After that first night, I don't think that Axel stayed in my house after I went to bed. I guess he probably had other things he had to do, elsewhere in the universe. I never did ask, though. It really wasn't my business, and I really didn't care, as long as it had nothing to do with what we were working on.
The next week and a half went quite as the first day had. During our session, I posed still more questions to him, always interrupting whatever monologue he had entered. There were some things I struggled to understand, and both of us grew frustrated with the other, but those moments passed quickly. I still maintained my annoying, questioning academic persona, but Axel took it a lot better, and seemed to be amused by it now that he understood me a little better.
And in turn, when the end of the day came, I dropped that persona, as I had the first day, and acted as normal as I could manage, which also seemed to amuse Axel.
One the third night, something happened. I know, I know, what a general term, right? Oh well, it's the only one I have to offer. I'm a scientist, not a English major.
I had gone into my room, and fallen asleep. It was well past midnight when I heard noise outside my door. I bit back a scream as I all but jumped out of my bed. Startled would be putting lightly what I felt then. All of a sudden, my door burst open, followed by footsteps and a shadowy figure. Boy, did I have a deja vu moment.
I got up from my bed, only to have my neck grabbed an instant later, as it had been before. Only it was squeezed harder, so that I had to breath in gasps, limiting my ability to speak. So I kicked my leg out at him. The grip on my neck loosened, and I twisted away. "Why do I keep getting assaulted in my own home??!" I demanded.
"Perhaps because you have something that doesn't belong to you," the deep voice answered, his arm making a grab at me again.
I dodged, rather ungracefully, and fell onto the edge of my bed. "That again?" I asked. "You'll have you nobody back when I'm done with it."
Something sharp pressed itself at my throat. "I'm afraid that is not the answer we're looking for," the man said.
"Well, I'm sorry, but that's the only answer I have for you," I said, not at all sorry as I said I was.
Behind him, a portal of darkness opened in my room. Through it stepped a familiar figure. "Saïx, what are you doing?" Axel asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Ahh, Axel, there you are. The Organization was beginning to worry about you," the man Axel identified as Saïx said in a silky tone.
"I'm touched," Axel said. "If you're here about the nobody, it's taken care of."
Saïx straightened. "Really? The Organization doesn't seem to think so. If it's not in our hands, it's not taken care of."
"You're Organization is not much for patience is it?" I asked. "I told you, you can have it back when I'm done with it."
The sharpness pressed harder against my throat, and I felt it cut through my skin, deep, but not lethally. I bit back a cry of pain. Saïx was about to say something, but Axel's hand whipped out and gripped Saïx's wrist.
"What do a few days matter to the Organization if we get the nobody back in the end?" Axel asked.
Saïx's eyes narrowed. He jerked his hand away from my throat, and out of Axel's grip. "Very well," he said. "You have three days," he said. Another portal of darkness appeared, and he disappeared into it.