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Just wanna sacrifice me to the Pie God? Press that purple button and off you go!

The Can-Can group