My first (published) Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. If you're looking for instant AkuRoku gratification, I'm sorry. You'll have to go elsewhere for now. I plan on this being a story with a plot and meaning. So, read on if you're looking for any of that. I bet that there isn't another fanfiction like this one anywhere here.

They're watching me.

I know They're watching me.

Of course They're watching me. It's what They do. It's all They do. It's Their job. But why do They have to be watching me?

Because They know. It's Their duty. Their calling. Their only goddamn reason for living.

But still.

Why me?

I watch Them carefully out of the corner of my eye as I tug my biology textbook out of my stuffed-to-bursting-with-useless-shit locker and jam it into me equally-as-stuff-with-useless-shit backpack. They somehow manage to remain stock still the whole time while the other students of Twilight Town High mill about them. Some of them follow Their line of sight and give me apologetic headshakes. Some turn away completely once they see it's me. They all know what's happening, and they know there's nothing they can do to stop it. I just try my best to ignore them.

Slowly, I close my locker, snap my black and red lock back on, and turn around, hoping to make it into my classroom without Them catching me. They can't catch us once we're in the classrooms.

But that's when I hear it.

"Axel Flurry." One of them calls. Oh, shit. Why? Someone up there just fucking hates me. I turn to see that it was the older of the two. His hair – black with two white stripes (he reminds me of a skunk. I'd laugh, but I'm currently not really in the position to) – was pulled back into a ponytail and one eye was covered by an eyepatch (a pirate skunk? Okay. Now I take a second to laugh). He and the other one – blonde crew cut with some facial hair I don't bother to take note of – are already walking towards me. After only a short pause, I turn back around and bolt down the hallway, dropping my backpack for the sake of agility.

I can hear Them running after me and I grind my teeth, wishing I could just duck into one of the classrooms and be done with it. But no. They just had to Identify me, making it damn near impossible to get away. I hear Them getting closer, shoving kids out of the way only seconds after I've darted around them. Two and a half years on the track team have really paid off. Putting extra strength into my already lengthy strides, I manage to make it to the front door. With one good shove I'm finally…

… trapped. I'm trapped.

The door is locked.

The goddamn door is goddamn locked.

The goddamn fucking door is goddamn fucking locked.

I'm still staring, slack-jawed, at the damn thing when They – huffing and wheezing from the run, serves them right – catch up to me and place their hands heavily on my shoulders. I know I'm done, that there's no way out. But I can't help it. It's not fair. It's not. Fucking FAIR.

Then the door bursts into flames.

It's the last thing I see before the older man knocks me out.

When I come to, I find that I can't move very far. And that when I do move, something rattles. Not the sort of rattling I'm used to – not pocket chains or loose bracelets – no. But a loud, heavy, scraping rattle. And my arms are heavy. I lift my right arm a bit and open my eyes, startled by the lack of light – as only a single flickering torch lights the small area – and stare at my wrist.

There's a shackle on it.

And that shackle's attached to a chain.

Which, in turn, is attached to the ground.

Well shit.

I glare hatefully at the offensive metal, and I hear the torch crackle a little louder. Unbeknown to be, at least two sets of eyes are watching me from the shadows outside of what can only be called me cell. Slowly, I can feel the bonds around my wrists heating up as two or three of the links in each chain begin to turn that captivating orange that metal turns as it heats up. I give a couple of test jerks, smiling a little as the thick links begin to give. After a few more pulls and a heavy dose of concentration, my arms are free. I run my hands over my face and through my now-messed spikes and walk unsteadily (fuck my head hurts) toward the bars of my cell. I try to melt them as well, but to no avail.

I had heard that They did this to you if you weren't compliant, but I never really believed it. I just though that people were pulling my leg, y'know? A sort of bugaboo that gets children to behave. Yet here I am.

You're probably confused, aren't you? Have no idea who I am or what I'm talking about? Well, here. Let me fill you in.

My name's Axel Flurry, commit it to memory. I'm a Nobody. I have no heart – no soul – and my "only purpose" is to be a servant and a guardian to a Somebody. All Nobodies have at least partial control over an element, and mine is fire. We all have markings, too. Things that set us apart and identify us as less-than-human. Me? Two inverted purple teardrops, one under each eye. And, of course, my unbelievably red hair. Fire truck red. Seriously, it's too red to be natural. But I digress. Nobodies can only feel once they've been Connected to a Somebody. Or so I'm told.

With a sigh, I lean against the cold metal bars, wishing I could affect them enough to at least warm me up, and stare into the murky darkness of what appears to be a dungeon. I'm across from two or three cells, each holding another kid roughly my age (18, if you really wanted to know). Each has a torn flickering outside of it. I'm too distracted by the dancing flames to notice one of the cells' inhabitants moving until I hear a stone clink off of the bars near my head. Startled, I search for the cause. There, in the cubby directly across from me, is a sandy-blonde haired boy with wide, curious eyes. I can't help but smile a little – even in the darkness I can see that they're the same green-blue as my favourite ice cream. He's still chained to the ground, yet he managed to aim and throw the projectile quite efficiently at me. He looks up at me from his cross-legged position on the floor and tilts his head, his hair (some mutant offspring of a mullet and a mohawk, shaved down the sides, long and spiked on the top and back) bouncing a bit.

"You're free!" he suddenly exclaims, scaring me half to death. If I had a heart it would've stopped. I recover enough to nod, watching as the other boy begins to wiggle about like an excited puppy. "How?" he asks after calming down a bit.

In response, the torches outside of our cells flare up momentarily before returning to their dull flicker. "Fire" I reply simply, shrugging.

He lifts his arms up the tiniest bit, chains rattling, and looks at me. I take it to mean "lend me a hand?" and give a half-assed nod before setting to work on his restraints.

Within a minute or two, he's standing, the still-glowing remnants of his chains hanging from his wrists. "Thanks!" he chirps, looking far happier than a Nobody has any right to be. "My name's Demyx, by the way." He walks up to the bars and leans against them, mirroring me. "You?"

I look at him warily, unsure if I should tell him or not. Eventually I cave. "Axel," I say, then frown at his blank expression. "A-X-E-L," I clarify. "Got it memorized?" I tap my temple, my own chains rattling.

"Oooooooohhh…" he mumbles. "And you control fire?" Another lazy nod. This guy is seriously Dense. With a capital D. "I use water." He smiles and demonstrates his point by calling forth a little ball of water before letting it fall.

I nod thoughtfully for a moment before we hear footsteps. Then the pirate skunk is standing in the centre of the room. "Well done, Flurry." He commends, smirking. "Now rest up. You'll need your energy." And with that, he walks away, leaving Demyx and I to stare at each other in confusion.

Well? My first KH bit of work? How did I do? Also, I'm open to promts and requests.

~KennyMcCormick1313~