Hooray! I'm not dead :D:D Finally got off my lazy ass and finished another chapter of this story, which took me about two nights to finish O_O But I hope it is satisfactory ^^
"Mouse dung!" Sandfire cursed as she tripped on her own feet yet again, falling into the sand. Axel, who by now was a few feet ahead of her, turned back.
"Are you okay? Do you want me to carry you?" he teased as she pulled herself to her feet.
"Oh, stop it," she grumbled. "I can handle myself fine." She proved herself wrong, taking two steps and stumbling again. Axel simply strode up to her and lifted her onto his back. She protested for a few minutes, then gave up and was silent.
"Now then," Axel muttered, looking around. "Where am I?"
"What do you mean, 'Where are you?'" Sandfire yelped. "You're lost? I thought you said you'd been here before.
"Well, yeah, but—" Axel began indignantly, then stopped as two figured appeared in front of him. Sandfire drew in a sharp breath, and he could feel her tail twitching against his back.
He nearly dropped her. "Samurais!" he cried, stepping forward. If there was Samurais, then Roxas must be around there somewhere.
The Nobodies stood still, swords poised above their heads. Roxas or not, they were about to attack.
"Go hide in those trees," Axel hissed, setting down Sandfire, and indicating a copse of short palm trees along the side of the beach. As he expected, she refused, standing beside him.
"No! I'm not leaving you," she insisted stubbornly.
"Look, you managed to survive as a cat because you had claws," he muttered furiously. "You will die this time. All you have is your body. No claws, no teeth. Besides, you'll only get in the way. I can finish them off in a few minutes without having to worry about you." It was harsh, but to the point, as he was running out of time. "Now go!"
The hurt on her face was unmistakable. "Fine." She stomped off towards the trees. Without her to worry about, he turned back to the Nobodies, creating a circle of fire around him so Sandfire couldn't see him; he didn't need her to be getting any more ideas.
In a whirl of flames, his chakrams appeared, and he grabbed them, facing the Samurais with a grin. One of them advanced toward him cautiously, as if testing to see how close it could get. Axel spun his weapon toward it; it ducked out of the way, but wasn't fast enough for the second chakram, which the redhead set and fire and launched it toward his enemy.
"Burn, baby!" Axel yelled involuntarily, cackling, as the Samurai exploded in a burst of flames
The second one threw itself toward Axel, sword raised. He spun nimbly out of the way, receding inside his circle of fire, giving the Samurai a few moments of reprise. As the Nobody swung itself around, looking for its enemy, Axel flew out of the flames, launching himself across the circumference of the circle, singeing the Samurai. He stood warily for a few heartbeats, waiting for more. When nothing happened, he coaxed the flames down, until they extinguished.
"Okay, Sandfire, you can…" he began, turning around.
She was gone.
"Dammit," Axel muttered. He should've seen this coming. "Sandfire?" he called louder. He was answered by a scream, coming from on top of a high cliff. He sighed, teleporting to the top of the cliff.
"All right, Saix, you can capture her all you want, but I don't see how that's going to change—" He stopped, gaping.
A man, his face swathed in red bandages, a cape billowing around his ankles, stood near the edge of the cliff, clutching Sandfire by the arm. Her face was a mix of fear, anger, and bewilderment. Axel wished he had his coat back, to avoid being recognized, though he didn't know the man. There was just something about him that made Axel want to hide his face.
"What do you want?" he hissed to the stranger, taking a step forward.
The man chuckled. His voice was deep, with a hint of an accent. "Me? I want nothing."
"Then let her go!" Axel called, clenching his fists. Sandfire stared at him, her ears flat against her hair.
But the man continued as though Axel hadn't spoken. "I want nothing. But maybe you should ask them." He pointed with a gloved hand behind Axel, seemingly over the edge of the cliff. Obediently, Axel turned, took the few paces that brought him to the edge, and looked over.
White. That was his first impression. A great rolling sea of white on the beach. But, when he looked closer, he saw it was Nobodies. Hundreds and hundreds, from Dusks to even his own Assassins. Axel considered taking them all out with fire, but that would drain his strength so much he wouldn't be able to walk. Instead, he faced the red-cloaked man, who was staring at him, judging his reaction. Instinctively, Axel blanked his face, wiping it of all emotion. "So… since I can't exactly ask them—" He jerked his thumb backwards, over the edge of the cliff. "—would you be so kind as to tell me what they want?" He tried to keep his voice steady, but his anger overflowed, and his sentence ended in a growl.
The man laughed again, softly. He muttered something Axel couldn't catch, but apparently Sandfire heard it, and her eyes grew even wider.
"What did he say?" Axel called to her, wishing he could help. But the man could easily injure her if he tried anything.
"He said—" The man covered Sandfire's mouth before she could finish her sentence. Axel narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out if he could behead the man before he had the chance to push Sandfire off the cliff.
Sandfire bit down hard on the man's glove. He cursed and pulled it away, only for a heartbeat, but that was enough for Sandfire to yell out a name:
"Saix!"
Saix? Axel should've known he was involved in this. All these Nobodies, the two Samurais to distract him…
"Well done, Axel." And there he was. Axel turned slowly to see Saix suspended on the air over the edge of the cliff.
"What do you want from me?" Axel hissed at him, summoning his weapons. There was nothing stopping him from beheading Saix.
"What do I want? I want you to stop complaining for once, and do your job! I want you to stop going off willy-nilly like the order of the Organization doesn't matter! I want you to stop disobeying orders from your superiors!" Saix's voice raised two octaves over the course of his rant. Then he breathed deeply, and seemed to calm down.
"Only one number," Axel muttered under his breath, meaning to antagonize the other member.
Saix summoned his weapon, as if warning Axel. The redhead sniffed, not threatened, and set his chakrams on fire, raising an eyebrow.
Number VII chuckled, dismissing his claymore. "I don't have time for this," he said, snapping his fingers.
A large Nobody Axel had never seen before rose up behind Saix. It somewhat resembled a lion, standing on four legs, many Organization symbols circling its neck, forming a mane-like object. Its tail was long, and ended in a sharp spike at the end. Protruding from its back were short spines, each in the shape of a crescent moon. Its entire body was white, save for the mane, spines, and its tail tip, which were a bluish-purple colour. Its snout was elongated, the eyes, nose, and mouth as usual covered by the Organization symbol. It was four times the size of Saix, and, as it opened its mouth to growl, sported a full set of razor-sharp teeth, the same colour as its spines. The teeth were in the shape of a sharp wing-like object, which looked familiar to Axel, though he had never seen them before.
"Good luck," Saix taunted. "You'll need it." And with that, a portal rose up underneath him, swallowing him in darkness.
"Get back here!" Axel roared, whirling his chakrams at the rapidly disappearing darkness. But of course they missed, spinning back to Axel's hands. He huffed in frustration, turning his back on the still-growling Nobody, facing the man and Sandfire.
At least, where the man and Sandfire had been a few moments before.
Axel swore loudly, spinning back around to face the Nobody. It opened its mouth, roaring deafeningly in his face.
"I don't have time for you!" Axel roared back, picking a random world to teleport to, hoping Saix had gone that way.
Roxas, I hope you're not in this world, he pleaded silently, getting one last look as the lion leaped towards his disappearing darkness.
Ohyus that is all there is of Destiny Islands :3 If you didn't figure it out, the "man" is Diz (lulz), and I just made up that Nobody (the lion one which has no name as of now) on the spot :D
Hope you enjoyed, and reviews are welcome :D