Chapter 2

As though falling from some great height she tumbled, unsure of which direction she was travelling in. A sudden rush of chilling air consumed the girl's body, cradling her as she span onward, terrified and confused. She dared not open her eyes.

The spinning intensified until she reached the point at which she felt she would be violently sick at any moment. Her chest tightened as she struggled for breath.

Momentary thoughts rushed in and out of mind like bullets, and her head felt like it was about to cave in. She couldn't concentrate on anything.

Then came a jolt that ran through her back like electricity.

She had landed.

It was so unexpected a landing. Her entire body convulsed with shock and her neck jerked agonisingly backwards.

It was excruciatingly painful. Her body flopped backwards like a rag doll as her head began to throb. Like a child with a scraped knee she refused to move from the position in which she was sprawled so gracelessly.

Her eyes welled up with heavy tears that rained down her reddening cheeks as fire against her skin. She sobbed quietly into her hands, cradled her aching head.

The fact that she was making such a scene didn't even occur to her, but as far as she was aware there were no people in sight anyway.

All that she could think of was the deep, intense throbbing of her skull. She bit her lip and resisted the urge to scream out in desperation.

She had lost everything. Her life, her friends, her family- everything had slipped away. She was nobody anymore.

It frustrated her so much. Where had her memories gone? Her head felt so empty. She was as blank as a plain white canvas, once filled with a beautiful painting that had been washed away by the rain.

She couldn't even remember her name.

She paused. That couldn't possibly be true. Her name couldn't have gone. It had to be in her head somewhere…didn't it?

'Who am I?' She asked herself, wracking her brain for a name. A name could surely bring back memories.

"I'm…I'm…"

It was on the tip of her tongue. She could feel it there, ready to burst from her mind but it only lasted a moment. Then it was gone. Gone forever.

"Who am I?" She shouted, her tone pleading, pathetic and whiny.

"You're nobody." Came a voice. The same voice that she had first awoken to. It sounded familiar already, despite how little she had heard him say.

The voice was that of a young man. It had a certain depth…such tone. Indescribable.

The girl hoisted herself upwards; the pain of her head beginning to ease off a little.

He contrasted with the environment in an almost poetic sense, she noticed. Black against a white backdrop, like a beacon of evil in a place meant for goodness.

"Who are you? And how can I be nobody?" She interrogated, agitated at his statement, even despote how he had only been reinforcing the thought already sprouting within her head. "If I was nobody I wouldn't exist!" She exclaimed anxiously, staring at the hooded man who stood before her, apathetic to her emotions.

He began to laugh menacingly. It made him sound malevolent but at the same time, although she failed to understand it, his tone possessed warmth, as though he were sharing an old joke with a friend.

"I'm surprised you even made it to be honest…you're weaker than any of the others." He said.

"Others…Others who?" She squinted at him. She wanted to see the face hidden beneath the hood, if only to know his expression.

"You're lucky. You coulda' quite easily died back there." The man paced in front of her, making gestures with his hands as he spoke. "It's happened before ya'know. Only once…and I wasn't the one sent to get em'…but another one died here. On that spot where you're sat."

The girl recoiled and quickly drew to her feet, stepping away as though detecting the stench of death.

"Chill…it was a long time ago now. Too long. I've been like this for too long and we're never getting any closer." He garbled.

"Ahh…oww!" The girl gasped, interrupting his incoherent babble. Grasping her head between her hands once more, she leant over.The pain had worsened.

"That happens on your first time. It takes a little time to adjust to this."

"Make it stop…please…please…it hurts! It hurts so…"

"It'll pass."

"But…"

"In about a year or two." He added.

"No! It's…it's…it's"She ran away from him. She knew she would rather die than survive in such pain. It was so easy to force all the blame for everything on him, and she found herself instinctively doing so. He was making her feel uncomfortable anyway, and she was almost certain that he was ogling her intensely from beneath his hood, watching her every motion.

" Relax kid, I'm just messin' with ya'. Trust me." He said. She could hear his footsteps approaching from behind, and she recalled what had happened the last time she had allowed him to stand behind her.

She turned swiftly on her heels.

"Trust you? You pushed me through that…that thing, knowing that I might not make it out alive! Then you don't even answer my questions, and…and you're a complete pervert! And you expect me to trust you?" She raged, stomping her foot in anger. She desired answers to all the endless questions in her head, wanting to satisfy her unquenchable thirst for lost knowledge, and this stranger wasn't helping at all.

"Pervert?" He sounded confused. "Well…anyway, maybe you should try just giving me a chance to explain?" He held out a hand for her to take, but she shook her head in defiance.

"Why should I? I can't trust you! I don't even think I could learn to trust a guy like you! And why do you wear that hood up all the time? You really expect me to trust a guy when I can't see his face? Well…well, no! That's your answer! And if you don't mind I'm going back home now…wherever my home is!"

She turned melodramatically and began to stride off with a newly unleashed confidence that ill-fitted her, when suddenly she felt hands clamp around her small shoulders. She could no longer move.

"Let go of me!" She demanded. Her will was strong, but her body not so, and she trembled fearfully.

He was almost a foot taller than her, and he had to bend low but still he lowered his head to her ear, so that she could feel his warm breath beating down on her.

"Do you want me to?" He whispered.

She was even more nervous than before.

"What kind of a question is that?"

"I think you don't. I think you're just scared of the truth. You're turning your back because you're afraid…am I right?"

"No…no, you're wrong!" She assured herself.

She didn't sound so certain, stuttering out her words. She expected him to pick up on this, but he proved himself an unpredictable character.

"Okay." Axel responded, releasing her and raising his hands in surrender. "Well…see you around then. Exits over there." He said, waving one hand in a general direction.

She took a step forward.

She was free. She could run out the door, which lay before her in the distance. She could run away and no one would stop her.

So why wasn't she moving. What force kept her there, in that pure yet eerie place, with a man she was growing to despise? Gazing backwards at the man who had in one day both rescued and almost killed her, she was instantly stunned. Her jaw-dropped as she saw him properly for the first time, hood lowered.

She hated to admit it but he was undeniably beautiful. His face was perfectly chiselled, with a soft whiter than white complexion, even lighter than her own skin of porcelain pallor. His eyes were bluer than blue, his smirk, sadistic yet seductive; full lips twisted upwards at one corner. Then there was his hair, a flaming red mane…so dramatic.

Forgetting herself, she couldn't help but smile at him. Her own smile appeared so much more innocent and pure than his. Gazing awestruck into his eyes it made her feel as though she was seeing straight through to his soul within. There was too much to comprehend hidden behind his smile, and she knew that. Still, why was it then that his eyes seemed so empty?

She came to her senses, recalling how irritating she found him. Wiping clean the smile that lit her face, she turned back to face the door.

"It's Axel. Got it memorised?" He said, in answer to an unasked question.

"Huh…?"

"My name. You wanted to know." He replied. "And I can't explain how you're a nobody cus' I never knew you before…but don't assume just cause' you're walkin' around like you own the place it means you exist. "

She laughed inside. All the answers she had been dying to know had come at once, and she had been so certain it would make her feel more fulfilled, but it only left a bigger hole where her knowledge was supposed to be.

She was so stupid. In her rage she had been asking none of the right questions. She would have kicked herself for her own idiocy had it not been for how strange it would have made her appear. She craved understanding, and something led her to believe that if she were to leave through the door ahead, no one on the outside could explain things like Axel could. Something about him told her that he knew far more than he was letting on, and so she turned back to face him again.

"Do you know what my name is?" She asked, hanging her head in embarrassment at having forgotten her own name.

"Nah…you don't have one yet. When I take ya' to Xemnas he'll choose one for ya'." Axel explained.

Yet more questions arose in her mind. Who was this Xemnas, and what right had he to decide her name?

"Hey…you're not taking me anywhere! I'm my own person and I can do whatever I like! And anyway, I don't want a new name…I want my old one back!"

"Okayy…okaay." Axel sighed, exasperatedly. "Who rattled your cage?"

"Well why can't I remember my name!" She screeched.

Axel paced towards her calmly. Seeing him so cool and collected only made her grow ever madder. She felt stuck- locked in some dream world where everything was the complete opposite of how it was supposed to be. Her usually milky white skin was beet red, and she glared dangerously at Axel. She was a volcano, ready to erupt at any second.

Still this did not deter the over-confident man, who was now less than a foot away from her.

"You think Axel is my true name?"

The girl's anger instantly dissolved, replaced with curiosity.

"You mean…you lost your name too?"

"Yeah. Never known anyone take the news so bad as you." Axel chuckled.

"So…you mean I'll never know my real name?"

"No...we all will someday."

"So…you're waiting to?"

As she questioned him, she noticed how his expression and voice rapidly changed. He looked suddenly downtrodden and for the shortest of moments she would have hugged him, or done anything, just to make him laugh at her again. It felt so awkward seeing him broken.

"Yeah."

"So then this Xemnas…he's gonna' give me a name right?

"Yeah."

Axel was entirely expressionless, like a toy that had run out of battery.

"So are we gonna' go see him?" She asked.

Axel reawakened.

"So you wanna' come with the pervert now, do ya'? He smirked.

She laughed melodically.

"Do I really have a choice?"

"It depends. Do you trust me now?"

"A little bit." She said nervously.

He offered her his hand, and she nervously took it. Something had changed between them, and in one short moment she had gained some little understanding.

Axel wasn't trying to hurt her. She knew that now. And maybe somewhere on the inside he was just as scared and hurt as she was. And even if not much had really changed, somewhere in her head things had clicked into place, and she realised that there were other people in the world who were just as alone as she was. And maybe, just maybe, Axel was one of them.

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Sooooo, that took a while really. And I only have a rough outline for the plot of this sooooo yeah. If you've read this far PLEASE take the time to review. Constructive critisism always appreciated.

Kay thanx byeee xx

XSabenarrX