Base

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Axel had been gone for a very long time. The sky outside was beginning to turn grey and the stars were disappearing. She lay curled close to the fire, half asleep. There was no way of knowing exactly how long it had been since Axel had left, but she had had enough time to discover several things: She was ravenously hungry, solitude wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and she was very, very high off the ground.

When Axel had thrown her pencil up to her, or rather, at her, the first thing she had done was retreat into the cave and bury herself in her passion: art. Her embarrassment was quickly forgotten as images sprang into being beneath her fingers, places she knew only through vague echoes and thoughts from her other. She filled up several pages before the insane rush of images in her head ceased and she could turn to quiet, speculative pictures.

After a moment of thought, staring at the blank page in front of her, feeling the smooth surface of the page, a sudden wave of loneliness and longing for Roxas rose up inside her. They had grown somewhat closer in Twilight Town, and it was hard to make herself believe she would never see him again. He was lost within Sora. Gone. She would never see his smile, his eyes, his face again.

Without even thinking about it, her fingers began to transfer Roxas onto the page. She etched out a full body sketch in the corner of the page, keeping the image small since it was really only a doodle, and began to add the details she remembered about him. Halfway through a nagging sort of worry took hold of the back of her mind and she paused, wondering what had caused it. It wasn't fear, per say, it was more like a vague unease and disquiet as though she had forgotten something. She frowned and probed back into her mind, searching for the cause, and the memory jolted her like lightening.

A flash of green eyes. Danger. Fury.

A harsh grip on her arm. Pain. Fear.

"You will never draw him again."

Axel. Of course.

If he caught her drawing Roxas now…

To hell with it. She raged, full of sudden anger. To hell with it. It was none of his business, she wasn't hurting anyone. Axel had no right to tell her what to draw or not to draw. Him, with his mocking smiles, patronizing her and taunting her… Well, there was no need for him to find out about this, and she wasn't going to let herself be controlled so easily this time. He could kiss off.

With steely determination new to her, and an enthusiasm she had not felt for ages, she returned to her drawing. Time seemed to fly by as easily as her hand flew across the page. The fire Axel had left gave her enough light to work and kept her warm, and she had long since learned how to ignore muscles cramped from bending over a sketch book. In what felt like no time at all she had completely covered the page with Roxases in varying poses with many expressions. On a lighthearted whim she had even sketched out two Roxases interacting with one another playfully. Each pose was different but they all carried a subtle hint of Roxas's personality, the way he used to tilt his head and look at her out of the corner of his eye, the way he would throw his hair back or recline in a chair. Minor nuances that seemed to have permanently engraved themselves in her memory. Looking at each one in turn, she felt the terrible weight of loss and guilt inside her ease slightly.

Looking up and around her she was surprised to find how stiff and achy she had gotten. Both her legs had fallen asleep and her lower back was throbbing painfully. Sighing, she flipped her book closed and set it down before lurching to her feet. The blood surged through her veins and momentary dizziness made her lean against the wall. Her legs prickled and burned painfully as the nerve cells woke up once more, and she began taking mincing steps around the cave to ease muscles cramped from staying still too long.

When the prickling ceased she became suddenly and acutely aware that she had not eaten for at least a whole day, maybe longer. Her stomach came alive violently, snarling and grumbling at her. She blushed, thinking about how she would have felt if Axel had heard that. She remembered well her days in Castle Oblivion, and sometimes she had gone without food for long periods there; usually whenever it had been Larxene's turn to handle cooking. But during her time with Riku and DiZ she had grown accustomed to eating regularly, even if they were small meals. Well, Axel had said he was going into town. Maybe food was on his list of things to get there. But how long was he going to be?

She walked out slowly, remembering the wide openness of the pass outside and certain she would feel vulnerably exposed if she went out too far. Curiosity began to poke at her. She hadn't really gotten a good view of where they were yet, and she was anxious to learn what world this was. Maybe it was one of the places she had seen in Sora's memories, but she doubted it. She was certain that any memories of a place this cold would be vivid and hard to forget.

She found that she was staring out across a mountain chain covered in snow. The moon wasn't full yet, but the snow reflected it and made visibility good. The mountains stretched further than she could see, and she found herself looking for the patch of green she had seen in the distance. This, inevitably, drew her eyes downward.

Big mistake.

All of her breath seemed to leave her body, and her legs felt curiously like liquid all of a sudden. The edges of her vision blurred and the world suddenly looked, to her, as though it was being viewed from the wrong end of a telescope. Her brain seemed paralyzed, unable to comprehend how she had gotten so very high. The lack of any distinguishing features between her and the ground made it seem higher than it actually was, but there was still a good distance between her and the ground.

Recovering enough breath to move, she stumbled backward and shut her eyes. One of her hands groped behind her for the comforting security and solidness of the wall and, finding it, she collapsed against it breathing as though she had just run a mile.

Why, oh why, had Axel picked a spot this high off the ground? Using a technique Riku had taught her, she placed her head between her knees and began taking slow, deep breaths. When she felt calm again, she realized that the cold air had chilled her enough to make her shiver. Refusing to allow herself to look at the edge, she walked calmly back into the cave and curled up next to the fire Axel had left. She stared into the flames, feeling warmth creep back into her, and allowed her eyes to unfocus.

Now that she was calmer, she was back to wondering just how long Axel was going to take. She was hungry and more than a little bored, not feeling much like drawing after her panic attack. However unpleasant he could be, Axel was company. In Castle Oblivion she had never been left alone, and Twilight Town had been a pleasant mix of activity and peacefulness. This spot in the mountains was cold and lonely. No color, no birds, no life. Snow and rock. Hostile, desolate, empty. Axel's company was definitely preferable to facing this place alone. And, there was no question about it, without him she would die here.

That thought sent a chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the temperature. She could imagine it; the fire dying down, the weather turning colder and colder, huddling into herself but knowing it would be hopeless.

She stopped herself before those thoughts got too far. Axel was coming back. He had to.

She sunk slowly into a half doze; staring at the fire as though hypnotized. Her hunger, now that she recognized it, kept her awake but the lack of anything to do along with the early hour made her sleepy. Unable to sleep, or wake up, she simply watched the fire. Watched little tongues of flame shiver up into the air and disappear, watch the white hot flames in the center of the little fire wave instead of shimmer – their movement was almost lazy compared to the orange outer flame. How convenient for Axel to have this power! How convenient to will flames into existence, with no fuel but the oxygen in the air. What must it be like to have utter control over something like fire? What did it feel like to have them obey you so flawlessly, it was like an extra arm?

"Oi. You awake, Witch?" Axel's voice jarred her roughly out of her half-awake phase, and she sat up suddenly. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Axel was standing just behind her, his arms full with shapeless bundles and a lazy grin on his face. Relief washed over her. It had been too easy to believe he would simply leave her up here to die, and she had actually believed it for a while. She was surprised to find that she was actually happy to see him, and this shocked her so much that she didn't stop the wide smile that split across her face when she saw him. This seemed to surprise him momentarily, but he recovered quickly and tossed his armload casually into a corner. She heard a metallic clatter as whatever he had gotten was jostled around.

"Miss me?" He said, walking around the fire and sitting down next to his bundles. She didn't answer, but she did sit up all the way and turn towards him. He seemed to understand anyway. "I'm flattered," he said with a devilish grin before rummaging through the supplies he had brought. "Here; catch." He pulled a long blue roll of what looked like fabric out and tossed it lightly to her. She only just managed to catch it before it hit her chest.

"That's your sleeping bag. Take care of it, because I'm not getting you another one." She nodded, feeling the pleasantly squishy material the bag was made of. It would definitely be better than the ground. "Heads up." She looked up just as he threw another bundle at her; this one collided with her face before she could catch it. "New clothes. Again, I'm not getting you more. If they don't fit, tough." She set the bundle of clothes next to her sleeping bag without looking at it. She was afraid to take her eyes off Axel in case he threw something harder at her. Sure enough, without even looking away from the sack he was rummaging through, he tossed a small package over his shoulder at her. This one, she caught. "Breakfast." He said, simply.

She looked down at it. It was a small, square box wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string. When she pulled the paper off she found that it was a box with little compartments of food and a fork. There wasn't much: rice, some long, green and thin vegetables, and what looked like broiled fish, but to her it was a godsend. She ate quickly but neatly, still watching Axel warily. But he seemed busy organizing the rest of the bag's contents. She finished and set the box in front of her, happier now that her stomach was silenced, and watched Axel work.

He was quick and efficient, she soon realized. He must have gathered his supplies together in a hurry, because within five minutes he had reduced the total size of their supplies enough to fit into one sack – with the exception of his sleeping bag, which was slightly larger than hers but the same in any other way. Once satisfied with his work, Axel raised his arms over his head, stretched, and leaned back against the wall.

"Finished?" He asked, gesturing at the box near her feet. She nodded. "Give it to me." His voice was level, pleasant, but it was an order nonetheless. She obeyed, handing him the empty box and the fork. The fork he stowed in the pack and the box disappeared in their little fire.

"All right, Witch. Down to business." He said, his voice cheerfully business-like, "We're moving. Just as soon as you get yourself ready we'll be on our way. So," he clicked his fingers at her, "get moving, huh?" He stood up and slung his sleeping bag over his shoulder along with their supplies. She stood, grabbing her sketchbook – making sure not to forget her pencil, and stowed it in the sack with her new clothes. She mimicked Axel to the best of her ability, picking up her sleeping bag and her sack. She couldn't quite manage the casual way his load hung over his shoulders and hers felt unwieldy and big. Still, it wasn't heavy and she could manage well enough.

Axel seemed to be debating something, looking around him at the walls of their sheltered little cave. She watched him silently, wondering what he was doing. He turned to her, suddenly decisive.

"Right. Do me a favor and don't freak out. I'm going to seal off the cave entrance. We'll portal from in here."

Startled, she could do no more than nod. What on earth did he mean?

"I'll try not to hit you," he said cheerily, dropping his bags and abruptly summoning his chakram. The fire in the center of the room disappeared. Taking a half step back, he hurled them at the cave walls near the exit. They spun forward, unbelievably hot in the enclosed space, whirling dangerously, and began ricocheting around just inside the tunnel entrance. Rocks and snow fell so quickly that the sound they made was almost a roar, and then the cave was plunged into utter darkness.

The silence was just as abrupt. All she could hear was her own breathing and for a moment, claustrophobia threatened to envelope her. Then she heard Axel swing his load up once more, and the whirling hiss of a portal drew her attention. If the darkness in the cave was absolute, the black emptiness of the portal was worse. Axel was visible to her against the portal as a figure of lighter darkness, and she walked over to him, feeling her way as much as seeing it.

"Why did you do that?" She asked, as he gripped her wrist and began guiding her to the portal.

"Because we might need to use this place again, and it's easier to unblock this cave than it is to melt another." Without another word, they were enveloped in the cold, grasping darkness once more.

--

One trip through Betwixt and Between later, and they both emerged from another portal into bright sunshine, warmth, birdsong and sand. The cave had been dark, and Betwixt and Between not much better, so it took a while for her eyes to adjust to this new world. She closed them and looked down, away from the sun. As she did, a sound reached her ears that was hauntingly and wonderfully familiar. A rushing, roaring sound that receded and returned with slow, calm regularity: waves.

An abrupt sense of familiarity and nostalgia washed over her. Every smell, feeling and sound seemed to awaken something inside her. She felt like…like she knew this place.

She opened her eyes and was greeted with the sight of a bright, sandy tropical beach. Palm trees stood in groups and forest grew thickly some distance away from the shore. Coconuts and seashells littered the beach, and as she looked a small crab scuttled sideways into a hole in the sand. It was all so familiar to her, like a missing piece she hadn't missed until now. She knew why now, this place reminded her of Destiny Islands; the place Sora remembered so lovingly, and the place where she knew Kairi had made her most precious memories. This place was not Destiny Islands, but it was so similar that it made her entire being ache with longing.

Axel watched her patiently. He had brought her here deliberately, knowing that coming to terms with her other was something the Witch had to do. She would be happier here, too he felt, and a happy girl would be more manageable than a sulky one. There was a small city about five miles away from the 

spot he had chosen, and the storm season for this world had just ended. It was a good spot, for both of them. When the Witch turned to look at him, he jerked a thumb at the trees.

"There's a spot in there that should do fine for us. It'll take a few minutes to get there, so let's get a move on." He shifted his sack so it was a bit more comfortable, resolved to lay hands on a backpack as soon as possible, and set out at a strolling gait for the trees.

She watched him go for several paces, reluctant to leave the beach, but ran after him before he reached the first tree. The walk through the woods was pleasant, even if Axel's pace was a bit fast for her, and she enjoyed the variety of plants she saw the deeper they went into the forest. There was a river somewhere nearby that added pleasant water noises to the forest sounds. The birds here were brightly colored and very vocal, flitting through the trees overhead like so many giant butterflies. She felt an odd urge to laugh when she saw two particularly loud parrots, sitting on a branch next to each other, bobbing and cawing in a way that looked so much like they were talking to one another.

The undergrowth wasn't thick, so she caught a glimpse of their destination from a good distance away. It was a small one story cabin, a water wheel in the, now visible, river turning slowly. A chimney rose out of the far side of the roof and a wide porch wrapped around the front. She wondered how Axel knew about this convenient little cabin, but didn't dare ask just yet. He was on the alert, carefully observing every detail as they approached their destination.

At the edge of the forest, about 20 feet from the front door, he paused to look around once more. Nothing seemed to disturb him, because a moment later he walked, quite cheerfully, up to the front door, set down his load, pulled up a floorboard from the porch and reached down underneath it. She frowned, wondering what he was doing, before his hand reappeared with a small, brass key between his fingers.

He unlocked the door and walked in, gesturing to her over his shoulder. She ran to catch up, liking the sounds her feet made when they struck the porch. He had left the door open, and she followed him inside.

The blinds on all the windows were shut, so the light coming through the door was the only thing to see by. The floor was wooden and dusty. She could see Axel's footprints from where he had crossed the room. His dark outline yanked open curtains the size of a wall across from the door, and she saw a set of plain French doors leading outside to a grassy clearing next to the river. Now that the room was brighter, she could make out more details.

The room was pretty plain, just a couch and coffee table against the wall to her left, underneath a set of small windows, to her right was a kitchenette with a sink and small stove, and a door was next to that. There was an empty shelf next to the French doors directly across from her, and a set of cupboard above the kitchenette, but that was it in terms of furniture. A clear inch of dust lay over everything, but now that it was open it did look more friendly and livable.

"Well," Axel said, pulling back the curtains over the couch and opening the small windows, "What'cha think, Witch?" He grinned at her, obviously in a good mood. She smiled tentatively back and risked a response.

"Definitely an improvement." Set set her things down and began to walk around, familiarizing herself with it. Glancing at Axel for permission, she unlocked the French doors and slid one open. It stuck about halfway, but she didn't mind. The air from the doors and the window was fresh, with an ocean tang, and the floor that had been cleared by her feet was made of a rosy wood that seemed to glow in the sunlight.

All in all, not a place she would have expected a member of the Organization to know about, or even care about.

Axel was rummaging through one of his sacks and emerged with a handful of old rags. He walked to the sink and turned the handle for cold water. The faucet hissed, shook, and spurted out water that ran slightly murky for a minute before becoming clear and clean. He pulled a bucket from under the sink and let it fill up, before turning to her with a smirk.

"Shall we get to work?"

--

When Axel said work, he meant it.

The rest of their day was spent cleaning away the dust and dirt of who-knew-how-many years. That meant a complete scrubbing from top to bottom. Cobwebs off the ceiling, dirt from the walls and windows, dust from the floor and furniture, grime from the sink and stove. She didn't think that she had ever worked so hard in her life.

At least Axel had helped out. He had warmed the bucket of water himself, saying he didn't want to push the hot water heater until he'd had a look at it first. She herself had found the trapdoor leading to the basement while she was scrubbing the floor, and was surprised at the feeling of pride and accomplishment this brought on. As the day wore on she had tired quickly, but Axel, surprisingly, had been all cheer and jokes. He had kept her going on good humor rather than threats. He had even made a joke out of cleaning the cobwebs off the ceiling, having her sit on his shoulders to reach the highest spots. Instead of feeling uncomfortable, she had laughed shyly right along with him as she struggled to balance and clean at the same time.

When the sun was beginning to set, the whole room was completely changed. All the wood surfaces glowed in the reddish orange light coming in from the west-facing French doors. The tap, sink and stove shone bright silver with new polish and elbow grease. There wasn't a cobweb or dust mote in sight. As she looked around the room, she felt the same sense of accomplishment that had come when she found the trap door, only stronger. Being filthy, sore and exhausted was new to her. Hard work in general had previously been unknown, but so had the rewards. All in all, she felt it was worth it.

Axel had found some pans and pots in the cupboards, which they had cleaned out – Axel making cracks about not even having the fun of making the mess – and which he was now using to cook some pasta he had pulled from their pack. She was sitting on the sofa, lumpy but comfortable, and wondering if the door next to the kitchenette led to a closet or another room to clean. She hoped that if they had more cleaning to do they could at least put it off until tomorrow. She was ready to collapse as she was.

Axel came over with two plates of plain spaghetti, set them on the coffee table and, literally, fell onto the couch next to her. The window above and behind them was open, screens keeping out the night insects, but the doors had been closed. They ate in silence, the pasta was bland but not bad, and it certainly was filling. They finished eating just as the light outside was really going, leaving their plates on the table.

Axel was sprawled out next to her, leaning against the arm of the sofa and tilting his head back. She observed him shyly out of the corner of her eye. She had never really looked at him before now, but in the calm that seemed to steal over them she was able to observe him both as herself and as an artist. His face was hard and angular, the same way his body was toned, high cheekbones and a long, straight nose framed his oh-so-expressive eyes. His neck was slightly longish, curving smoothly from his chin to his chest, his adam's apple pointing up at the ceiling. His chin was slightly pointed but supported by a strong jaw. A hard face, but a pleasant one as well.

His eye turned to meet hers, and she looked away quickly, slightly embarrassed to have been caught looking at him. Axel raised an eyebrow and asked, in a friendly, teasing way, "What? See something green?"

She looked down at her feet and shook her head from side to side in a silent 'no', and he shrugged.

"Suit yourself." He went back to his quiet study of the ceiling, and she gathered her courage together.

"Axel?" She asked, tentatively, quietly. He turned to look at her again, his face blank but not unfriendly. "What is this place? How did you know about it?" He smirked and looked out the French doors.

"My other had a distant relative who lived here. No one I left behind knew about it, and I had almost forgotten it until a while ago."

"Why are we here?" She continued, slightly encouraged by his response.

"It's healthier." He said simply, shrugging. "And," he paused, looked at her with a thoughtful frown, and continued, "It's important for us to have a base. A place we can branch out of. You'll be learning a lot from now on, and we're going to be traveling now and then. This place is secure, no one besides us knows about it now, and it has the basics we need. A good base is very important." He was very serious now, and she could sense he meant for her to learn this lesson. "You need a refuge, an anchor. A place to retreat to, a place to hide, a place to rest. But," and he sat up, his eyes boring into 

hers, speaking slowly now, "No matter what, never allow yourself to become too dependent on it. If you do, your base will eventually become a trap – you won't know how to survive without one. It will cripple you. Always remember that." She nodded, understanding him.

"I'll remember."

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Wow. This is like, twice the normal length my chapters are. I rather pleased about that. Reviews are welcome, as always.