Hi, back with another chapter. (: Not a lot of people are reading. But I sure hope that you who are reading will enjoy it. I really do.

--

Chapter 4

Traitor

The crowds dispersed a while later, again, leaving the exhausted Roxas alone. However, this time, Demyx and Riku could be seen. "Are you okay, Rox?!" Demyx exclaimed worriedly.

The boy panted, falling to the ground in front of Axel, face pale. "I'm fine. It seems my time is drawing closer and closer…"

"Don't push yourself too hard, Roxas…" Riku said coldly, though there was a slight worry in his tone.

"Yeah, Rox! You shouldn't dance anymore!"

The priest laughed at the comment. "Tell that to Ansem and the balance of the world. As long as people die, I will keep dancing. That is my duty. It has been like that… And it won't change anytime soon."

"Stop acting so strong!" Axel roared suddenly.

Demyx looked over, surprised. "Axel…?"

"Don't keep saying that you're going to die when you keep pushing yourself so hard! Even if you die, it's your own fault. And stop drawing sympathies if you don't want people to pity you. Stop telling me everything and then hide everything from me," Axel frowned, enraged.

Roxas looked away.

"That was cruel, Axel…" Demyx said coldly.

"It's better to keep your mouth shut rather than to sputter around unnecessary words, newcomer," Riku glared and lifted Roxas to his back. "I'll take you back to the village, Roxas. Let's go."

Roxas nodded softly, face still pale.

Demyx and Riku left, carrying Roxas, leaving the redhead alone there.

Axel didn't do anything, merely staring, releasing a breathy sigh.

He shouldn't have said that.

--

He managed to get back to the village by avoiding all the wild beasts. He went back to his tent, only to discover that he needed to change his bandage soon. He didn't care. He lied down on his thin floor bed, hearing his spine cracking. And he released yet another breathy sigh that day.

Roxas had given him hospitality and something more… but he repaid the boy with ignorance and selfishness. What an adult he was…

It was yet another sleepless and starless night.

Starless night… because of so many deaths. He wondered if his soldiers were attacking another village again.

Maybe he should return to his country…

--

"Zexion, I need some help."

"Oh, that's new. You need some help now."

Axel rolled his eyes, lying in the tent all by himself. "As a payment, you can claim all my properties in that place."

"In the country of Ghilderia?"

"Yes."

There was a small chuckle echoing through the silent air. "If I claim that, people will suspect that I have murdered you. Though I don't think that's a bad thing. Your people have labeled you a traitor and they are tracking you down. Either they want to execute you or the King still finds some use in you. Anyway, they want you back there. And I was questioned left and right."

"Just tell them that I'm already dead."

"You know what's interesting? They seem to be unable to find this village."

"What are you trying to say?"

"It seems this village is invisible to their eyes… I'm trying to figure out why we're the only two non-villagers who can see this village…"

"That's… odd."

"I have a feeling it's because of the priest. This village is mapped. But no one can find it."

"I would love to know if you've figured out the reason why."

"I will inform you. Now, what do you need help with, General?"

"I want you to find out everything about this village. The priest… being reborn, the ceremony and the dance of Death, everything."

"I'll look into it. By the way, I tried following the doctor that treated your wounds the other day. And… I saw him disappear right in front of my eyes when he entered a field. I suspect there's… a force field involved."

"Really?"

"I'll look more into it. Until then, maybe you can do something too rather than just staying low in this village," Zexion remarked.

"If I could, I would."

--

Two days after, the whole village was preparing for a celebration that would take place a couple of days later to show how grateful they were to have survived the ordeal of the beasts in the shrine. From what Axel had gathered, part of the reason why the celebration was going to be held was to calm the beasts down and the priest would be responsible to play his flute and send the beasts back to the far beyond mountain.

Villagers were harvesting grapes from the grape field that was located just a couple of miles away from So Divina, up the hill. Some of the villagers went out to gather other kinds of fruits and vegetables. Some cooked and brewed stew. Some gathered woods and water and some chopped the woods to small pieces for starting fire. The villagers divided their tasks accordingly, women did the cooking and harvesting, and men did the labor work.

What did Axel do?

He did all the standing around and watching.

Mostly because he didn't know what to do. And the villagers of Sol Divina didn't seem to need his assistance. Demyx and Lexaeus, as far as he knew, were out gathering apples and fish. He had no idea about Riku and he didn't care. If he had the choice, he would rather not ever talk to or even see the silveret.

He didn't see the priest around. He wondered if the boy bore any hatred or disappointment towards him for what he had said two days before. He hadn't seen him yesterday too.

"Hey, what are you doing standing around there? We could use some help!" One of the women shouted, giggling softly.

"Me?" Axel pointed his thumb at his chest, raising his eyebrows at the woman cleaning fruits and vegetables near the storage tent.

"Yeah, you!"

"We could use some help with carrying bags of rice. The men are missing," a woman with braided hair smiled. "They either skip their jobs or go away drinking. Either way, you're the only man left! And we're not going to let you just stand around," she commented smartly.

Axel released a small scoff that showed not his annoyance but his feeling of humor. "Alright then. Where are the bags of rice?"

"My name is Tifa. You are Axel, correct?"

Axel nodded.

"Well, it seems your wounds have almost fully recovered now." The raven haired woman walked close and patted Axel's wound on the arm.

Axel cringed and hissed.

"Hey, careful with that," Axel warned.

Tifa giggled. "Right, tough boy. Now go and carry those bags to that tent right there." She pointed to the tent located to the west of the storage tent, a couple of feet away. "And if you're done, go ahead to the river just to the northwest of that tent. I'm sure the girls there will find you something to do," she grinned sweetly.

Axel narrowed his eyes, shook his head, and released a sigh. "And why would I find something to do for myself?"

"Because then, we will tell you where Roxas is."

Axel blushed the slightest bit. "What, I…"

"Oh, c'mon know. We all know you care for Roxas. Even though we are not allowed to attend the ceremony, we have a way of knowing."

"Speaking of which… I just recently noticed that no women attended the dancing ceremony, why is that? And here I thought women would love that kind of event."

"Oh, we love it. But we're not allowed to watch. Women are considered impure in Sol Divina. Those that are not pure are not allowed to watch. And thus, our rule is to hide ourselves inside the tents while the men watched and be entertained by the dances the priests or priestesses performed."

Axel frowned at the explanation. "Impure? What kind of nonsense is that?..."

"That's just how it goes. We stopped thinking about it. Besides, even if I am given the choice, I would rather not watch the dance…" Tifa stated thoughtfully.

"Why is that?"

"The dance… don't you sense the sorrow and sadness that it contains? Even the melody… it's haunting… And what will happen to the priest afterwards…"

"What will happen to the priest?" And again, Axel felt angry for being in the dark.

"You don't know?" Tifa raised her eyebrows.

"I don't, so tell me."

"It's forbidden to be spoken about. You will find out sooner or later. If you don't know… then you might want to stay away from the priest… before you're further involved with him."

"W…"

"What are you standing around for? Go and do your work!" Tifa laughed, immediately dismissing the topic.

One thing Axel learned. The villagers of Sol Divina were especially talented in switching topics and Roxas did a spectacular job in it.

--

What a surprise… a storage full of rice bags. He knew they wouldn't let him do easy jobs. After a full hour of hard work of moving those rice bags, he walked over to the river, panting, and wiping the sweat off his forehead with his sleeves. It was until then that he noticed he was over clothed.

He paused halfway, taking off his robe and his upper shirt, leaving his top bare. He flexed his shoulder to release the tension in his joints and muscle. Then, he released a sigh of relief as the cool wind hit his sweaty body. He stopped by his tent to drop his robe and shirt off and then walked over to the river. The women were there, washing vegetables and clothes, etc. "Need any help?" he offered. Not that he was eager to work, but he sure would love to know where the boy was.

The girls giggled, watching Axel's bare top. Some blushed.

"Oh, I see that someone's eager to know the whereabouts of the priest," a girl commented, raising her eyebrows. This time, it was a cheerful brunette with curly hair, wearing a green bandana. "Selphie, nice to meet you!" she waved.

"Nice to meet you," Axel smirked.

"You're not going to even tell us your name?"

"You know my name."

Selphie giggled. "Alright then, Axel! Go ahead and catch all the snakes you can find! We need fifty of 'em!"

Axel's eyes went wide. "Fifty snakes?!"

Selphie nodded, as if her request was the most natural one. "Yep yep! Snakes make the best cuisine! Now move your ass or you won't get to know where Roxas is."

Axel took in a deep breath and released it in defeat. "Fine."

Selphie pointed to where the chakrams were lying. "The chakrams are there. Use them as you see fit!"

Axel nodded and went over to take the chakrams, gripping them in his hands and twirled them around. "Alright." He dashed away into the forest nearby. "Time to hunt some snakes."

--

The sun soon sank below the mountains. And so far, Axel had only managed to stash forty two snakes in his bag and he soon grew sick of them hissing at him. He decided that he now hated those lizard skinned reptile that crawled all over the place even more. Those snakes were tougher to catch than he had expected and he was drained out. He didn't understand why they had to cook snakes. Were those things even edible?

He growled, slashing randomly at a tree branch, hoping that snakes would come falling down from their hidings. No luck. The snakes in his bag hissed, protesting, fighting to get out. Axel cringed, he always hated lizards and serpents.

The firmament was now a mess of orange and soft pink color.

"Eight more… c'mon…" he groaned.

Then, a soft giggle rang through the silence of the woods. "Are you alright, Axel?"

He looked around, finding the priest standing on a tree branch. "Roxas?" he raised his eyebrows. "It's… you."

"Well, you sure look surprised. Thought I'm dead?" he chuckled, amused.

"No, of course not. It's just that…"

"Here!" Roxas played some tune on his flute and snakes wrapped in bubbles of water floated towards Axel.

Axel released a silent shriek.

Roxas laughed, definitely entertained. "I caught eight for ya!" he cheered. "Now your job is done!"

"How do you know I needed eight?"

"Oh, of course I know. Go hand those snakes back. The ladies do need to cook and brew them into delicious and tasty soup," Roxas smiled softly. "I'll see you up the hill when you're finished, Ax!"

As the boy dashed away, the water bubbles burst and those snakes went tumbling down the ground with nasty little slippery noises. Axel choked. With a nasty look on his face, he picked the unconscious snakes up and shoved them inside his bag.

Axel noticed that the boy wasn't wearing any robe. Instead he wore a simple shirt with short pants and slippers. He smiled. It was nice seeing the boy dressed as… a normal boy.

--

After handing the bag of snakes to Selphie, Axel rushed over to the promised hill. Selphie was ecstatic over the snakes, saying that they would make very delightful meals. The redhead merely watched and nodded with wide eyes. Well, Roxas did say that the stew would taste good. He made a note to have a bite in the celebration.

The sky was as if flaming, smoking, and burning feverishly. It had been quite a while since he really noticed the color of the afternoon firmament. As he ran up the hill, he saw the golden colored hair belonging to the boy. Roxas craned his neck to the side, looked up at him and smiled. "You're here."

"Yeah, I am," the redhead panting, taking in deep breaths. "Roxas, I'm so…"

"You are forgiven." Roxas said with his back facing Axel, sitting on the top of the hill, neck craning up, watching the slowly setting sun and the even slower drifting clouds.

"But I… Riku was right, that was…"

Roxas giggled. "It's okay. I know how you feel. It's just like everyone else," he stated bitterly, not looking at the redhead.

Axel frowned at that. "Everyone else?"

Roxas giggled again. "Yeah. All the friends that I've come to know. They distanced themselves from me as soon as they saw me performing the Ritual of the Dead, thinking that I might accidentally send them away or something," he explained with much humor.

But Axel could feel the sadness that was hidden underneath those words.

"That's..." Axel shook his head. "...inhuman."

"I don't blame them," Roxas smiled sincerely. "I'd act the same way too if I were in their shoes," he said, ever so cheerfully.

The redhead felt like he wanted to bang his head over and over again against the nearest vertical wall for making such a kind and gentle person... sad...

"You won't!" Axel yelled suddenly.

Roxas was taken aback, finally shifting some to face the redhead. "Huh?" he questioned, puzzled.

"I know you won't! Even when you're in their shoes. I know you." Axel continued, "And I know that I won't desert you simply because of that. You can take my words on it."

There was a long and comfortable silence between them as they stared into one another's eyes.

Roxas broke the silence.

"Hey, Axel. Have you ever noticed something about the sunset?"

"Huh?"

"The sunset… it's prettier… than the color of your hair," Roxas chuckled. "Come here and see!" he cheered happily.

Axel tilted his head to the side, but he nodded then and sat down beside the boy, watching the sun slowly sinking beyond the horizon.

"Do you agree with me?" Roxas smiled.

"Of course not. The color of my hair is the best color there is."

Roxas laughed softly. "How come I know you'd say that?"

"Because you know everything," Axel shook his head and smiled, watching Roxas' eyes.

Those pair of cerulean eyes stared back at him, confidence and strength were present in that stare.

"I'm really sorry for what I've said."

"I already said you're forgiven. Don't think too much about it. You have your right to be annoyed."

"I'm not annoyed," Axel shook his head. "I guess I'm just angry that I don't know anything… while everybody knows."

"Axel, have you ever heard that… ignorance is bliss?" Roxas tilted his head to the side, still facing the redhead. "It's better to be kept in the dark. It's so much better to not know anything and live your life the way it is."

"But I want to know! I want to know more about you."

Roxas' eyes went wide, his cheek slightly red. "Why?"

"I don't know… You're just… so interesting. And you're so different from anyone I've met. You're the only person that I can talk to and smile…really smile… I've already forgotten the feelings of having emotions and you reminded me."

"Axel…"

They stared into each other's eyes.

"Promise you won't be angry once you know?"

"I promise," Axel nodded.

"Will you promise to take care of me if something happened to me?"

"I pro…"

Axel was cut off by a far away scream. And then, black smoke began rushing to the sky.

"What the…" Axel stood up, alerted.

"Sol Divina!" Roxas pointed to the blazing village.

--

The village was burning madly by the time they rushed inside. There were screams and shrieks, pleads for help. Children were murdered, women were raped and killed, and men were fighting to protect their family.

Axel immediately rushed over to provide aid, swinging his chakrams wildly, killing one by one soldiers. They were… the soldiers from Ghilderia. Roxas played a tune on his flute, but no water came. "I can't summon water… the fire's…"

"It's alright, Roxas! Stay behind me!"

Roxas nodded.

"YAH!"

"Demyx!" Axel and Roxas ran over to the fighting archer.

Demyx released another arrow at the soldier that was about to attack him, hitting the enemy straight at the heart. Axel quickly dashed over to take down another soldier that was about to strike the archer from behind. "Are you okay?!" he asked worriedly.

"You! You traitor!" Demyx narrowed his eyes, panting, holding the side of his waist.

"You're bleeding!" Roxas gasped, seeing the blood streaming out of Demyx's wound.

"It's nothing, Roxas. It's just a minor wound…" Demyx gasped, hissing in pain.

"Where are the others? The villagers, Lexaeus, Riku, Ansem?"

"Ansem's…" Demyx looked away darkly. "He's killed… he tried to come to terms with the soldiers… but he was humiliated and killed."

"No…" Roxas bit his upper lip. "This is my fault…"

"It's hardly your fault, Roxas! It's his fault!" Demyx pointed his finger at the redhead.

"No, the barrier… I should have…"

Axel shook his head. "I didn't do anything…" he backed away.

"Oh yeah?! General Axel from Ghilderia?!" Demyx shouted, then leaned back, fisting his bow.

Roxas looked over to Axel. "Axel… you…"

"I didn't! I swear! I never sold any of you out!"

"Oh, so now you admit it! You're from the enemy country!"

"Demyx, are you alright?!" Lexaeus came running over, carrying his blood soaked giant axe.

"I can't use water. I'm sorry…" Roxas looked away, trying to heal Demyx's wound by applying liquid potion over it.

Demyx released a silent cry.

"Hang in there, Dem…"

Lexaeus then looked over to find the redhead. "You… traitor!" he swung his axe at the redhead's direction.

Axel immediately dodged to the side, barely avoiding the attack. Demyx took his bow and shoot an arrow at Axel.

The redhead tried to dodge the arrow, but he was too late. The arrow grazed over his shoulder, creating a deep wound.

"ENOUGH!" Roxas cried.

"Roxas…"

Demyx and Lexaeus stopped.

"I believe in him. If Axel said he didn't do anything, then he didn't! Stop quarreling and save the village!" the priest commanded.

"Yes, priest."

Demyx stood up and ran away with Lexaeus, heading over to take down soldiers.

Axel walked over to the boy. "Roxas…"

Roxas took in a deep breath, not saying anything. "Let's go." And he ran away, deeper into the village, followed by the confused and shocked Axel.

--

Thanks. Love you all. Updates will keep coming until I've exhausted everything that I have in the rest of my 6k words document. So it will be one more update. (: I will work on this one.