The Magicked
Abyss
Chapter Three
Whispered words floated around in the young girl's mind, almost as if she were dreaming, even if she knew she couldn't. Xiara's mind was almost like a puzzle, but with that one piece missing. Memories wandered and walked into her subconscious making her whisper and giggle in her sleep.
She could see a younger version of herself, but a tinkling smile on her face everyday and bouncy black hair with radiant blue eyes. She would prance and giggle and rejoice in everyday. Nothing could ruin her bliss. She would run her fingertips through the lilacs and flowers that grew in her village and whisper stories to the young children in her neighborhood. But those days were long gone. And her memories were fading, each and everyday.
Xiara could even feel the memories curve and twist into nothingness and the darkness she felt creep into her body each and everytime she closed her eyes. It was like a demon haunting her visions, like she could never escape. But one memory the darkness could never weave and destroy was her brother. His face had haunted her ever since the day she changed. Since she lost her heart to what she feared the most: death. It's icy grasp would never let her go or forgive herself for giving in so easily.
She muttered incantations in her dreams and woke abruptly with sweat on her forehead. She rubbed her forehead lightly and groaned. Her whole body felt stiff, as if she hadn't been up for a long while. She rubbed the dust from her eyes and blinked to adjust to the dark light around her. The shock of where she was almost made her stumble.
Xiara was in a room, a small bedroom. And by the looks of it, it was a guy's room. She gulped and attempted to sit up. She looked down to see that someone had even given her a quilt to keep her warm. It was embroidered with small flames all over it and black curves and insignia all over it. She took it off and looked at it quizzically. Out of common courtesy she folded it up and placed it gently on the bed. Then she began her observation of the room.
Xiara was always a curious girl. She loved to examine things and note all the fine details and she could never help by always nose around into other people's business. She could never help it. She was curious by nature. The first thing she noted was the white and redness of basically everything in the room. The table was white, the bookshelf was white, the walls were white. And every knick-knack and other small object was red. Clothes, magazines and video games were scattered all over the floor, and the bookshelf was filled with very little books. Even the computer and television was red, added with some messy junk lying on top of each. She sighed and half-smiled to herself. Whoever lived in this room was a very big fan of messiness and loved the colour red.
She picked up some of the clothes and observed if there was anything she could wear. The clothes she had on right now were ripped, tattered and dirty due to her endless traveling. Even her cloak was showing signs of bitter abuse, with its numberous wholes and scorch markings did nothing to improve her opinion of it. She took it off and pouted. That cloak was like her trademark. She almost regretted having to discard it, but she gave in and put it on the ground.
After minutes of searching Xiara finally found clothes that would look decent on her. The first was a black worn out t-shirt with faded letters that looked as if they formed sentences and words at one time, but were now so faded you could hardly tell. And the second was a pair of jeans that looked like they would fit perfectly snug on her, but when she tried them on, she found they were quite tight at the bottoms. She sat herself down onto the bed and observed herself in the mirror. She noted to herself that she didn't look half-bad in this outfit. Looking down at her fingers she found that her hands had become brittle and rough. Must be from all that foraging and hunting, she thought. She picked herself up onto her feet and spied the room for anymore items that may become handy. She checked the desk which was littered in papers full of notes and old photographs until she raided the pile and found what she was looking for: a pair of gloves. She put them on and flexed her fingers.
Voices boomed outside the door. The girl quickly scooted down and hid herself under the computer desk, cautious enough to keep most of her in the shadow cover. Xiara pricked her ears so she could hear more. The first voice was that of a young man who kept on laughing childishly and the second was of a bored youth who sounded as if he were greatly irritated. Please don't let them come in this room. Anything but that! She yelled in her mind.
The young man laughed lightly. " Awh, c'mon Rox! It'll be fun sneaking into Axel's room. Just imagine all the fun we could have filling it up with water and putting fish in it!"
The youth grumbled something under is breath. The girl could swear she heard a very agitated sigh. "No way, Demyx. Axel would kill you if you did something like that! And besides, you know he'd only prank us back," the youth snapped.
Xiara could hear one of them rattle the door handle slightly. "Please Roxas? Just this once?" The young man said in a pleading voice.
The youth swore. "Fine! Have it your way, but you're going to take the blame!" he replied as he opened the door.
Xiara squeaked and curled herself more into the shadows. The youth just stared in her direction as if she were a ghost. "W-WHO'S THERE?!" the young man yelled in a frightened tone. Xiara shut her eyes in fear, took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadow slowly. Both of them just stared dumbstruck at her.
"H-Hi. I'm Xiara," she said in a stumbling voice. "Any of you know where I am?"
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Axel could not believe his luck. Good job Axel! See, you can pull off any job! He sat in the meeting room again perched on his chair with the higher ranked member sitting around him, each with hoods draped over their heads and each with their own black cloaks matching the one Axel had on. The yelled and talked and discussed in their tight group and fussed. All because Axel had finally done a good job and found a new member of the Organization. After each had quarreled over their opinion, they would stare in Axel's direction for a split second then turn back to argue more. And all this was done as Axel sat smugly on his chair, arms crossed over his chest and a proud smirk on his face. The debating would go on like this for hours more as the pyro just sat and looked on at them patiently. Even Xemnas seemed to be absorbed in this new prospect and listened intently to what the other higher ups thought of all this. Axel could almost even picture his reward in his mind. Maybe he'd even get to finally skip his missions or even command them. After each of the higher ups had their say they bowed their heads and nodded in unison, then turned their attention to Axel and Xemnas.
One of the hooded men sat up and leaned further into his chair. "Axel, we have all agreed that this girl you found may have some use for us after all. We would like for you to bring her to us as soon as you can," he said in a cool, but frighteningly soft voice. "Superior, what do you think of this?"
Xemnas considered for a moment, his red eyes staring unmoved at the hooded man. At last he nodded his head and replied in his deep voice, "Yes, I think that will be fitting. Axel, please go ahead and fetch our guest."
Axel smiled, unfolded his arms and snapped his fingers. In less than a fraction of a second he was swallowed up by a dark portal.
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The two boys just stared at Xiara, then at themselves, then at her. The older one had a blonde mullet, and blue-green eyes and a very loose looking black cloak. The younger of them had very tousled and messy blonde hair. He looked at her suspiciously through his pale blue eyes. He too had a black cloak on. "You're somewhere you're not supposed to be!" the younger blonde snarled.
Xiara stepped back nervously, inching more and more towards the wall. She put one hand behind her back, trying to draw on her energy to create more light tendrils. Her other hand was clenched in a fist in front of her. "I'm not looking for trouble, honestly I'm not. I just happened to find myself here. Please, just let me explain!"
The older looked down at the young blonde and held him by the arm. "Roxas! She sounds like she's telling the truth!"
The younger blonde just shrugged his arm off and backed off. He looked clearly angry. "But then why is she in Axel's room? For all we know she could be trying to kill us," and with that the young blonde gave her a glare which sent shivers down Xiara's back and almost made her lose control over her power.
The older blonde gave her a concerned look and tried once more to hold the younger blonde back. And that was all the distraction Xiara needed. She utterly one word of power and held her hand in their direction and sent spirals of light at them. The spiraling whip-like strands surrounded them and pushed them roughly back, slamming them into the wall of what looked like a long hallway. Xiara's light twined around them and stuck fast, holding them in place while they looked and shouted angrily at her. She uttered a small apology and bolted out the door and down the hallway.
She ran faster and faster and didn't care where she ran or where she would be. Nothing mattered except getting out of here. She looked at her surroundings as she ran. All the walls were white-washed, and each door was black with white numbers on each. She had no clue what any of it meant, and she didn't want to know. Her legs propelled her further and further but started to ache and throb after a while. She couldn't explain why, but it just felt like she was running in circles, hopelessly bound to this place. Xiara stopped, shaking all over and rested her head against the wall. For the first time in her life, she couldn't comprehend or truly feel the hopelessness that she knew she should feel. She stared at her glove-clad hands and shook her head slowly. Nothing made sense. Not since being in this accursed place. Her journey seemed like nothing compared to being stuck here. The hostile people and creatures she saw on her way were almost like blessings compared to here. It didn't feel right. This place felt fake. It felt plastic and unreal. It seemed like a dream to her, a dream she needed to wake up from. Xiara just kept picturing a grassy field when she closed her eyes, always a grassy field. She never in her life knew she needed anything more than just that. And suddenly she could see herself there when she was young and smiling. She needed the fresh air. She needed to feel the grimy ground and grass beneath her feet. She needed…
Xiara felt a strong arm grab her by the hand and spin her roughly around. She screamed and wriggled around in protest, but the hand was too strong. Or maybe she was just too weak. Xiara felt tears prickle at her eye lids and looked up. She was staring into the face of an older guy. He was at the very least a foot and a half taller than her and had odd tattoos under his eyes. Xiara was almost tempted to poke them and see if those tattoos were real, but she knew she wouldn't, not under these circumstances. She looked up defiantly at him and couldn't help but give a quizzical look at she stared at his flaming red spiked hair. He almost had to bend down a little to stare down at her face properly. He studied her features a little and stared down at the clothes she was wearing. He smirked a little and laughed. "So, I see you're up and you've been nosing around in my pile of clothes," he said.
Xiara frowned and gave him a dirty look. "I appreciate you letting me rest in your room, but I'd appreciate it more if you'd let go of my arm," she said in as icy as tone as she could.
The man considered what she said for a moment and let her go slowly. "Look. Whether you like it or not, you're staying here. Now, c'mon!" he yelled in a frustrated manner as he gestured with his arm and a dark spinning vortex materialized. The girl just stood there, frozen. The man sighed and pushed Xiara gently by the back. He could almost hear the protests she was prepared to scream at him, but he pushed her once roughly and sent her flying into the portal. God Axel, what have you gotten yourself into with this obnoxious princess? He thought silently as he rubbed his brow with his hand and then stepped into the portal himself, closing it on the way in. And with a last little poof, the portal disappeared, and with it, Xiara's last hopes of freedom.
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So,
what'd you all think of the third chapter? Be sure to review and
comment on it, so I can get a sense of how others like it or not and
so it can give me ideas for future chapters. Stay tuned for the next
chapter! All characters and settings are owned by Square
Enix/Disney. The character Xiara, however, is completely owned by me.
