Here it is, the second chapter of Oblivion is Eternal. This is what you've all been waiting for! ...I hope. There's a lot of background in this chapter, so I apologize if it's a little talky.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts, that pleasure belongs to Square Enix and Disney. I am not making money off this fic, it's for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.

Warnings: Ummm...dead people? What do you want me to say?

Once again, a BIG thanks to Taiky for the German. You're awesome Taiky! And to my friend Mariel and my sister Caitlin, thank you for prodding me into posting this.

NOW ON WITH THE FIC!

Roxas woke to the screaming of his alarm clock at 7:10 am.

"Christ," he groaned, smacking it. The shrill beeping stopped and Roxas buried his face in his pillow with a sigh of relief. He was almost asleep again when—

"Roxas! Hey! Roxas!" Demyx burst into the room with a happy grin on his face, towing a smirking Axel and a reluctant-looking Zexion. Roxas nodded to Zexion, figuring that Demyx had woken him up as well.

"Good morning," he said with a smile. Zexion gave him a terse nod and a mumbled "Good morning" back and turned his attention to Demyx.

"Are you going to tell him or shall I?" Zexion asked in a rather annoyed voice.

"I will!" Demyx exclaimed, beaming first at Zexion, then at Roxas. "Your training starts today!" Silence settled over the room as Roxas raised an eyebrow and Axel stifled a snicker, hiding it behind a cough.

"My…what?"

"Training silly! Your training to become an exorcist!" If Roxas had been drinking anything, he would have spit it out. Instead, he just looked between the smiling Demyx and the serious Zexion and started to laugh.

"You guys are crazy. Exorcist training? Was is this, some kind of joke you play on the new kids?" Still chuckling, he slipped out of bed and walked over to his dresser. He fished around in it, fully expecting them to go away until he heard:

"We're being completely serious." Incredulously, Roxas turned to stare at Zexion. At the look on his face, Axel didn't even try to stop his snickering. He received a sharp elbow to the ribs and a "You're not helping, Axel," from Demyx as Roxas just continued to stare. Finally he sighed and shook his head.

"Alright, I'll bite. What makes you think I could be an exorcist?" Roxas nearly snorted when he said that. The notion was ridiculous! Perhaps he should file for a room change; Demyx seemed like a persistent one. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that Demyx's answer caught him completely off guard.

"Because you can see them, too." Roxas's head shot up so fast he heard his neck crack. Axel winced sympathetically and Roxas distractedly rubbed at the slight pain, staring at Demyx. Demyx looked unusually serious as he looked at Roxas.

"See what?"

"Ghosts, spirits,dead people; whatever you want to call them." Roxas now turned his head to look at Axel.

"Excuse me?"

"Ghosts, got it memorized? You're special like us."

"You're special alright," Roxas grumbled under his breath. Louder he said, "You're all crazy. Now will you let me get ready for school?" Demyx looked crestfallen and he turned towards the door. Roxas felt guilt twinge in his chest. He opened his mouth…and shut it again. Finally he just sighed and called out to Demyx. "This is your room, too, you know. You don't have to leave." At least Demyx looked slightly happier.

Roxas unashamedly pulled off his shirt and changed into the school uniform; gray slacks with a white button-down shirt, a gray jacket with the school crest and motto stitched onto the pocket, and a black tie.

"God, I look weird. I look like a prep!"

"You get used to it," Demyx said, not making any effort to change into his uniform. Instead, he just zipped his black cloak up higher and flopped down on his bed. Roxas grabbed his books and headed toward the door.

"Aren't you coming?" Demyx looked up.

"Nah, I'm suspended until Thursday." Roxas just shook his head with a smile.

"See you around then." Roxas walked out into the main room, past the small kitchenette and the pink-haired man at the table. Wait, pink-haired man? Oh yeah, this must be Marluxia. Said pink-haired person looked up.

"Ah, Guten Morgen1, Roxas," he said with a smile and turned back to his food. Roxas looked up and smiled.

"Guten Morgen, Marluxia." Marluxia's smile widened and he turned to face Roxas completely.

"Du sprichst Deutsch?2"

"Nicht sehr gut3," Roxas confessed, messing up a little on the pronunciation.

"Das ist bedauerlich4," Marluxia sighed, looking a little disappointed.

"I…uh…have to get to class now," Roxas said, abandoning German for moment. Realizing what he'd just done, he blushed and looked down, stuttering out and apology. Marluxia just laughed and said what Roxas assumed to be 'It's alright' or 'Don't worry.' "Es war schön mit dir zu sprechen5," Roxas said, trying to control his blush. God, he was so embarrassed!

"Einen schönen Tag noch6," Marluxia said, chuckling at the slightly lost look on Roxas's face. He waved amiably to get his point across to the boy and realization dawned on Roxas's face. He waved back and slipped out of the dorm.

"He's a cute kid," Zexion said, leaning in the doorway he'd just come through. Marluxia 'hm'ed in agreement and sipped his coffee.

"He also doesn't believe in exorcists," Axel said from behind Zexion. "He said—move Zexion, you're in my way—" Axel gently shoved Zexion out of the way and continued. "He said that we're crazy. Can you believe that?" Marluxia raised an eyebrow and chuckled. It looked like training this boy was going to be a lot of fun.

-----------------

Roxas's day had been going pretty normally until 5th period. 5th period was his Social Studies/History class. It was also the class he shared with Axel. Normally, Roxas looked forward to 5th period; the teacher, Mr. Strife, was cool, and the work was easy. What more could he possibly want? But now he had to deal with a possible psycho at the desk behind him. Not cool.

As he entered the class—late—Mr. Strife didn't say anything, just gestured to his seat with a stern look. Yeah, Roxas definitely liked Mr. Strife. He almost forgot about Axel behind him until the wad of paper hit him in the back of the head. Roxas looked quickly at Mr. Strife, checking to make sure he was still focused on the board, and turned in his chair to face Axel.

"What is your problem?" he hissed, glaring at Axel, who wasn't looking up. After a few seconds, Axel glanced at Roxas and replied with a very intelligent "Huh?" and a confused expression.

"What are you talking about kid?" Axel asked, eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"You threw a paper ball at me!" Roxas ground out, temper flaring. Axel's eyes narrowed further, growing angry as well.

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!" Axel's voice rose slightly in volume and the people in the desks around them started to take interest in the conversation. Roxas sighed, releasing his frustration. …Or most of it anyway.

"If you didn't, who did?" Axel looked a bit taken aback, but after a quick tip of his head to the right he answered,

"He did." Roxas glanced over to where Axel had indicated, but there was no one there.

"Very funny," Roxas spat and turned around in his chair—started to, at least. As he turned around, Axel's books went flying off his desk all by themselves. Roxas had seen it; Axel hadn't touched them. They'd flown on their own. And the strange thing was that no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Sorry, sir," Axel said as he bent down to pick up his books. Mr. Strife just nodded and turned back to the board.

"Please don't let it happen again, if at all possible Mr. Sparks. Mr. Dereveau, if you wouldn't mind," the teacher said, making a vague gesture with his hand towards the mess of Axel's schoolbooks. With a sigh, Roxas leaned over to help Axel gather his things.

As he reached for the last pencil, something odd happened. It rolled—all by itself—into a shadow off to the right of Axel's desk. With a strong air of irritation, he made to get up and retrieve it. Then a thought hit him: the row he and Axel were in was right in the middle, nothing around to cast shadows. Curiously, he glanced up…and wished he hadn't. There was a man. …Dead. Hanging from the ceiling. Roxas did them only thing he could think of: he screamed and fell off his chair.

That sure got everyone's attention.

Mr. Strife spun around and looked for the source of the noise, quickly finding it to be Roxas, who was now scrambling backward away from…something. An invisible fiend, perhaps? Interesting. The young Dereveau boy scrambled and slid until his back hit a desk, breath coming in short, frightened gasps. The rest of the class stared at him in shock. Mr. Strife was the first to break the silence.

"Mr. Sparks, if you wouldn't mind, could you please escort Mr. Dereveau to the nurse's office? It appears coffee and lack of sleep are catching up to him." Axel nodded and pulled the shaking Roxas up by the elbow.

"Come on, kid, this way. Just keep walking this way." Roxas did as he was told, but kept glancing back over his shoulder at a spot just right of Axel's desk.

-----------------

Axel had been listening to that guy talking since before 5th period had started. Seeing them was bad enough, but on the occasion they talked, it was 10 times worse. 10 times worse than nails on a chalkboard. This guy was worse than most of the others.

It had started out as just whispers, quiet mumbles in the back of his mind. They had grown louder as he crossed the threshold of room, turning into quiet chatter. Finally it had stopped and Axel had breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the paper ball had hit Roxas in the back of the head. What the—? Then the talking started again, louder and clearer.

"Kid, hey kid! Hey Blondie! Kid, hey, pay attention! You're the one they're looking for right? Hey Blondie!" And then Roxas had turned around. Axel's breath had momentarily caught in his throat; could Roxas hear it? Having a talker as your first paranormal experience wasn't pleasant. But Roxas had just accused him of throwing the paper, argued, and turned around. Then the spook knocked Axel's books off his desk and Roxas had finally seen him. Maybe Zexion was right; being around others with 'the sense' as they liked to call it enhanced spiritual ability. Axel decided to talk to him later, but first he had to help the kid.

"Roxas?" The kid's head shot up, eyes lit up with a sort of primal fear. "It's okay, kid. It's just me, Axel. Got it memorized?" After a few moments of tense silence, Roxas began to relax.

"What—what was that?" he asked, wrapping his arms around himself.

"A spirit," Axel replied, placing a soothing hand on Roxas's shoulder. "Do you believe me now?" Roxas let out a shaky breath.

"Yeah. Is that training still available?"

-----------------

Fifteen minutes later, Axel, Roxas, Marluxia, Demyx, and Zexion were assembled in the dorm room, preparing to begin the training process. Axel sat next to a still too pale Roxas, trying to provide comfort. He cleared his throat.

"Soooo…who wants to start?" The other exorcists looked at each other.

"I think Zexion should start, I guess." Demyx said after a while. "He does have seniority, after all." Marluxia nodded; the kid wouldn't understand anything he said anyway.

"Fine with me," Axel said, pressing his shoulder to Roxas's, hoping he could spread some calm. Zexion nodded, taking a seat in the arm chair across from Roxas.

"Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Welcome to the Organization, a secret group of exorcists trained here to protect the school. Something about this place draws spirits like crazy, even more are showing up for some reason this year." The other two members nodded in agreement. "The Organization was founded at the same time the school was. As far as we know, we are the only group of this magnitude in Asia.

"Originally, the school was founded exclusively to train exorcists such as yourself and the rest of us. In fact, there have only been 'normal' people here for 15 years, once Xemnas inherited the school." At Roxas's lost expression, he paused.

"Xemnas?" Roxas asked, confused.

"Mr. Oblivion," Zexion clarified, glad that the only thing that confused Roxas so far was the name of the principal. "Anyway, the Organization. There are thirteen members if we include you. They are: Marluxia, Axel, Demyx, and myself, Luxord, Larxene, Vexen, Xigbar, Xaldin, Principal Xemnas, Vice-Principal Saix, Lexeaus, and you. Any questions so far?" Roxas mutely shook his head.

"I've got a question," Axel piped up. Zexion turned to face him.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to tell him the entire history of the Organization, or get on with the important stuff? He can learn the rest of it later." Zexion sighed, but Axel did have a point.

"Fine. Tools of the trade are simple. You will be receiving your cloak soon; it acts as an all-purpose late slip and get out of class card. But do not abuse this, do you hear me?" Roxas nodded, shrinking away from the fierce expression of Zexion's face. "Good. Next is your rosary."

"Rosary?" Roxas asked. "But I'm not Catholic."

"Neither am I," Demyx said, pulling a silver rosary out of his shirt. The first 5 beads on the left side of the crucifix were black. Roxas cocked his head to the side sending a questioning look to Zexion. Zexion smiled.

"We're getting to that." He pulled out his own rosary, slipping it off his neck and handing it to Roxas. The first 3 decades were black. Demyx let out a low whistle.

"Wow Zex, you've been busy."

"Not all of us can slack off, Demyx." Demyx blushed, and Roxas grew even more puzzled. Noticing his expression, Marluxia tapped Zexion's shoulder and sent a pointed glance Roxas.

"Right. In simple terms, when you exorcize a ghost, a bead on your rosary turns black. Okay?"

"Got it," Roxas affirmed, regaining some of his lost color.

"Good. Now to exorcize a ghost, you take your rosary in hand, stick it in the ghost and say—"

"Vergessen ist ewig," Roxas finished. Everyone looked surprised.

"Yeah," Demyx said. "How did you know that?" Roxas smiled and began to explain his thought process.

"Well, it's simple really. You said that the school was founded to train exorcists right? So I figured the school motto had something to do with the exorcists. And what better way to help the newbies remember the phrase than to make it school motto?" Zexion looked very pleased, and Axel, Demyx, and Marluxia looked slightly awed.

"Very good. You're sharp," Zexion said fondly. "It took Demyx two weeks to figure it out. In the end I had to drag him out to the front gate and stand him right in front of the plaque. And even then it took him a while." Everyone laughed; it felt good to laugh after what had happened.

"Yeah," Demyx said. He wouldn't teach me anything else until I figured it out either." Axel chuckled some more.

"He made Demyx sleep outside in front of the sign for two days until he finally got it, too."

"Really?" Roxas asked, imagining Demyx sitting outside in before the sign, trying to figure out why the hell Zexion had brought him out there and snickering some more.

"Yeah, well, it took Axel a while to figure it out too!" Demyx protested, pointing an accusing finger at the red-head.

"Now now, calm down you two," Zexion chided. "We have to get back on track. On the subject of the rosary; it can't just be any old rosary, it has to be silver. We'll get you one, so don't worry about it. There are some neat tricks you should know. One, it should ward off nightmares and warn you if you're near a malicious spirit. And two, if you ever get into trouble, all you need to do is take a hold of the crucifix and say "Help.""

"What will that do?" asked Roxas.

"Well, if you do that, the exorcist rosary that's nearest to you will heat up, alerting its wearer to the danger. Your name and location will appear on the back of their crucifix and they will come to help you. See, watch." Zexion stood up and motioned for Demyx and Marluxia to step away. Axel handed Roxas his rosary.

"Watch this," he grinned.

Zexion took his rosary's crucifix in hand and brought it to his lips.

"Help."

Axel's rosary began to heat up. Roxas flipped the crucifix over and there, inscribed in the silver was "Zexion, 2A 130." Demyx pointed to the words.

"This means that Zexion needs help, second floor of building A, room 130. Cool huh?" Roxas nodded in amazement. That was sweet!

"Any questions now?" Zexion asked, taking a seat in the armchair again.

"No," Roxas answered, shivering as Axel's fingers brushed his when he gave the rosary back. "Wait, yeah, I do have a question. What does 'Vergessen ist ewig' mean, anyway?" Zexion smiled.

"Oblivion is eternal."

-----------------

Axel was surprised at how quickly Roxas was learning. He was like the star pupil Zexion had always wanted. They spent a lot of time alone together, studying and learning. But Roxas still wasn't allowed to exorcize spirits yet. With all the time Roxas spent holed up with Zexion, Axel was surprised that Demyx wasn't getting jealous. Instead, he seemed very happy, almost too happy. What a strange guy.

As Roxas came out of Zexion's room, talking animatedly with the owner of said room, Axel's teeth clenched, his fingers tightening around the handle of his coffee mug. Wait a minute, what? He wasn't jealous, was he? No way. Axel Sparks was not jealous of ZexionYoshibara for the time he spent with Roxas. No way in hell. He barely knew the kid! There was no way he was jealous. He just wanted to know the kid better, okay? And run his fingers through his soft hair and kiss h—no! Nothing like that! He just wanted to know the kid in a purely platonic way. Really.

-----------------

5th period was still a slightly disturbing time for Roxas, considering what had happened not long ago. Axel gave the kid points for showing up at all. Mr. Strife looked up when the door opened, but didn't say anything when Roxas came through, dressed in his new black Organization cloak. Axel's mouth went dry. The kid looked absolutely gorgeous in—no, bad thoughts to have in class, Axel. Think of Xigbar in a tutu! All that did was make him laugh, though, and Mr. Strife sent him a weird look.

"Sorry, sir," he chuckled, waiting for the mental image to pass. Roxas was looking at him oddly, too, but let the moment pass in silence. He sat down and pulled out his book.

"Axel, what page are we on?" Roxas asked suddenly.

"297," Axel replied after jumping slightly at the unexpected question—not that he'd tell anyone about it or anything.

"Thanks," Roxas said, flipping to the page.

"Alright class," Mr. Strife said, getting everyone's attention. "Since we're doing a unit on the history of this house, I think it's time that we move on to what you all will think is the most interesting part; the murder." Roxas, who had been copying the notes on the board, froze. Apparently Zexion hadn't gotten to that part in the history yet. Axel leaned forward in his seat until his mouth was right next to Roxas's ear.

"Don't worry kid, in all the years I've been here no murdered party guests have ever shown up. It'll be fine." Axel felt Roxas shiver, but couldn't tell if it was from fear or…something else. He slid back into his own chair and shook his head to clear it. The kid was just scared, that was all.

Roxas tried to keep his breathing steady. Axel had been so close, right next to his ear and it would have been so easy to—no. Axel was just concerned about him, that was all. And besides, he didn't like Axel right? He was only his friend and he barely knew the guy! So why was his face red?

-----------------

About halfway through the period, the hanging man came back. That was the problem with ghosts; they never stayed in one place if you left them alone. Axel had just hoped he would stay away longer.

"Kid, hey kid! Hey Blondie! Pay attention!" Roxas stiffened, his shoulders tensing. He couldn't hear it, could he? Axel silently prayed that he couldn't. But Roxas's head was slowly turning to glance to the right of Axel's desk.

The dead man was wearing a terrible, crooked grin that sent shivers down Roxas's spine. God that was creepy. When he made eye contact with Roxas, the grin widened and he began to swing. A maddening creak slowly filled the room, and Axel and Roxas were the only ones who could hear it.

"Boy, I wouldn't want to be you, kid. You're the one they're after, right? I'd start running kid, they're coming for you."

"Who's coming for me?" Roxas hissed, but the man just started to laugh, swinging back and forth on his rope. Roxas turned slightly green and slid around to face the board again.

Finally, having enough, Axel leaned over in his chair and pulled off his rosary. This had to classify as 'disturbing the peace' in the exorcist code, didn't it? Even if it didn't, Roxas looked like he was going to be sick.

Axel wrapped his rosary around his hand and slid it into the man's leg. Immediately, he began to scream. Roxas flinched, but couldn't put his hands over his ears and risk being seen by one of the 'normals.' Axel clenched his teeth as the cold of the spirit tingled up his arm.

"Vergessen ist ewig," he ground out, and the screaming stopped. Silence settled over the classroom and Axel and Roxas breathed a sigh of relief. It was over, for now.

1 "Good morning."

2 "You speak German?"

3 "Not very well."

4 "That's regrettable."

5 "It was nice talking to you."

6 "Have a nice day."

Please review! ...It wasn't too bad, was it? :)