I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.

'What is this? What the hell is this!?' The words echoed through Axel's mind as he stared up at the man who was slowly approaching him. Axel couldn't move. His entire body was frozen with fear as he looked upon what must have been the face of darkness itself.

The man was bleeding a twisted dark aura over his white lab coat. His long white hair was pushed back out of his face to reveal his pale golden eyes which locked onto Axel as he slowly approached. A demon mad of pure darkness stood behind the man, as if it was his own shadow. It's huge arms spread wide as it's presence fulled the empty metal corridor with an almost physical sense of emptiness.

"And this one, will make eight." The man said with a hollow, uncaring voice as he lifted up a sickly looking weapon. The thing was the most demonic looking Keyblade that Axel could have imagined, the whole thing was a mixture of silver and blade, with a goat demon's head as the guard and a twisted blade mass for the tooth.

Axel didn't know what to think. He didn't have time to think as the man seemed to disappear, only to reappear just two feet in front of him. The demon reached around him, grabbing Axel by the shoulder, lifting him up off the ground. Axel tried to struggle, but then he stopped as he felt the head of the Keyblade being driven into his body.

Axel woke up, covered in a cold sweet, a scream in his ears. But the scream wasn't his. "I slept in!" Louise wailed as she was throwing off her blankets and running around the room like a chicken with it's head cut off. "You stupid familiar! Why didn't you wake me up!?"

"Wha..?" Axel was still shaking off the affects of the dream. He couldn't remember having ever dreamed before. And the entire thing had seemed so real. That strange feeling was hammering inside of his chest hard enough to cause Axel's whole body to tense up.

"Aren't you awake yet, you dumb dog!" Louise barked at Axel, standing over his spot on the floor with her hands on her hips. She was still wearing nothing but her night gown, leaving almost everything open to see.

"Jeez, what's your..." Axel stared, rubbing the back of his head as he gave a short yawn, but the girl planted a foot on his face, pushing him back to the ground.

"Wake up and help me get ready, you worthless mutt!" Louise shouted angrily.

Axel had to surprise a growl as he felt something boiling up inside him. But all he said was. "If you want something, then you probably should ask. I'm not a mind reader, and even if I was, I wouldn't be able to tell what you are thinking." Axel spat.

"Don't take that kind of tone with me!" Louise shouted, pointing her wand at Axel's face. The Nobody didn't even flinch as he stared up at the girl. He was considering snapping off that arm and just going back to sleep. He was in no mood for this kind of shit. He had never been a morning person, preferring the late after noons and night time to the wee hours of the day.

"Then give me an order, 'master', or let me go back to sleep." Axel said coldly.

Louise pulled the wand out of his face and crossed her arms. "Then dress me." She said with a straight face.

"Dress you..." Axel repeated the instruction with a certain level of disbelief. "Do you seriously need help getting dressed? Even Roxas wasn't that bad, and he was a mindless vegetable."

Louise bared her teeth at the red haired Nobody. "Don't be stupid! A noble never dresses themselves when they have servants on hand! Now stop whining, before I decide to take away your lunch as well as your breakfast as punishment for your behavior!"

Axel closed his eyes. What ever, he could steal some food if he needed too. Though the fact that the girl had promised him food and shelter for being her familiar did leave him slightly peeved that she was hardly giving him either of those things. "Fine." Axel said with a sigh, getting up and grabbing her clothes.

It wasn't like this was the worst order he had ever been given. After all, he had once been order to kill of all his coworkers in Castle Oblivion. That was a pain in the ass, even if Sora and the Replica Riku had done a good deal of the work for him.

"There, you're dressed." Axel grumbled as he finished tying the girl's cape on. "Now if you don't care about me, I'm going back to sleep." He turned away from the little girl and was starting to lay back down in his stack of hay when she grabbed onto his hood and started pulling on it, as if trying to choke him.

"You will be escorting me to the dining hall. Don't you know anything about being a familiar?" Louise said as she pulled Axel away from his pitiful excuse for a bed.

"No I don't!" Axel shouted angrily, he really was not a morning person, and he was just inches away from killing the girl and seeing if he would pull together enough memory altering magic to erase her from existence. "And I'm pretty sure you are just making this crap up as you go along!"

Louise stumbled back as Axel pushed her away. She glared at the rebellious man who seemed to care nothing about his station in life. "That is it, no lunch for you! I thought after yesterday you were starting to understand your place, but I guess you still need some educating, you worthless dog!"

"Funny, coming from the teenage girl who can't even dress herself." Axel said with a shrug, though he found nothing funny about this situation. He turned away from the girl once more and laid down on his bed of hay. He closed his eyes and was trying to get back to sleep when he felt something being placed around his neck and heard a small clicking sound.

His eyes shot open and he reached for his neck to find that there was a balky dog collar around it, a magic lock holding it closed around his neck and a chain which Louise was holding onto. Axel raised a questioning eyebrow. "Why do you even have this? Seem's rather kinky for a proper girl to own. Should have known you like it dirty." Axel said, taunting the girl even as he had to push down the almost overwhelming desire to inform her of her place in the grand scheme of things. But no, he still needed those books on the summoning ritual. He couldn't kill her just yet.

Louise blushed as Axel's words but that didn't stop her from pulling on the chain to force Axel up. "You are escorting me to breakfast! Now move it, you good for nothing familiar!"

'It's for Roxas and Xion... it's for Roxas and Xion...' Axel kept repeating to himself as he was half dragged to the door. But this pretty much clenched it. After he was finished with the summonings, this girl was 'so' dead.

Everywhere Axel went there were people whispering and pointing at him. Most of them being girls. He supposed that he managed to gain the attention of nearly every girl in Louise's class when he had unzipped his top to reveal his familiar runes.

Perhaps the fetishistic collar and chain were giving them the wrong ideas. Not that Axel really cared. Such talk was rather amusing to him, as it made his 'master' squirm and forced her to defend her 'honor'. It was like one big joke.

A less funny joke was how he was being made to stand at attention behind the little brat while she ate. The dining hall was rather over the top and brightly lit. With five long tables for the nobles to sit at and more than enough spots and food for everyone. But still Axel was made to stand and go without food.

"Stop glaring at me." Louise snapped. She could feel Axel's heated glare on the back of her neck.

"I don't know what you are talking about, 'Master'. This is just how my face looks." Axel said with a calm voice.

"Why are you treating your familiar so poorly, Zero." Kirche said as the red haired mage sat down in the seat across from Louise. Mocking the little pink haired girl with a smile. Axel was a little surprised when he saw Tabitha take the seat next to the red haired mage. The little blue haired girl was still absorbed in one of her books, but she did give Axel a nodded, as if to acknowledge his presence. Axel returned the nod.

"Quiet, Zerbst!" Louise growled at her family's enemy. "How I discipline my familiar is none of your business!"

"Now that isn't very nice. He may be a familiar but he is still a human being." Kirche pouted, her eyes scanning over Axel. "And a fine specimen at that." She said licking her lips. Axel couldn't help but think that the comment was a little wrong. After all, he wasn't a human being.

Louise slammed her hands against the table, causing some of the plates to shake a bit. "You stay away from my familiar, Zerbst!" Louise spat angrily. "He belongs to me, and I will not have a Zerbst stealing a single dog from me or my family."

Kirche just laughed. "He belongs to you? Oh please, you had to bribe him just to seal the contract, we all saw it."

Axel picked up on this. "Speaking of which, master." Axel said looking down at the pink haired mage. "When are you going to get me those books on the summoning ritual?"

"Are you still on about that!?" Louise snapped angrily. "You are just a commoner, you can't use magic, so there is no need for me to waste my time getting you those books!" She said angrily. "As your master, I order you to forget about it!"

Louise turned back away from Axel again, but was only confronted by Kirche's grinning face. But the grin slowly died and was replaced by shock. Louise momentarily wondered what was the matter when she felt something. Fear gripped her as something changed in the air.

"So, you are going to go back on our agreement." Axel growled, anger clear in his voice. Louise turned around to see the man towering over her, his bright green eyes glaring holes through her as a scowl spread across his face. Louise didn't understand why, but she was afraid. Afraid of this commoner familiar who towered over her. "Well then, consider yourself familiarless." Axel spat as he turned and walked away.

Louise didn't move, should couldn't even bring herself to be outraged. She could only feel relieved as the creature that had brought about that feeling of fear was leaving. Only once the familiar had fully left the dining hall did Louise dare to breath again. And it was only then that she started to get angry. "That stupid dog... how dare he talk to me like that." She said angrily. But she still didn't get up to go after him. She just returned to her meal, trying to forget the fear that had overcome her 'rule of steel'.

Neither she, nor Kirche noticed when Tabitha left the dining hall to follow the angry familiar. They had to many other things on their minds. The same question that many of the people in the hall were thinking.

'What had Louise the Zero summoned?'

Axel punched the wall of the castle hard enough to leave crack in it. "How dare that bitch try to double cross me." Axel growled to himself through gritted teeth. Sure he had no intention of holding up his end of the deal any longer than needed, but he was not used to being betrayed.

He wasn't even sure why he was so mad. He had never been so quick to anger before. So why now? He closed his eyes and shook his head only to hear the jingling of the chains around his neck. It just made him angrier. No one had ever treated him so poorly in his life. Even his enemies who didn't see him as even real existing where not as insulting as this little pink haired brat.

His hand shot up and grabbed at the lock. Its magical reinforcement didn't last as Axel turned up the heat, his black gloved hand glowing red hot as melted the metal lock off before pulling the entire collar off his neck and throwing it to the ground.

"Dammit. I'm wasting time. I need to... I need to..." Axel stammered as he searched for the right words. He needed to find another way of getting the information he was looking for. But he didn't know how. He figured that if the other nobles were anything like his 'master' than they would turn him away if he tried to get them from the library himself, and he didn't know where they were, so he couldn't just steal them.

"Don't give up. You just need to figure a few things out and then you'll be golden." He mumbled to himself as he cycled through his options. His thoughts were disrupted when his stomach growled. Great, he was hungry. He hadn't actually eaten anything since the last time he had died. So he was going to have to take things one step at a time. First fine a servant, then follow them to the kitchen to steal some...

"Hungry?" Axel opened his eyes and turned his head to see Tabitha standing there with a questioning tilt of the head. For a few seconds her void expression had made him wonder if the girl was somehow a Nobody herself.

Axel's stomach growled again. "I guess I am." He admitted rubbing the back of his head. What was the girl doing there? Why was she staring at him?

Tabitha nodded. She then turned around and started to wake away. Axel just stood there in a daze until the girl turned back to him, noticing that he wasn't following. "Come." She said. It wasn't a request, or an order. Just her saying what she was expecting him to do.

Axel wondered what she wanted but finally shrugged and started to follow her. She lead him back into the castle through a side door and down into a underground kitchen were the servants of the castle were working on cleaning up after the nobles' breakfasts.

Axel looked around the kitchen. The smell was horrible and the air was thick since the smoke from the stoves didn't have anywhere to escape from other than the door which had been left open, but without any breeze such measures were insufficient. In the corner of the room there was a box in the wall that could be used to raise and lower plates to the room above.

The entire system must have been set up so the nobles wouldn't have to see the kitchen staff more than absolutely necessary. It was disgusting, they considered themselves so far above the Commoners that they believed they shouldn't even have to look at them.

Tabitha raised her staff and mumbled a few words. The cooks looked a little surprised for a second as the still and smoky air of the kitchen suddenly cleared as all of the smoke was pulled out of the door by a sudden surge of wind. One of the cooks, a large man with tanned skin who looked a little unshaven turned and saw them at the door. "Oh, Lady Tabitha, what brings you down here?" The man said with a smile. Axel wondered if he was really happy to see Tabitha, or if it was just a front that he put up in her presence out of fear of punishment.

"Needs food." Tabitha said as she pointed her staff at Axel. The red haired Nobody blinked in surprised.

"Well it's my job to feed." The man said putting his hands on his hips. "So boy, there are plenty of left overs from the nobles' breakfast. You can have that or I can whip you up something fresh."

"Leftovers are fine." Axel said, still surprised that they would feed him. Why? What was in it for them?

The cook went and grabbed a few plates of food and dropped them on a table. "Go ahead and eat your fill. You look a little on the thin side." He said with a proud grin.

"Th...thank you." Axel said, the words felt foreign in his mouth. And expression of gratitude. He had never needed such a thing. No one had ever done anything for him without expecting something in return. Not even once. He couldn't help but wonder if these people wanted something from him. He went down his mental list of what it could be, but he couldn't think of anything. They didn't know of his power. He didn't have any political influence. He didn't even have any form of money or intell that they might want. So why were they being nice to him?

He slowly ate the food that he had been given. It was far better than the stuff that they had back in The World that Never Was. Nobodies didn't exactly make the best cooks. Everything was just meant for substance without any consideration for taste. What need did they have for something that tasted good? Without hearts, they couldn't even properly enjoy it.

But despite this fact, Axel found that he actual was enjoying the food. It was another thing that shocked and confused him. Why was he able to do such a thing.

He felt a tug on his sleeve and turned his head to see Tabitha looking up at him with her crystal blue eyes. For a held breath's second, Axel thought it was Xeon looking up at him. But he slowly realized it wasn't as his eyes were drawn to a book the girl was holding out to him. "For me?" Axel asked confused. The girl nodded wordlessly.

Axel took the book and looked at its title; 'Oldest Spells of Halkeginia: The Founder's Gifts'. Axel noticed one of the pages had been book marked and opened the book up. His eyes widened as he realized that it was a chapter describing the history of the summoning ritual. His eyes flashed up to the little girl. It wasn't much, but it was certainly a start.

"You wanted?" Tabitha said simply.

"Yes... But why?" Axel asked confused. "Why are you helping me? Why are you being... nice to me? What do you get out of it?"

Tabitha shook her head. "Nothing." She said simply and looked up at him with her blue eyes. "Friends." Axel was too shocked to respond. He just stared at the girl until she turned and walked away.

"I was wrong..." Axel mumbled as he watched her go. He had thought that she was like him. That she had no emotions. That she had no heart. But in reality she was the logical opposite of the higher ranked Nobodies.

The members of the Organization chairs all play acted at having emotions in order to hide what they were and try to add meaning to there lives. But Tabitha did have a heart. She was just pretending to be emotionless in order to protect it.

Axel thought about Saix, the blue haired member of the Organization. He had been the most heartless one of them, the one that had never even pretended to have emotions. But at the same time, he was the one that claimed that he could remember what it had been like to have a heart. To remember what it was like to feel, before he had become a Nobody.

Axel had never really believed him. Most of the Nobodies remembered bits of their previous lives, but not about the actual emotions. But maybe he really had remembered. And it was that memory that had made him act so heartless. The pains of the heart causing them to isolate themselves from others.

Axel shook his head. He was reading to much into this. The important thing was that he had something to go on. A place to start so that he could find a way to reunite with his old friends.

Axel couldn't explain it. But at that moment, his chest felt warm in a way that he couldn't ever remember it feeling. It was... nice.

Axel was leaving the underground kitchen, the book held in front of him in one hand as he scanned over the words on the page. It was fairly informative, giving a loose description of what the ritual required to work, the type of circles, the positioning of the moons and the sun which made the spell only usable four times a year. But the most important aspect seemed to be the summoner themselves.

It must have been gilded by Heart magic, with space and time magic to actual pull the familiar from wherever it was being summoned from.

Heart magic based on the resonance of the bonds between individual elements. Whether those elements be objects or people. The summoning ritual found a familiar that suited the magic of the summoner. So someone with a water element would summon a creature that was well in tuned with water, someone with fire would someone a fire creature, and so on.

So how did Louise summon Axel? Did she have a connection to a fire element and Axel just happened to be summoned? If so, then Axel would be in for some trouble. After all, both Roxas and Xion had a high potential for the 'light' element. Something that was rare to say the least. And how would he force the summoner to summon his friends instead of some other beast of light.

Axel was disappointed when he found that if a mage had a living familiar then they would not be able to preform the ritual. So he couldn't just force Louise to recast the summons again and again. The Nobody of fire would have too keep a close eye on Louise to see what kind of magic she had. It could be the key to everything.

"Familiar!" Axel inwardly groaned as he heard his 'master''s voice. No one had ever made him as mad as this little girl with pink hair. At least, not without getting a blade stuck into there just before being detonated, turning the annoyance into just a cloud of red mist and a lingering smell of burned flesh. "Who have you permission to leave me!?" She shouted.

Axel knew it was a rhetorical question, but he answered anyways. "Why I did. Since you aren't going to abide by the rules of our agreement, then I will not act as your familiar. That's how things are going to be. Got it memorized?"

"What!? How dare you!?" She growled before noticing the book. "Where did you get that? You stole a book!?"

"No, it was given to me." Axel said before turning his back on her and walking away.

"Hey, I didn't give you permission to leave!" Louise shouted after him.

"Tell it to someone who cares!" Axel called back as he glanced back down at the book. As he walked he passed a bunch of other students who were all in the courtyard sitting at small tables and playing with their more animal like familiars.

Spotting an empty table Axel sat down to continue to read the book. He was pretty sure he could mimic this worlds magic using the skills he already possessed. It would only require him to creature some minor alterations to his internal magics matrix in order to open him up to controlling the magic in the air.

The only problem was that he was extremely poor at Heart based magic. He was fair enough at most types of magic, though his specialty was fire, he could still use most of the others to a certain extent. The only ones he had no talent whatsoever in were time and heart. The only Nobody who had a good grasp of heart based magic was Namine. And Axel had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't ever even really a Nobody to began with.

Axel was trying to decipher the exact magical formular for the summonings when he felt something press up against his shoulder. "Kuuu!"

Axel glanced over to see the dragon, Sylphid trying to press her head underneath his free hand. Axel lifted up the hand and started to stroke the dragon's head. He looked across the table to see Tabitha sitting there, reading from her own book. "Well we met again. Thank's for the book, it was just what I needed." Axel said with a grin. He was putting up his false front, the charming man, the face he used to trick people into helping him. He felt a sting in his chest. Guilt at acting that way towards this girl who thought of him as a friend.

"That's good." Tabitha said with a nodded, not looking up from her own book.

"Mr. Axel?" Axel turned his head to see the maid girl from the night before. Axel couldn't remember he name, he didn't feel like it was all that important. Just another faceless person who he had used to get what he wanted. But it was best not to let the human know that. Don't burn bridges if you don't have to.

"I thought I told you to drop the mister." Axel said with a smile.

"Oh, sorry." The maid said with an embarrassed giggle. "But I'm surprised to see you hear without your master. Shouldn't you be with Mrs. Vallière?"

"The two of use are having a falling out, if she doesn't feel like keeping up her end of our deal, then I'm not going to keep up mine." Axel said with a dismissive shrug. "She can try to order me around all she wants. I'll just ignore her."

"Wha... what?" The maid said in shock. "But... you can't. If you make a noble mad, they could... um..." She glanced at Tabitha, obviously scared of saying something she couldn't.

"Bad things." Tabitha finished for the girl.

Axel smiled. "It's sweet that you are worried about me." He said causing the maid to blush a deep red. "But you don't have to worry. I'm a big boy and can take care of myself." He said closing his eyes and giving the same goofy smile that he had always seen Roxas and Xeon use. The one that could let them get away with murder if they wanted.

"I..." The maid couldn't speak, she was too embarrassed. She turned on her heels and darted off, clutching a serving tray to her chest so hard that she was bending the metal.

Axel sighed and turned back away. "Why?" Tabitha asked. Axel looked up at her and knew what she meant. Why had he pretended to be nice to her?

Axel weighed his options. He could lie. He was pretty good at lying. But for some reason... "She might be useful to me later on. Best to keep up a pretense of good relations." Axel admitted, all humor gone from his face. Tabitha nodded, understandingly. "I really don't understand you though. You can tell what I am really like. But you still want to be friends. Why? Why would you want to be friends with someone that does not have a heart?"

Tabitha tilted her head. "Hearts hurt." She said simply before turning back to her book, as if that was all there was too it.

So that was it. The girl had locked away her own heart in order to protect herself.

Axel stared at her for some time, absent mindedly petting Sylphid as he watched her read. She reminded him so much of Xeon during her early days. Back when she was just a doll and not a person. He missed her. And he hated himself for bringing her back. For not letting her escape, all because he was selfish. And because of him... Roxas was forced to kill her.

"You stupid maid!" Axel glanced over to see a blond noble boy standing over the maid who had fell to the ground, her tray and the food she had been carrying scattered across the ground around her.

"Please forgive me, Master Guiche." The maid begged as she put her arms up to protect herself. "I... I was just... I was returning your letters..."

"Couldn't you see I was with someone else? Because of your thoughtless actions the honor of those two poor ladies are ruined." Guiche said as he pulled up a rose. He mumbled a few words and flicked the flower, causing it to be turned into a thorned whip. "It seemed like I will have to teach you a lesson in tact."

The noble snared down at the girl. The whip sailed through the air and struck the girl across her raised arms. She cried out in pain, but no one was coming too her aid.

Axel watch. It was a bit of a shame, but no skin off his bones. It wasn't like he had invested anymore than some pretty words in the girl. She was replaceable to him. Something that he had just used to achieve a goal, and nothing more. She didn't even have a name to him.

But even so... Axel felt a sharp pain inside of his chest as he watched the girl cry.

"Let this be a lesson to you about being grateful that we even allow you to work for us!" Guiche shouted as he swung the whip upwards, striking the girl across the face. Blood started to trickle down the girl's face. Axel's eyes followed the trail of blood and he started to grid his teeth. The pain in his chest was growing stronger by the second.

"Please... I'm sorry." The maid cried weakly.

"Words of apology from a commoner are worthless!" Guiche shouted as he raised the whip again. The maid closed her eyes, preparing herself for another blow. But it never came.

She looked up to see Axel standing over her, the whip held tight in is black gloved hand. "Wha... what do you think you are doing!?" Guiche demanded of Axel as he tried to pull the whip out of his hand. "Let go! Let go I say!"

Axel did as he was told and the lord fell on his butt, causing a small amount of laughter from the other nobles who had been watching him whipping the maid. Guiche gritted his teeth. "Who do you think you are? Getting in the way of a nobleman like that?" Guiche said angrily. Axel didn't respond. He didn't say a word. He just stood there like a statue, glaring straight past the noble boy, as if he wasn't even worth looking at.

"What a second... you are the Zero's familiar, aren't you?" Guiche demanded, but Axel still didn't answer. "You believe that you can simply insult me like this, without consequences? You are still just a peasant." He said angrily, the whip changed back into a rose and he raised it again, pointing it at Axel. "I challenge you to a duel!"

A few seconds passed before the reply came. "It's your funeral." Axel said, his voice as cold as ice. Guiche flinched as the Nobody's green eyes locked onto him. "If it is a fight you want. Then it will be a fight you are going to get."

Guiche looked more than a bit surprised as he heard the red haired man's response. The tone of Axel's voice had sent childs up the young noble's spine, and the green eyes that stared at him reminded him of a dog that had a piece of meat dangling in front of it. The second he comes within range, the red head was bound to bite his head off.

It didn't make any sense. Guiche was a noble, this man was a commoner. He could be trembling in fear and awe of his betters, not staring him down with a smug scowl. Was there something that this man knew that Guiche did not?

No. Of course not. He was just a foolish peasant that needed to be taught his place. Guiche had nothing to fear from this man. And besides, he couldn't back out now, even if he wanted to. The moment he had said the words his honor had been put on the line. Several dozen's of people were already whispering around them and they were bound to tell there friends to hurry over to see the smug commoner get beaten on.

"I see that you are least not a coward, even if you are a barbarian." Guiche scoffed as he stood up straight. "We will fight in the squire in ten minutes. So make peace with yourself, you common filth." Guiche through out his cape in a dramatic manner and left, Axel not saying a word as he watched the noble go.

People were starting to move, they all wanted to either get to a teacher to get it called off, or get to the squire so that they could have the best spots.

"Axel." Tabitha said as she walked up next to the nobody. She looked up at him. She wasn't scared for him, but she was a little surprised. She had been preparing to stop Guiche herself when Axel had stepped in to stop the attack. She hadn't expected him to do it.

"You shouldn't have done that." Siesta said. "He was just going to punish me a little, but now that you've stood up to him, he'll kill you. And since it's a duel he's allowed to do it."

Axel didn't care. He was silent for a few more seconds, but when he did finally speak, Siesta was shocked. "Why?" He said, his voice full of something akin to anger. He turned and glared down at Siesta. "Why did I bother saving you?"

"Wha..." Siesta mumbled, not understanding. He had changed. He wasn't the charming man he was earlier. This was completely different.

"You are nothing to me. Just a convent tool to be used and discarded. If that brat had killed you, I would have lost nothing." Axel said cruelly turning his eyes away. "So why... why did I feel like I had to save you! What compelled me to do it!?"

Tabitha watched the change in the Nobody of fire. Most people would have seen these actions as a sign of rage, or disgust, or contempt. But Axel didn't seem to be any of those things to Tabitha. Instead, he seemed scared. Not scared about having to fight a noble, but scared because he didn't understand his own actions.

"Axel?" Siesta said a hand going to her chest. "I... I thought..."

"Well you thought wrong, because I mislead you." Axel said turning back to her again. "You never meant anything to me. I never even bothered to remember your name." His eyes went to the cut on her face that was bleeding down into her eyes. She had several cuts and scratches on her that were fairly bad and would need looking at.

Axel felt the pain again in his chest. His face softened even though he didn't mean it to. He knelt down next to the girl who flinched away from him, this man who was so different. Lifted one of his gloved hands over his head and took a small breath, channeling his magic, activating the matrix within him that converted the light magic spells. "Cure." He mumbled.

Siesta's jaw dropped and Tabitha's eyes widened as ribbons of green light came from the palm of Axel's hand before going flouting around the girl's injures.

Everywhere the light touched began to heal and an astonishing rate until no one could be able to tell the girl had ever been hurt at all. Siesta watched as a cut on her arm disappeared completely. "How?" She said in awe, her eyes moving up to stare into Axel's.

"Light magic isn't exactly my specialty, but even I can heal injures that are that small." Axel said, then his face grew hard again. "Don't think this mean's anything. I was just feeling like a little warm up, that's all... Now scram before I get annoyed." He said as he got to his feet and started to turn away.

A hand grabbed his sleeve and he stopped. He turned he head to see Tabitha looking up at him with her curious blue eyes. Axel's face immediately softened at the sight of those eyes. They were so much like Xion's, even if the owners were so different. "What is it?"

"Squire, that way." Tabitha said, pointing in the other direction with her staff to were a large group of students were already gathering.

"Oh right. The duel." Axel said scratching his head and giving a yawn. "Guess I might as well get it over with. Then I think I'll take a nap. Might as well use the stables. They are about as comfortable as Louise's room. And it probably have better company too. Probably less shit, now that I think about it."

Tabitha watched as Axel walked towards the gathered students. She didn't exactly know what to think of this man. She wanted to keep him close. To observe him. To see if he was like the other humanoid. The one that her uncle had summoned.

The one that had twisted her uncle into a heartless monster, the one that had killed her father, the one that had shattered her mother's heart, and the one that sealed Tabitha's own heart away with that giant key.

Axel didn't seem to be the same. Though he seemed to not really have any patients for the nobility and was a little self absorbed, he wasn't running around spreading chaos for laughs.

But if he was like that boy... then she would kill him herself.

Axel looked rather bored as he walked into the middle of the students, them parting a little to let him through. Guiche was standing on the opposite side of the circle of students. "I commend your bravery for coming, even if it was foolish."

"I'm willing to admit I've never had to put on a show for some many. I usually prefer to do my business behind closed door." Axel said with a shrug. "Though I'm hardly getting stage fright."

Kirche was one of the people standing in the circle around the two fighters. She hardly even noticed when her all but completely silent friend joined her. "Oh, Tabitha, where have you been?"

"Courtyard." Tabitha answered in one of her one word responses, not looking up from her current book, though she wasn't really reading it. She was still wondering about Axel. The kind of person he was.

"Well, I'm almost sorry that you stumbled onto this." Kirche said looking over at the red haired Nobody. "And he was so cute too."

"Axel will win." Tabitha said, she was curtain of it. Axel had the feel of a member of the Knights of the North Parterre, Gallia's group of elite assassins. Kirche looked surprised at the smaller girl's declaration. She knew better than to think it was just hot air. If she said that Axel would win, then she had to know something.

"Well then, shall we being?" Guiche asked raising his rose wand.

"I'm ready when you are." Axel said with a smile but then he slapped himself in the forehead. "Oh, I just remembered I wanted to ask something real quick."

"What is..." Guiche started, but he was cut off.

"Guiche!" Louise roared as she stomped out onto the field. Guiche and Axel both groaned at the slight of the pink haired girl. "Guiche, stop this at once. You know very well that duels are strictly forbidden."

"Yes, but that only applies to duels between two nobles. He is a peasant, so there is no problem." Guiche reasoned with a smug grin. No one really cared why Louise thought anyways.

"That's just because no one ever thought that something like that you happen. Do you really think that this excuse will hold up with the Head Master." Louise said, still trying to reason with the boy.

"Oh, have you perhaps developed feeling for this common familiar?" Guiche asked the girl.

Louise blushed an angry red. "That's not it at all!" She shouted. "It's just that no mage would just stand by while there familiar is beaten into a blood heap."

"While you shut up, you little brat." Axel said, drawing gasps from the audience at his clear disrespect for a noble, and his master at that. Even Guiche looked offended. "All you're doing is making this all take longer than it needs to. And I still haven't had my question answered yet." Axel started to roll his shoulders a bit, loosening up the flow of magic for the upcoming fight.

"And what is your question, you insufferable brut?" Guiche asked angrily.

"Well, I little servant said that if one of us dies in one of these duels, then there are no consequence." Axel said, grinning like a mad man as he stared at his victim to be. "Is that true?"

"It is true." Guiche replied matching his grin. "Though I am afraid the duel has already begun!"

Guiche murmured a few words and flicked his rose wand, causing a single petal to fly up before flashing down onto the ground. When the light cleared there was a single suit of armor shaped as if it was meant for a woman with a few feathers behind the ears. In the armor's hand was a spear, not a elegant weapon if you asked the Dancing Flame.

"I am Guiche the Brass. So a Brass Golem, a Valkyrie, will be your opponent." Guiche said as he crossed his arms. He clearly believed that the single golem would be enough to handle Axel.

"Scan." Axel mumbled, letting some magic flow to his eyes and activate his vision based ability. He could only grin when the info came back and he was not impress. The strength allowed to the armor by the boy's magic was not nearly enough to overpower a member of Organization XIII.

The Valkyrie charged forward, its spear out in front of it, as if to try to drive Axel through in just one move. Some of the more squeamish girl's in the audience squealed, believing that the red haired man was going to die.

But to everyone's shock, Axel stopped the spear with one hand, grabbing it just below the head. "You've got to be kidding me. Is that all?" Axel said smugly as pulled the armor in and grabbed onto its face plate. He proud magic into his own specialty, fire. "Fira." He said simply, not wasting a higher level version of the spell on such a weak opponent. The black gloved hand of the Nobody glowed red hot and a fire ball blasted the head and shoulders off of Guiche's Golem.

"Was... was that magic?" "He just shot fire right out of his hand!" "An elf! He has to be an elf! We can't really see his ears in all that hair!" "Did Zero summon a noble!?"

The voices of the crowd grew and grew as they all tired to figure out what had just happened. Louise herself was wide eyed, her jaw hanging open as she watched. Her familiar could do magic. How was that even possible.

"I haven't had much time to read up on the magic you've got in this country, but I believe that was what you would call a 'line level' spell." Axel said as what remained of the Valkyrie fell to pieces. "Not that I couldn't have used a stronger spell, but it would have just been a waste."

"You... you're a noble?" Guiche said, panic in his voice. He had been fine with picking on a defenseless commoner, but he wasn't ready to fight someone on equal footing. And if what the red haired man said was true, then he was a higher rank mage than Guiche was.

Axel started to laugh. It was the same hollow laugh that seemed void of any true heart, causing a shiver to go through the crowd. "There is nothing 'noble' about me." Axel said with a shake of his head. "I am a Nobody. An empty shell that has no heart. So when I kill you, I will feel nothing at all."

'When I kill you'. Guiche was about to die. He could feel the truth of it. "Stay... stay back!" He shouted quickly summoning up more of the Valkyries to protect him, knowing all the while that it was no use. The six suits of armor stood in front of him, brandishing their weapons, waiting for the command to attack.

"Is that your only trick?" Axel asked, shaking his head, as if disappointed. "Oh well." He raised his arms out to either side of him. "Eternal... Flames." threads made of black and crimson flames pushed out of Axel's hands, twisting around each other in order to form Axel's weapons. They were a cross between chakrams and wind and fire wheels, his 'Eternal Flames'. Circular weapons with eight sharp blades sticking out of them. Axel held them loosely as his side, spinning one of them around on his finger.

Despite having some of the most powerful fire based magic there was, Axel himself had never really depended on it. He preferred to use his weapons, so that he could feel some form of resistance as he tore through his opponents flesh.

"A...Attack!" Guiche commanded his Golems.

The mindless suits of armor rushed forward, but none of them were fast enough to touch Axel. The red haired Nobody moved through the group of empty armors, slashing through them with his Eternal Flames, the heat from his weapon's melting straight through them, cutting them like warm butter as he passed by. To the on looks it looked as if he was dancing a strange and destructive dance.

The Valkyries were cut down, one by one as Axel closed the distance between him and Guiche.

"Stay... stay back." Guiche stammered, holding up his rose wand. The noble boy started to chant, but Axel throw one of his Eternal Flames. It cut across Guiche's arm, causing the boy to scream in pain and drop his wand. Guiche staggered back as Axel came closer, crushing the boy's wand underneath his heel. "I... I yield." Guiche said, but Axel kept moving towards him, his eyes still cold, despite the fire that twisted around his hands. "I said I yield!"

A twisted smile spread across Axel's face. "Sorry, I'm afraid I can't hear you." Axel said, causing the boy to go pale as screams of horror went through the observers. "I don't think you understand what it means to be in a fight, young Lordling. So let me explain it to you." Axel held one of his weapon's up so that he was looking at the boy through the cracks between the blades. "A fight doesn't end when one party gives up. A fight ends when they are dead." Guiche turned and tried to run away, but a wall of fire burst from the ground, cutting him off. He stumbled and fell to the ground, his was to stunned with fear to keep moving. "Got it memorized?"

"Familiar! I order you to stop!" Louise shouted. "He has yielded, you cannot continue!"

Axel did stop, but not to follow the order, but to glare at Louise who shrank back. "Shut up, you stupid brat. You can't order me around." He said with a sneer. "I am a Nobody. My kind are loyal to none but ourselves. So if I want to kill this boy, there is nothing you can do to stop me."

Guiche had managed to get back to his feet again and was trying to run, but Axel throw a chakram again, catching the boy in the back of the leg. Guiche gave a wail of pain as he fell to the ground, clutching at the weapon that was stuck in his leg. Axel walked slowly over to him, rolled the boy over with one foot and glared straight down into the boy's face. "This is it. I hope your ready." He said, the twisted smile returning to his lips.

"Please... please you can't do this. I'm a noble!" Guiche cried. The boy has hysterical by this point, to afraid of death to try to keep up his image.

"Like I care." Axel spat as he raised his weapon above his head. Dozen's of voices were calling out in panic, but Axel didn't care. This boy meant nothing to him. He would just be another one of the nameless hundreds who Axel had killed.

But before the Nobody could strike the finishing blow, he felt a tug on the sleeve of his empty hand. He turned his head to see Tabitha standing there, looking up at him with her crystal blue eyes. "Please Axel." She said in her monotone voice.

Axel froze. Remembering when Xion had said the same thing to him. The look in her eyes seemed to stare straight though him. "You want me to let him live?" Axel said, just for clarification. Tabitha nodded.

The spectators were all shocked when Axel slowly lowered his weapon and in a flash of fire, both the one in his hand, and the one still embedded in the boy's leg disappeared. Axel bent down to the boy who looked up into his green eyes, to scared to look away. "You should be grateful to this little lass. She just saved your skin." He said before standing up straight, turning around, and starting to walk away.

"Why..." Louise said as Axel passed her. "Why do you follow Tabitha's orders, but not mine? I am your master!"

Axel stopped. "I already told you. I have no loyalties to anyone." Axel said, though he turned back and looked at Tabitha who was standing close behind him. "But I still do favors for my friends." He said before waving a hand, causing a corridor of darkness to appear before him. Student's gasped at seeing the dark pool springing up out of the ground. "Tabitha. I consider you a friend. So if you ever need a hand, you know where to fine me."

Tabitha nodded silently as Axel stepped through the dark pool and disappeared from sight. Hushed words flew through the gathered students.

Louise the Zero had summoned some kind of monster, and only Tabitha could control him.

Axel was back on the roof of the school again, this time the sun was just starting to set and he was eating a ice pop he had made from some sugar, sea salt, and a glass of water he had stolen from the kitchens, with a spoon for the stick. Ice magic was one of his worse fields of magic, but he could still chill the water to freezing.

Axel looked up from his book, taking in the sunset and letting the nostalgic feeling pass over him. He could have almost sworn he hard Roxas and Xion's mocking quips as they tried to get him to talk about his day's mission or teach them something new about the worlds.

But the sunset was not as beautiful as the sunset from Twilight Tower. With out the pollution in the air to further reflect the light it wasn't as vastly orange. And without his two friends there with him, it just wasn't the same.

Axel sighed and looked down at the book in his hands. It was a history log of all the familiars that had been summoned in the last two years at the academy, with description of their runes. Most of the sets of runes were repeated and easily deciphered, just being words like 'Flame' or 'Gust'. But Axel could not find anything that was matching the runes on his chest. Something that he believed to be significant, even if he didn't know how.

He was drawn out of his reading by the sound of dragon's wings and looked over his shoulder to see Tabitha and Sylphid landing on the rough behind him. The small blue haired girl walked over next to him and sat down on the bench. "Fancy seeing you here again." Axel said, just starting up a conversation, one that he expected to be one sided.

"Yes." Tabitha said with a nodded as she pulled out her own book and started to read.

Axel grabbed one of the ice pops he made and held it out to the girl. "Want one?" He offered.

Tabitha looked at it before putting her book down and taking the ice pop. She looked at it for a few seconds and then watched Axel taking a small bite out of his. Tabitha slowly brought it to her mouth and licked it.

Her eyebrows furrowed as the odd taste entered her mouth. "Salty... sweet?" She said confused, as if she didn't know if she liked it or not.

"It's an acquired taste." Axel chuckled as he took another bite. The Sea Salt Icecream had always been a sort of joke between him and his two good friends. As Nobodies they really didn't get any pleasure for eating it. It was just a ritual that was so human, and was something they were imitating. Or at least... that's how it started. Axel was never quite sure if Roxas and Xion hadn't had hearts of there own, or maybe just one heart that they shared between the two of them.

Tabitha nodded and licked at the pop again, slowly seeming to get accustomed to it.

Axel smiled at the sight of the small girl quietly eating her ice pop. "You know, a while back, I used to climb to the top of a tower, a lot like this one." Axel said, getting the little girls attention. "I would go there every night after I got off from work and sit around with my two best friends eating ice cream and laughing at the world."

He took another large bite out of his ice pop before continuing. "The other guys in the Organization all wanted to complete Kingdom Hearts so that they could get hearts of there own, but we never really cared about that. The three of us just wanted to keep on going, living each day as it came and clowning around with each other on the roof of that old clock tower." Axel looked out into the distance. "I really just wanted to go back to those days."

"What happened?" Tabitha asked the Nobody.

Axel glance down at her and gave a sad smile. "Well... they got left. They got lost in a place where I couldn't follow them." Tabitha looked down herself. "Don't worry, I haven't give up on seeing them again." Axel said, sounding pretty determined. He was used to giving long speeches and getting only one or two lines of response. It brought him back to the days when Roxas was just starting off.

"The summoning?" Tabitha guessed.

Axel nodded. "I promised them that no mater what happens, that I would always be there to bring them back. So I will do it. Even if I have to make an enemy of the rest of exitance. Even if it takes me all of time. Even if I have to die a thousand death. I will find a way to bring them back."

"Loyal." Tabitha said, it almost sounding like an accusation.

Axel blinked and laughed, it seemed like a much more real laugh than his usual cold chuckles. "I like to think that it is for entirely selfish purposes." Axel said with a grin. "I want the two of them back, even if they didn't want to come, I would drag them kicking screaming if I have to. Because... they made me feel alive. Like I really mattered. Almost as if... I really had a heart." Axel said, his voice was full of longing.

"Love?" Tabitha suggested with a tilt of her head.

Axel frowned. Love had been one of those things that nobodies had a hard time wrapping their minds around. They recognized the symptoms of it, and could take advantage of it, but then never could grasp the finer details.

"I... suppose." Axel admitted with a nod. "But it would be like the love for a family member. They were like my goofy little brother and sister. It was my job to look after them, keep them happy, and shelter them." He said glancing at Tabitha. "You remind me a lot of one of them. You're just like how Xion was when she first started out."

"Like your little sister." Tabitha said looking down again and taking a bite out of the ice pop. It looked as if she had a small blush coming on, though her voice didn't change.

"Tell me. Why did you want me to spare that boy?" Axel asked the girl curiously.

"If he died... people would be sad." It sounded like the logic of a small child. Though Axel had to admit it was true for the most part.

"I suppose so. I really didn't care too much either way." Axel admitted. "If I spared him, his fear of me would drive him to do something stupid that will just cause me more trouble. But if I killed him, then someone would more than likely try to take revenge and that would cause me more trouble. So for me, it didn't really matter if he lived or died. That's why I prefer to take care of my business behind closed doors. That way you don't have to worry about the fallout."

"No enjoyment?" Tabitha asked him. He understood what she was asking. Did he find enjoyment in hurting others.

"Not really. Killing has always just been a means to an ends. I find no personal satisfaction in the killing itself. But sometimes you can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs. So if needed, I will kill or rescue people, depending on my own needs." Axel said with a shrug. Tabitha nodded, she could understand the need for self preservation before all things, and being ready to kill anyone at a moment's notice in order to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. "You might have even done me a favor my making it look like someone is controlling me."

Axel was quiet for a few seconds. "I still need to be here in order to keep searching for the secrets behind my summoning, but I can't do that through Louise." Axel said glancing down at the girl. Tabitha looked up at him, her glasses reflected the like of the moons now that the sun had finished setting. "Tabitha, I want to extend the same offer I gave Louise to you. For food, shelter and the knowledge I seek, I am willing to act as your servant."

Tabitha looked as if she was mulling it over in her mind. Then she nodded.

Axel grinned. "Then I am counting on you to keep up your end of the contract, Master."

Complete chapter 2