A Convincing Display
Part II
Roxas peaked into the Center Room to make sure that he had not come in yet. Only Saïx, Xigbar, and Zexion had made it in so far, and so Roxas felt it was safe to enter.
"Okay," he thought, walking in like normal. "If I tell Saïx what happened yesterday, he can set everything straight…Maybe." For some reason this plan had made much more sense the previous day.
He approached Saïx without much confidence, but before he could say anything, Saïx said, "You're late. You were supposed to report here over half an hour ago."
"I-I know," Roxas replied, his courage deflating. "I overslept and–"
"I don't need an excuse." He looked highly displeased, and all intentions of explaining anything to Saïx suddenly left Roxas. "You were going to be partnered with Larxene today, but you took so long that I reassigned her. Instead you'll go with Marluxia. Your mission…"
Roxas stopped listening at this point. A cold wave washed over him, and his breath hitched in his throat. He felt like he was about to be sick.
"Roxas? Are you listening?"
"I can't," he suddenly blurted out.
"What?"
"I can't do that mission. Is there another one I can do?"
"And why can't you do this mission?" Saïx asked, raising an annoyed, impatient eyebrow.
"I just…I just can't." Roxas desperately searched for something to say, some reason to skip this mission, but he could find no legitimate reason other than the truth. "I can't go because–"
"Because he's shy," a voice came from behind. Roxas shivered as Marluxia entered the room. "But going on a few more missions will change all that. Right?" Marluxia placed a hand on Roxas' shoulder, and he hastily shrugged it off, refusing to look at him.
"You need more discipline," Saïx scowled, disapproving of what he thought was disrespect toward Marluxia. "I won't have you skip this mission just because you don't feel like going." He looked up at Marluxia. "You're paired with him today in Twilight Town collecting hearts."
"But…but I…I can't…"
"No buts," Saïx cut him off. "You're going. It's final."
Roxas looked from Saïx to Marluxia and back again, and then, frightened and not knowing what else he could do, he took off running down the hallway.
"What's with blondie?" Xigbar asked, who had been listening in from the other side of the room.
More surprised than angry, Saïx stared after Roxas and said, "He's been acting very strangely today."
"He probably is just shy," Zexion commented offhandedly, turning a page of his book. "He's hardly said a thing since he first joined."
"Roxas and I are going to have to leave soon if you had planned on us finishing the mission at a reasonable time," Marluxia said. Saïx agreed and told him to go get Roxas and bring him back. As Marluxia left the room, no one noticed the odd gleam in his eye.
Roxas ran all the way to the end of the hall and slumped down with his back against the wall.
"What am I supposed to do?" he thought. He couldn't bear the thought of going on a mission with Marluxia, not after last night. He wasn't ready yet. It would be too much to handle.
He didn't have much time to think about how he was going to get out of it. Before he knew it, large hands had gripped his shoulders and he was being slammed against the wall, his feet dangling above the ground. He was staring at the eyes of evil framed by rosy-colored hair.
"Listen, Keybearer," Marluxia growled. "You will go on this mission and you will tell no one of our…agreement. Do you understand?"
Roxas tried to give an answer, but nothing would come out of his dry throat.
"I asked if you understood," Marluxia growled, and his grip tightened around Roxas' coat, threatening to suffocate him.
Roxas managed to yelp "I understand!"
Marluxia dropped him to the ground the moment the words left his mouth. "Good. Now be a good boy and come along."
Roxas did as he was told, shuffling his feet as he followed Marluxia back to the Center Room. He was going on this mission. There was nothing he could do about it. He only hoped he could slip away afterwards before Marluxia got any ideas.
The mission was less uncomfortable than Roxas thought it would be. He and Marluxia had always worked well together before…everything, and it wasn't long before Roxas was staring down an empty courtyard and a multitude of red hearts rising into the air.
It had taken less than an hour, and Roxas was eager to get back to headquarters and away from Marluxia as quickly as possible.
"Excellent," Marluxia said, and Roxas didn't turn around to face him. He didn't know if he could face the malevolent grin he knew was there. "We've finished in record time."
"Yeah," Roxas replied without inflection. "I'm getting out of here."
Roxas didn't know when Marluxia even had the chance to get behind him, or when the large arm came around his neck. He only knew that he was suddenly in a viselike headlock.
"H-hey! Get off of me!"
"I have a better idea," Marluxia said, his voice a small tickle on Roxas' ear. A portal of darkness plumed up before them, and Roxas began to kick.
"I told you to get off!"
"Come on, Roxas. We're friends, aren't we? There's no need to be so rude." He began to drag Roxas, kicking, toward the portal. "Come. There's much work to be done."
Roxas couldn't fight the grip around his neck, couldn't slow Marluxia's march for the portal. As the dark portal closed up behind them both, his stomach sank. He should have just stayed in bed today.
To Be Continued...
I haven't updated this since I posted it four years ago, but that didn't stop me from finally writing out an ending. I didn't expect it to take so long for me to get around to finishing this, and I couldn't have predicted how the plot would turn out. The third and final part to "A Convincing Display" goes up tomorrow. I hope to see you then.
