~..A Touch of Snow..~
Before I begin, special thanks to Rain Megami for reminding me there are people that like AkuXi, AkuShi, whatever you want to call it. AxelxXion. And I totally needed a kick to get me back into this from my TWEWY (The World Ends With You), craze. Because of that I totally recommend taking a look at her AxelxXion story so far, if you would be so kind, called My Will.
Thank you very much, please enjoy, happy early holidays to everyone.
~***~
Xion twitched her nose and sneezed, wrapping her arms around her chest and shivering. All around her was a whirlwind of white. The snow came down in unrelenting sheets of pure, freezing cold ivory. It touched everything and made it both soft and sharp at the same time, the icicles hanging from any available point like jagged, clear teeth.
The "Nobody" imagined for a second that the cave behind them that Demyx had safely opened a Dark Portal within looked an awful lot like a great, frozen stone Heartless. She glanced back, eyelids blinking furiously to clear her eyes.
You're being silly, she scolded herself. Absolutely so. Xion looked up at the sky, smiling despite the cold, impressed by the endless sweeping beauty above her. The heavens were black, studded with far away dots of frosty light, the moon a large glowing silver coin. It was almost as if the snow and ice had reached out and brushed the very ceiling of the world.
Her nose twitched again, dislodging another snowflake. That's when she noticed that the flakes weren't simply balls of white; they were carved into beautiful intricate patterns that she had never imagined. Surely someone had to make these little simple wonders? Did nature do these wonderful shapes itself? She was so utterly captivated by the sight of the pale works of art on her black Organization coat that she didn't hear Roxas's warning call.
With a dull thump that sent icy particles slithering down her skin, a snowball connected with the back of her head. Xion let out a gasp, whirling around, pawing at the slushy wet mess. She bristled, hearing the laughter that emanated from the redheaded man in front of her.
"Not funny, Axel!" She pouted slightly, her sky blue eyes reflecting the falling white dust around her. Axel's entire wild mane of scarlet was sprinkled thoroughly with the snow, but he seemed utterly unbothered, just continued to snicker and grin at her, flashing his sharp teeth.
Of course he's not bothered, Xion thought. He's fire and heat, after all. That reminded her…"Don't you hate the wet?" She stepped across the short distance between them, glancing back at her footsteps. She heard Roxas speaking to Demyx from inside the cave, dimly. It had been the blonde haired sitar playing Nobody that had showed them this world.
Axel tipped his head to the side, tapping his fingers against his hair to dislodge some of the snow. "I don't mind ice and snow as much as water itself."
"Oh?" Stooping quickly, Xion formed a ball of the clean white powder and hurled it at Axel's face. He immolated it with a blast of fire, grinning as it cascaded to the ground in a shower of water turned silver by the moon. "No fair," said the raven haired girl with a smile.
"Life's not fair." Axel ruffled her hair, his warmth felt even through his gloves, and then called, "Hey, Demyx! We're tryin' this snowboarding thing aren't we?"
The Nobody spoken of popped out from within the depths of the ice cave, his deep sea cobalt eyes shining brightly. "Oh yeah, believe it! Roxas and I just got 'em didn't we?"
Roxas's more mild voice replied, "Yeah, but who paid for them?" When they stepped out, the pair of blonde Nobodies had two snowboards, one in each of their hands. They weren't overly flashy, made the same as any of the others but with different colors. Red, yellow, blue, and green. Demyx tossed Axel the crimson one, and then took the sapphire one for himself. Roxas approached Xion with his usual friendly smile, upswept golden hair quickly becoming hoary with snow.
"Yellow or green? I don't care which myself."He asked her. Xion took one look at the gleaming emerald board and smiled, taking it in her hands. She gave her friend an uncertain look.
"What are we doing, exactly?"
"Snowboarding." Roxas gave her a wink then peeked over the edges of the hill they were on. The cave was on top of a great slope with little trees, though the few that were on the slanted plains were glittering and sparkling thanks to the ever present light of the stars and moon, their green tops also blanketed with snow.
"Wait, what?" Xion stammered.
Axel was about to explain but Demyx beat him to the punch. "Don't worry 'bout it none, Xion! Just strap these on…" The sitar playing Nobody knelt down and did up the little belt like attachments on the board to his boots. "Then you do this! Keep your balance, kind of like surfing!" With a hop and a twist Demyx was suddenly heading down the hill in a spray of cold ivory powder. Everyone had to take a step back or get hit in the face with the snow. He was whooping the whole time, weaving easily between the few trees and speeding for the bottom, where a great glassy blue lake was visible, reflecting the stars and moon above their heads. The edges of the lake were touched white with ice.
"Oh…I can't." Xion laughed weakly as Roxas gave a cheery shout and kicked off down the slope. "You can do it, Xion!" He called before focusing on the trail ahead of him. Axel sauntered over to the raven haired Nobody and said casually,
"It's no big deal. I'll even go with you, at the same time. Alright? It's not like you'll die going down this slope, or at least I won't let you, got it memorized?"
"Entirely so," came the taut response. Xion tied the cords to her feet like Axel and Demyx had done, then shifted slightly, looking over the ridge. It didn't look so bad. "Maybe, just let me try it slow—"
"Livin' the life, baby!" With that laughing battle cry Axel grabbed Xion's hand and launched off down the slope, pulling her with him. She almost shrieked, but she kept her cool—no pun intended—and set off with him, side by side, trying to understand how the board reacted to how she shifted her legs and weight around.
Of course Axel was a natural, swerving and even jumping off the tiny uneven ledges that existed on the hill, hidden by the concealing snow. Before she knew it, Xion was laughing, eyes bright, enjoying herself. Luckily before they reached the bottom of the hill, Demyx suddenly started playing a song on his cerulean sitar and bent the water from the lake to his will, causing it to form a sort of frozen railing for her to grab onto and stop her wild ride.
She was breathing quickly, causing billowing clouds of steam to emerge from her mouth, but Xion felt totally alive, and she grinned hugely. "That was awesome!" She undid the straps and stood up, looking from Demyx, to Axel, to—
"Where's Roxas?" Xion asked in confusion.
"Ah—I sort of forgot to tell him how to stop." Demyx looked over his shoulder and Xion saw Roxas shivering violently, icicles and frost forming over his hair and clothes. Axel went to his friend and lit a large fire that hovered in midair, seemingly needing no fuel. The friends huddled by it, with Roxas shooting occasional death glares at Demyx, sneezing and trying to stop his chattering teeth.
"D-D-Do Nob-b-b-bodies g-g-g-get c-c-colds?" Roxas complained more to himself than the others.
"Normally no." Axel answered with a shrug. "I would say let's go again, but…let's get Roxas home before he catches his death out here."
"Fr-Freeze-z-z-zing c-c-c-cold l-l-l-lake...n-n-not f-f-fun. Nuh uh." Roxas's eyes were drooping under the weight of the rapidly crystallizing water on his lashes. Demyx opened a Dark Portal, which sprang from the ground like a dog eager to please. Knowing the travel from this winter wonderland to The World That Never Was would require going inside the cold Dark Corridors, Roxas sighed and got to his feet. Demyx was apologizing constantly as he stepped into the Portal with the golden haired Nobody.
Xion was about to follow but Axel caught her wrist, pulling her back in one smooth motion. She found her back to his warm chest, once more the heat bleeding forth from the black cloak unbridled. She blushed slightly, the action bringing even more warmth to her cheeks and causing her skin to feel the biting cold in the form of stinging needles.
"Um, can I help you?" Xion inquired innocently, looking up at his smirk of a smile and gleaming emerald eyes. He turned her to face him and bent down slightly, looking directly into her steady gaze.
"Dunno. Can you?"
She looked at him, then at the landscape all around her. She barely registered the tired, defeated sigh of the Dark Portal snapping shut behind her. "What do you want? I'm sort of freezing out here, Axel."
Axel chuckled and suddenly split the fire he had made into six small orbs that rotated quickly around Xion, and even she couldn't lie that the blazing spheres lent her more heat. "Very funny." She said, too worried to take his flirting seriously.
His smile vanished, to be replaced with a confused look. "Is something the matter?"
"Is Roxas going to be okay?" Xion's anxiousness made Axel grin.
"Sure he will. Kid's tough. And like I said," he lazily twirled a strand of her black hair around his finger. "Nobodies don't catch colds often. I think Larxene had one once, and she electrocuted Demyx for daring to take a look in her room to see if she was okay."
"Promise he'll be all right?" Despite knowing that Axel had no control over the forces that gave people diseases and illness, Xion just wanted to hear him say yes, it would be all right. Those words would lighten her nonexistent heart so much…
"Xion, Roxas will be okay. I promise." She looked into his glittering jade eyes and realized he thought he was telling the truth, at least.
"Alright. Thanks." She gave him a hug that surprised the taller Nobody, and he gave her an affectionate kiss on the cheek when she pulled away, his warm lips lingering briefly by her ear to say,
"We can come back again later, if you want."
"Sure. But won't we lose them?" She pointed to the assorted snowboards, and Roxas's looked an awful lot like a white fencepost, so coated in ice was it.
"I doubt anyone will bother 'em." Axel collected the snowboards and deposited them in a shallow grave underneath a rock overhang that was close to the water, but not quite at the lake's edge. He then reopened another Dark Portal, and as it hissed into clawing, tentacle wagging life, he gestured to the seemingly endless, shifting abyss. "We better get goin' before Demyx wonders where we are, and to check on Roxas."
"Right." Xion stepped through the Portal, with Axel right behind her, but as always his natural warmth chased away the cold.
~***~
I haven't written AkuXi in a while, want to drop a review? They make me very happy indeed.
Flamers will have…um…well I'll just get Roxas to roast marshmallows with Namine using them.