Chapter Three~Listen to Your Heart

_____Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile
______The precious moments are all lost in the tide
_______They're swept away and nothing is what it seems
________The feeling of belonging to your dreams

~Listen to Your Heart, Roxette

The next morning when Xestra woke up, everyone was already awake, and Yuffie and Leon were getting ready to leave.

She sat up and looked at them in confusion. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"We've got to go out and get some Heartless," Yuffie explained, readying her ninja-looking weapons. "Cid said there was a big one around here, and we've got to go take care of it."

"Can I come?"

"Are you sure you're feeling up to it? We wouldn't want you to push yourself harder than you can," Aeris said kindly.

"No, I'm feeling fine, I want to help," Xestra persisted.

Leon looked at her doubtfully.

"I'm fine. Really."

"Well, okay then. We could always use extra help!" Yuffie exclaimed. "We'll all split up to cover more ground. If one of us finds it, keep it busy until the other two arrive."

Xestra nodded her head as she followed them out the door.

"Be careful!" she heard Aeris call out.

"Ready? Set? Go!" Yuffie exclaimed running off in one direction.

"It's not a race," Leon mumbled, walking off in another direction.

Xestra decided on another direction, hoping she'd find it and defeat it so she could pay them back for their kindness.

She took about ten steps and a trio of shadow Heartless appeared.

She didn't waste a moment. She ran forward and slashed them, then continued walking. She noticed she was getting better for the little time she had with her Keyblade. With the small Heartless, anyway.

Several more groups of Heartless approached her, but they met the same fate as the ones before them.

She was confident in her skills, the only thing on her mind was her goal.

Axel walked out of a portal, and entered Traverse Town, determined to get what he was looking for no matter the cost.

He walked by a few people, who stared at him as he walked by.

For this mission, he didn't care that people saw him.

He walked by one girl who he had seen before.

"Oh Heartless…Heartless…" he heard her almost sing. "Hm…I wonder if Squall or Xestra found them yet…"

Axel froze and watched her walk away.

She said Xestra…she must be here!

He thought over whether he should ask her where she was, but decided against it, knowing she'd be suspicious of him.

He ventured on, knowing what he sought was moments away from being found.

Xestra walked around for a bit, wondering if Leon or Yuffie had already found it. She came to a dead end of a deserted alley before she decided to go looking for them.

She heard a noise behind her and turned to come face-to-face with the biggest Heartless she had ever seen, or could ever imagine.

It laughed an evil laugh as it disappeared and threw its sword. The sword turned and started toward Xestra. She held up her hand and her Keyblade appeared to help her.

The sword bounced off, and continued behind her. Then it turned and started toward her again. She jumped to the side, barely missing it.

It came back for her, and this time Xestra tried to hit the sword back.

The sword didn't seem fazed, but started to fight with her Keyblade, almost as though they were in a sword fight.

She ducked down and rolled out of the way as she saw the Heartless come back, releasing a powerful amount of energy. It was similar to the Heartless she encountered the day before, but this one was obviously more formidable.

The Heartless started forward, and swung its sword at her, but she dodged it, and turned her body, hitting it on its back with her Keyblade.

It seemed to have only a momentary effect. The Heartless cringed, and then turned to take a swing at her.

It barely missed her as she ducked her head and hit it in the stomach with her Keyblade.

This had more of an effect as it fell back a little to recover, and then started forward again. It laughed another evil laugh, and disappeared. This cycle, Xestra realized, would continue until she was defeated.

She knew she was running out of steam fast, and tried desperately to come up with some plan before she was bested.

The sword charged for her, and Xestra, not knowing what else to do, dodged it over and over again until the Heartless appeared again to release another burst of energy, and started toward her.

She continued to hit it with all her strength, but knew it wasn't doing as much damage as she hoped it would.

After a few more minutes of this cycle, her Keyblade fell to the side and she dropped to her knees, completely out of energy.

She looked up at the Heartless as it smiled down on her and laughed.

It raised up its sword, and Xestra knew this time she was done.

She closed her eyes and waited for the end. But it didn't come. Instead she heard the clanging of metal together, and the Heartless cry out in pain.

She opened her eyes and saw a man wearing a black coat staring at the Heartless who was being consumed by flames.

Her eyes got wide as she watched it slowly disappear.

But that wasn't enough for the man in the black coat.

He jumped forward, and used the circular red and silver weapons in his hands to further punish the Heartless. He continued shooting fire at it, and striking it until there was nothing left.

The man turned to Xestra, but she didn't feel frightened. The black coat was the same, but she could tell the person was different than the one in her dream. But that and the flames were signs of hope for Xestra. Maybe he knew who she was.

She looked around for her Keyblade, and found it lying next to her.

Grabbing it, she put it on her lap so it wouldn't get dirty. It, along with this man, had saved her life, so she wanted to take care of it.

She felt exhausted as the man stared at her, but she tried to look like she could still fight, just in case the man decided to roast her as well.

"Xestra?" he asked in an oddly familiar voice.

"Yes?"

"Is it…really you?"

"Um, yes it is…or it is I …?" Xestra said, unsure of how to phrase it.

Suddenly he rushed forward and hugged her, catching her completely off guard.

"You don't know how long I've been looking for you," he said.

His tone was only slightly full of emotion, but Xestra couldn't have added any emotions to her own words any better.

"Why were you looking for me? Who are you?" Xestra asked.

She looked up at him as he let her go and saw his green eyes inside the black hood.

"You!" she exclaimed, pointing at him. "You were in my dreams! With the flames and the other man with the black coat who told me my name!"

"That was Xemnas," he said but shook his head. "Never mind. Come with me."

"Go with you where?" Xestra asked.

"We're going back to the castle. I'm not losing you again, so I insist you come with me by choice, rather than force."

Even though he said these harsh words, his tone showed he would find it entertaining if she tried to go against what he said.

"I don't know who you are…please, remove your hood," Xestra said, unconsciously being polite.

He promptly took off his hood, revealing his red hair which stood on its ends, and he had a smile on his face. "Anything else?" he asked, slightly amused.

Xestra thought a moment. "Can you…magically make me less tired?" she asked jokingly.

"Sure," he said. He pointed at her, and a swirl of green lights circled her.

Suddenly she felt as she did when she first woke up: refreshed and ready to go.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

He held out his hand to help her up, and smiled at her. "Magic. Got it memorized?"

She nodded. "I'll do my best," she said as her Keyblade disappeared. "What's your name? Even though I'm guessing I should know it?"

"Well, I don't know if you'd know my Nobody name, but…"

"Your nobody name? Are you saying you're a nobody? I think you're being too hard on yourself…"

He shook his head. "Not nobody. Nobody. With a capital 'N'. I haven't got a heart, you see."

"You…don't have a heart? So…does that make you a Heartless?"

"Well, it means I am heartless, but I'm a Nobody. It's a long and complicated process, which I'm sure we can talk about once we RTC," he said. Xestra opened her mouth to ask another question, but he cut her off. "Which stands for 'Return to Castle'. Oh and I'm Axel. Got it memorized?"

Xestra smiled. "Alright, Axel, I'll hold off on the questions for now."

He nodded approvingly as Xestra continued. "Even though I'd really love to know who you are, especially who you are to me…"

Axel sighed as he bent over a a little to be at eye level with her, and looked at Xestra in the eyes. "I'm someone very important to you, and you're someone very important to me. I'll give you as much time as you need, but you will remember me. It'll come to you eventually. That's all you need to know for now. I wouldn't want you to hurt your head trying to think."

Xestra looked at the ground, away from his eyes. They seemed to be full of memories that she should know, but didn't. This made her feel guilty, but she decided the top priority was finding out who he really was to her, instead of defeating Heartless. That came in a close second.

"I'll do my best," she promised, mustering up all her courage to look at him again.

Axel smiled.

"You sure are smiling a lot for someone who doesn't have a heart…" Xestra pointed out.

"I guess certain people can make me feel like I have one," he said, smiling a bigger, almost silly looking, smile at her.

Xestra laughed a little, noticing it felt less forced than it would have been the day before. There was something about him that made her feel…actually happy, or at least, she knew she should feel happy.

"Oh no! I have to find Leon and Yuffie!" Xestra suddenly remembered her friends, who were still searching for the Heartless Axel had defeated.

"Get away from her!" she suddenly heard Yuffie's voice yell out.

Axel and Xestra turned to see Yuffie and Leon charging toward them.

Xestra put out her hands and waved them frantically. "No, it's fine! He's a friend!"

She heard Axel snort. She turned momentarily to look at him as he leaned on the wall, arms crossed. "We're not friends?" she asked.

"I didn't say that…I mean, we were friends…best friends…"

Xestra knew her heart should've been racing, but she didn't feel anything. She shook her head, and turned back to face Yuffie and Leon, who had almost reached her.

"What do you mean you're friends!?" Yuffie exclaimed.

"He knows me!"

"And she knows me," Axel said, but Xestra didn't know if they heard him.

They reached her and Axel, and Yuffie walked over to confront Axel, glaring up at him. "How can we trust you know her?"

"Because I've known her for a lot longer than you two have," he said, looking down at her calmly. "A lot longer. I can tell you anything about her."

Yuffie looked over at Leon, and pointed to Axel with her thumb. "I don't trust this guy."

"Neither do I," Leon said, lifting his sword, ready to attack him. "The black coat doesn't help your argument."

"Oh, this old thing?" Axel asked, slightly lifting up his coat. "This was a gift."

"A gift?" Yuffie repeated.

Axel nodded his head. "From my boss. He wanted me to fit in more with the rest of the co-workers," he said, then took Xestra's hand in his own. "Now if you'll excuse us, we've got places to go, people to see. You know how it is."

Xestra gave them a pleading look. "He knows who I am. I need him to tell me everything he knows."

"But…" Yuffie said, looking from Xestra to Axel, and then back to Xestra.

"Trust me," Xestra said.

Yuffie bit her lip, but nodded. "Come back and visit when you can. I'll tell Aeris what happened."

"Thank her for me, please," Xestra said. "And thank you both so much. Especially you, Leon, for saving me from that Heartless yesterday."

Axel's interest was piqued at this as he stood straight and looked at Leon suspiciously.

Leon reluctantly lowered his sword, and looked away. "No problem."

Yuffie gave Xestra a hug before Axel opened a portal and both him and Xestra walked through it.

"A portal?!" Leon exclaimed as it closed. "He's connected to the Darkness! We shouldn't have let her go!"

He slammed his sword on the ground in frustration as Yuffie looked sadly at the place the portal had been. "She'll be okay…she has the Keyblade, Squall."

~*~

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___I know there's something in the wake of your smile
____I get a notion from the look in your eyes

...

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