Chapter 4: Exhaustion
Another morning goes by in The World that never was. Xeli rose to the sun with a smile on her face, and a song in her heart. Well... actually, the song was booming in her ears. She went to bed with the same song playing over and over in a loop. She even began to sing while she was getting into her cloak.
"So what if you can see the darkest side of me. No one would ever tame this animal I've become!", she sang, and tried summoning her staff again. There was no luck on that today.
After lifting her hand up to try and do it again, there was only a small burst of light, but still no staff came. This saddened her, but she remembered that her mentor was Lexaeus, and she would learn more of her weapon summoning, and control. His strength and command over the earth, and heavy weaponry is undeniable, as is his command for respect. After looking at the time, she saw that it was early, and she could get breakfast this time before going to class.
Unfortunately, she wasn't the only student at breakfast this morning. She found that Byxur, and Eraxric was there too. She kinda liked Eraxric, but Byxer was giving Xeli a bad feeling. She looked kinda sweet, but the way she looks at everyone with a superior air about her makes her think she is more pompous then anything else.
"Good morning Xeli!", Byxur called out from a near by table. Eraxric looked relieved to see Xeli and beckoned her to come over before she took a sip of her Monster.
"Morning, Byxur. Morning Eraxric.", Xeli responded after she grabbed her morning coffee, and a small doughnut.
She sat down with them, and they all began to talk about who they had for the month. Byxur looked proud when she mentioned that she was with Zexion. She even gave Xeli a glance to see her reaction, but Xeli wasn't going to satisfy Byxur with any reaction of the sort. Eraxric was paired with Xion for the month, meaning she got to learn a combination of fighting, and tactics.
"Well, I got Lexaeus.", Xeli said, and was a little nervous when she saw the look on both Byxur and Eraxric's faces.
"Are you serious? You, with Lexaeus? I feel bad for you.", Eraxric said.
Byxur jumped up, and patted Xeli on the back, "It's been nice knowing you. Hope you don't suffer too much."
It was with that, that everyone had to get to their mentors and fast. Xeli was confused the whole time she was walking to the battle room, but she wasn't going to let what Byxur said bother her. When she entered the battle room, there was a strange tent in the middle of it, almost like a Native American type. There was also some strange smoke coming from it, but when she entered it, she was shocked. Inside of it was Lexaeus with his cloak down to only show his muscular torso. He was ripped!
Lexaeus was sitting by a fire, his hammer ax in hand, and his eyes closed. He looked like a Native American now, and he even started a chant to the earth that gave him strength. When this was over, he opened his eyes and looked to Xeli and said, "Welcome, new student. I am Lexaeus."
"Um... I'm Xeli...", she said with some nervousness.
Lexaeus nodded and beckoned her to take a seat by the fire. Since she wanted to be respectful, she obeyed and took her seat. The fire provided little light, but she could see enough to know that Lexaeus was being level headed, despite his persona in the games she played. He looked more like the sort that would meditate, then battle later.
"Your training is simple. You are to use gravity, and your own strength to your advantage. You will also learn to summon your weapon when you need it,", Lexaeus said after lifting his hammer ax. He held it to Xeli to take.
When Xeli took hold of it, and Lexaeus let go, the Xeli went to the ground and her arms felt like they were on fire. The Ax must have weighed a ton, because poor Xeli couldn't even get it an inch off the ground. She looked to him and saw the smile on his face. It was a gentle and understanding one. He cleared his throat and said, "First, you'll need to gain strength. I'll teach you to summon your weapon first, then we'll move on to the next parts of my lesson."
Xeli nodded and let go of the ax, her arms screaming at her from pain. Lexaeus took his ax, and walked out, then made his weapon disappear in a small flash of light. Xeli followed him out, and mentally readied herself for the possibly painful training that was to occur.
Lexeaus cleared his throat and demonstrated how to summon a weapon again. This time, Xeli was being more observant than before. She noticed that as the burst of light appeared, Lexeaus grabbed the light as though it were his item, and so it appeared. Xeli then understood, but Lexeaus was about to explain anyway.
"You see, it helps to not only visualize the weapon you wish to summon, but it also helps to grab at it as though it were there. Little brother Zexion told me about how you summoned your weapon before. I was surprised, but I had a feeling it was just out of instinct.", Lexaeus said and put his ax over his bare shoulder.
"Instinct... so I just grab at it as though it were there? While thinking of it?", Xeli asked, trying to comprehend all that was happening.
"It's more than that. You need to have a drive, or rather, you need to be determined. You want your weapon, and will grasp it, and wield it. Understood?", Lexaeus asked with a small smile.
Xeli nodded and tried one more time. This time, when the light appeared, she visualized the weapon, and took it in her grasp. She looked at her hand as she held her weapon. A beautiful white staff with the symbol of the Nobodies on each end of the staff. Crafted for her, and her alone. She did feel a connection between her and the staff, and when she felt it, she began to smile and twirl it around.
"I finally did it!", Xeli said in triumph.
"Excellent work, Little Sister Xeli.", Lexaeus said and patted her on the back.
"Hey, can I call you Big Brother Lexy?", Xeli asked with her neko ears out again from joy.
He nodded and took his place in a circle that he had drawn in the floor. There was another circle drawn next to it, and it looked rather strange because it was drawn with little symbols on it that she didn't understand. As soon as she stepped in, her weapon suddenly felt like it was made of cement and granite. She strained her arm not to let go of it, but she wanted so badly to just let it go.
"Now, our training begins. I will summon a simple rock to be in front of us, and you are to smash it. Sounds simple enough?", Lexaeus said with a smirk.
"But how can I do that if I can barely hold my staff?", Xeli asked with gritted teeth.
"All you have to do is lift it in the air, and let gravity do the rest." Lexaeus said, and with that, he lifted his ax over his head, and brought it down on the rock in front of him, and smashed it into many pieces that went flying in all directions.
"What is the point of this?", Xeli asked as she lifted her staff in the air , and brought it down on the rock. It broke the rock, but not in as many pieces as Lexaeus' rock.
"In combat, not all fancy tricks are going to save you. Sometimes, you need to rely on the strength you have, and the environment around you. I use the earth and gravity to my advantage in combat. I am to teach you to do the same. Now, pick up your staff, and keep going!", Lexaeus shouted and brought his staff down again on yet another rock.
Xeli brought her staff up again and did as her tutor said. She knew that this was going to be a long three weeks.
(Momentary Interruption!)
Xeli: The first day of his class is boring, and tiring! Can we skip to two weeks later?
Why the heck would I want to do that?
Xeli: You know why.
You are sick, Xeli.
Xeli: Pwease! I will be chur bestest best friend.
…
Xeli: I'll stop my internet memes.
Grrrr... fine! We'll skip to two weeks later.
Xeli: Yayz!
Author Powahz activate!
(End of Interruption)
Another morning came in, and boy was it a beautiful morning. The sun, if you could call it that, was out and the Dusk Nobodies were just stretching out to go and torment the people of other worlds. All was well, and even Axel had a smile on his face as he went to get breakfast.
He stopped suddenly when he heard a low groan coming from Xeli's room. This peaked his curiosity, so he went to her room and knocked on the door as loud as he could. BAM BAM BAM! There was still that long groan, but not shuffling of feet, or anything else. He waited a few seconds more and started hitting the door again. BAM BAM BAM!
"Come in..." a weak sounding Xeli was saying on the other side of the door.
Axel opened the door, and was not at all surprised by what he was looking at. Xeli was lying on the ground with her arms just dangling on her sides. Her back was against bed, and she looked like she hadn't moved in hours. Maybe days.
"Let me guess. Big brother Lexy?", Axel said with a little chuckle from the nickname he had made for Lexaeus.
"Yeah... lifting hammer ax is hard!", Xeli said with exhaustion evident in her voice.
"How long have you been like this?", Axel asked with some concern, but more out of messing with her.
"Three long, and aggravating days... I can't even change my cloak, let alone get up.", Xeli said.
Axel was in a generous mood, so he gave a chuckle and said, "I'll tell Lexy that you are too tired to deal with his lesson today. Did you at least learn to summon your weapon?"
Xeli nodded, and strained to raise her arm up with her hand open. In a flash of light, and her hand closing on the light, her staff appeared, and her arm went plopping on the ground. That alone took a lot out of her.
Axel clapped his hands and saw that she could barely move, and her cloak was rather dirty. With a sigh, he asked, " Hey, you need help getting into something clean?"
Xeli wished she could at least have enough strength to put her hood on and hide her blush, but she didn't exactly have the strength to protest. The most she could do was nod. After Axel saw the nod, he went to her closet and found her simple night gown, and went to Xeli.
"Wait, do you have anything underneath?", Axel asked with slight hesitation.
Xeli tried to remember if she did, but she could only blush, and gulp before saying, "I don't know."
Axel gulped and actually had a blush too. While he wasn't new to changing students, he was not particularly excited about being called a pervert. He found a blind fold that was sitting on Xeli's desk, and put it on himself.
"Okay, this way, if there is nothing, I won't see. If there is something, let me know so I can dress you, okay?" Axel asked with his hands on her zipper.
Xeli blushed redder and nodded, then said, "Okay. You may proceed."
Axel brought down the zipper and opened her cloak for her. Xeli was relieved to see that she had a tank top under her cloak, and sighed, "Axel, it's safe."
Axel peaked under the blind fold, and nodded with a smile.
(Momentary Interruption!)
Axel: You mean to tell me that I couldn't...
Xeli: Oh hush. Do you want me to call you a pervert?
Axel: No... but...
No buts Axel. You need to understand that we are trying to keep this story T. So get over it and just be greatful that you got to undress her.
Axel: What was the point? I got to see nothing!
Xeli: Conceited much?
Axel: Only on days ending with the letter "Y".
Zexion: You need to mature a little, Axel.
Lexaeus: Um, Little Brother Zexy. You aren't in this chapter.
Zexion: Am I on in others?
I'll think about it. Now, can we get back to finishing this story?
Xeli: Yes pwease.
Alrighty then.
(End of Interruption)
Axel took her out of the cloak, and was relieved to see that she was also wearing shorts. Laying her claok to the ground, he stood her up and steadied her against the wall, and went to get the night gown. When he put it on Xeli, she said, "Um... it's inside out..."
Axel realized the mistake and started to take it off of her again. It was at that moment that a spiky blond haired boy walked in saying, "Axel, I wanted to talk to you about... WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!"
Xeli's blush was worse than before, and Axel saw how this was looking, and he was about to put it back on Xeli to explain to the boy the situation, but the most he could get out of it was this, "Roxas, wait!"
Before more could be said, Roxas had slammed the door and ran away down the hall. Axel just stared at the door, and knew that this wasn't going to be a good day with his best friend. He finished dressing Xeli and layed her in bed. Xeli felt embarrassed, and just wished that this had not happened. Unfortunately for her, a chicbi in her head was shouting, "BOOYA! AXEL NOT ONLY WAS HERE, HE UNDRESSED ME AND REDRESSED ME! I WILL NEVER WASTHESE CLOTHES AGAIN!"
While that crazy chibi in her head screamed that, she softly said, "Thank you, Axel. I appreciate this... I'll be better tomorrow..."
Axel had his back to her, but she could see him shaking his head, "It's no problem. I'll ask if he can give you till Saterday. He's a very understanding fellow. His personality just changes when he is training or fighting. Smooth as a pebble one minute, as rough as a mountain the next."
Xeli smiled happily, and drifted slowly to sleep. Once Axel knew she was asleep, he left a small box on her night stand. It was cold to the touch, and it said open me.
"Enjoy the ice cream, Xeli.", Axel whispered, and walked out.
Author's Note: Phew. I know I said I would update once a month, but it only took me few days to write this. Looks like not all of the classes are as easy as we had previously thought. Big Brother Lexy can be mean! I am still going to update once a month. To those loyal readers that actually take the time to read this, I say thanks for reviewing, and to keep on spreading the word about the story. Please review, and keep on reading. I will not update on November, just to to inform ahead of time. But in December, I'll do two chapters to make up for it. Again, thanks for reading, and review please. The more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to writing this story. Enjoy life, and have fun always.
