Chapter 4

AUTHOR NOTES: Stuff actually happens in this chapter. This is also the debut of our favorite red head, and I'm not talking about Kairi. Sorry for the long break. The conversations may get a little redundant, but it gets the point across.

It's been a couple days since the meeting. Today I have my mission with Demyx and Zexion, joy. A little time to clear my head before I have to go would be nice. I nodded to myself as I looked myself over to make sure I was presentable, if only that mirror thing wasn't true. I made a portal on the outside of Phillips. I put on my sunglasses and started walking towards the café.

It's a strange thing about my sunglasses. Most other vampires need them to see during bright days, but I don't. I guess since I control light, my eyes are immune to it. I do have to wear them though because in bright light my eyes change from blue to reflective silver. Demyx even said that they glow in the dark, but I'm not sure I believe him.

After about five minutes of walking I finally got to the café and walked inside. I waited in line a little surprised. The café was never usually this busy. It must be because it's 8:00 on a Monday morning. I tried to see if Tifa was here, but there were to many scents in the small room to smell just her. When I finally got to the register, I just stood there until the cashier recognized me.

"How may I- oh! Hello, you're looking for Tifa right?" the girl said. I gave her a nod. "Sorry, she isn't here today," she said, making sure the line wasn't getting to long.

"Will she be here on Saturday?" I asked. She wasn't as annoying as the other girls usually are, she didn't try to hit on me yet.

"Um, I don't know. The line's getting long though. Why don't you sit down, and on my break I'll find out and tell you?"

"Thank you," I said. After a couple seconds I added," and a chai latte please."

She replied with a peppy 'yes sir' while I heard the line complain behind me. I smiled to myself. Who says I don't have a sense of humor. After a minute or two she gave me my latte and I turned around to look for a table.

My usual table was taken, so I had to sit by the window. It was a good thing I kept the glasses on, I don't think these people would take well to my eyes changing color. After I settled in, I let myself sink into the chatter of the room.

"I heard that yesterday Sally said-"

"-and boom, the ceiling fell in right over-"

"-were slashed, steering column destroyed. The only thing-"

"-I'm telling you, Obama is going to crush McCain-"

"-she's so cute. She has a blue and yellow eye with-"

"-played Kingdom Hearts? It took me forever to get past-"

"So you're the blond bombshell that explodes on all of these poor girls," a voice said from next to me.

I refocused my attention and looked towards the voice. The more appropriate word would be up, really up. I'm not a very tall person, but I've never had to sit next to a standing giant. I've always made it a point to not look at tall people when they tower over me. This must be what Zexion feels like everyday around Demyx. The guy must be at least 6' 10". The voice was still talking, but I concentrated on its appearance and not what it was saying.

This was a very strange human, though it wasn't the clothes that made him strange. The clothes were average, black pants and shirt, the regular uniform here. The only strange thing was that he was wearing black combat boots to match. It wasn't really the body either. It was outrageously tall and lanky, but no more so than Demyx.

No, the strange thing about this human was from the neck up. The voice for some reason got an upside down triangle tattooed under each eye. It looked like some type of goth clown makeup. The eyes and hair were slightly out of the ordinary too. Bright radioactive green eyes were off set by a huge main of barely tamed red spikes. You think it would be gaudy, but it looked good on him. The hair would probably look a lot better when it wasn't tied back though, since the top of his head was poofy with spikes. The last strange thing there was about him though was his scent. It was a strange mixture of smoke, fire, and, and . . . burnt toast.

"You must suck at cooking." My eyes widened slightly when I realized I said that out loud.

"What do you mean I suck at cooking? I would be a great cook if my appliances didn't break down every-wait a minute. Have you listened to anything I've been saying?"

I looked him in the eyes and deadpanned, "No."

"Aww, you wound me shorty, right here," he said dramatically while putting a hand over his heart. I just stared at him. He bent over and looked my in the eyes. "Names Axel. Got it memorized?" he said while tapping his head.

"You're the new employee that Tifa warned me about," I said. Stuck out like a sore thumb, likes attention, name starts with an 'A', everything seems to match.

"Oh, and what did Tifa say about me," he said pulling out the chair and sitting down. I narrowed my eyes slightly but didn't tell him to leave.

"She said that you flirt with anything and that I should try not to punch you face in if you try anything on me," I said in a flat voice.

"Why, pray tell, would you want punch my face in, hmm? Most people consider it an honor when they catch my attention," he said with a mischievous smile.

"I dislike people. I extremely dislike being bothered by people," I said looking out the window.

"The grapevine says different though," he said shaking his finger," It says that you've been a long time customer, but only on miss Lockhart's shifts." For some reason he was enjoying this conversation. He was leaning forward. His eyes seemed to glow in the sunlight like two green fires.

When my mind caught up to what it thought, and how long that I had been staring at his eyes, I sighed and turned my head to look out the window again.

"You know shorty," my eye slightly twitched, but because of the glasses I don't think he saw it, "we've been sitting here for awhile, and I still don't know your name."

I just sat there and took a sip of my drink.

"It's considered rude to not give your name when someone already gave theirs." I took another sip of my drink. "It's also rude to not look at the person talking to you."

I still ignored him and vaguely realized that I was running out of tea.

"Fine Mr. Ice Prince," I tilted my head towards him at his change of voice. He sounded like a kid that was told Santa didn't exist. "Tifa will be here on Sunday from 2:00 to 10:00. I hope you have fun with your girlfriend," he said as he got up. For some reason him being upset didn't sit well with me.

"Roxas."

"Huh?" He stopped and turned around. He had a cute look of confusion on his face. Wait, not cute, stupid. Yeah, stupid look of confusion on his face.

I sighed, "Roxas. My name," I said as I grabbed my latte and threw it out. I started heading towards the door.

"Well well, looks like your not as icy as everyone says."

I paused but didn't turn around. I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. I didn't fail to notice that he got over his previous mood rather quickly. "Don't spread it around," was all I said before I walked out the door and down the street. I tried to ignore the nice feeling that spread through me when he stopped being upset.

About ten steps from the door, my nose picked up a familiar scent. I didn't even need to follow it to know where it originated from. I stopped in front of the bookstore and sniffed the air one more time to make sure I was right. I walked towards the back to the mythology section and took off my sunglasses.

"I didn't know that you were in to this type of stuff," I said to the indigo head buried in a book. Zexion looked up and put the book back on the shelf.

"I wanted to see the famous café. Don't you find it ironic that one of the regulars to the 'Angel's Nest Café' is a vampire," he said, his one visible eyebrow raising.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I only noticed the name a couple weeks after I started going there."

"Hmm, do you know what else I noticed?" he said with a voice that slightly unsettled me.

"No, what else did you notice?" I said trying to hide my apprehension.

"I was going to go in and talk to you," he turned around and started browsing through the other books but kept talking, "but you seemed to be enjoying your conversation with your new redheaded friend so I decided I was going to wait here for when you were done," he finished turning around.

"Hmph, he isn't my new friend. He was just an annoying human that wouldn't leave me alone," I finished crossing my arms. Zexion tilted his head slightly and looked at me with a thoughtful expression. I was starting to feel nervous under his scrutiny so I turned around and started looking at the books. He stared at me for a couple more seconds before he shrugged his shoulders and grabbed the book that he was reading before I came in.

"I like this book. It has a couple of legends that I haven't read before."

We walked to the front of the store while I put on my sunglasses again. Zexion paid for the book and walked out the door. Right before he left the threshold of the store, he put on his own pair and we started walking down the street. It took me a minute to realize something.

"You were looking for me," I said looking forward. Zexion was already engrossed in his new purchase. It wasn't even worth trying to get his attention when he was reading a book.

He nodded his head. "Mom and dad wanted all of us to get an early start on our projects since 2 and 10 are done with theirs."

I had to hold back a laugh at the mental picture that conjured.

"It makes one wonder, in a relationship like theirs, who would be mom and who would be dad," I said, slightly smiling. Zexion paused and looked up. I stopped and turned my head back to him.

"Yes, but wondering brings up some disturbing mental pictures."

As soon as he said that, my smile fell while I imagined some more. We both slightly shuddered before we started walking again.

"I didn't need that. I didn't need that at all," I said trying to get rid of the picture that wouldn't go away. "Your boyfriend knows that we're starting early right?" I asked trying to change the subject, "Last time he we had to do something like this he was two hours late.

He nodded again probably trying to drown out the mental pictures from before with the stories of the book. "He's down at the cove showing the two which cave it was. We're supposed to meet him in the park. He should be there already."

I nodded my head to myself and left him to his book. After about ten minutes of walking in silence we finally reached the park. We didn't even need to try to find him, we just headed towards the lake. Just like we thought, Demyx was sitting by the side of the lake playing with the ducks and kicking his feet in the water. He looked up when we approached.

"Hey Zexy, Roxas. Meet Mr. Quackers and the wife and kids," he said while gesturing towards the ducks that were crowded around him.

Zexion inclined his head towards the ducks before he sat down and leaned against Demyx.

"Only you Demyx," I said with a slight smile as I sat Indian style facing them, but still next to the edge. I dangled my hand in the water and tried to lure one of the ducklings over to me. One of the braver ducklings swam over. I felt a slight pang in my chest. It was a brown duckling with blue eyes and some of the feathers on its head ruffled up. It reminded me of my nameless brother that I barely remembered. For some reason, I think that my brother was as blindingly trusting as this little duck. I smiled slightly as I slowly lifted my hand up and let a drop of water fall on its head. It gave an indignant quack and I smiled a little wider. The mother duck started swimming away, and my little duckling followed her.

"That. Was. So. Cute! I have to have Naminé draw a picture of that," Demyx squeed from in front of me. I jumped and snapped my head towards the two. Demyx was bouncing up and down a little and Zexion had his head on his shoulder.

"You're on a role Roxas, two new friends in an hour," Zexion said lifting his head up.

"Roxy made a new friend?! Who is it, what's he like-" Demyx stopped when he felt my glare.

"Don't call me Roxy for one, and for two, I didn't make a new friend. It was just an annoying human that wouldn't leave me alone."

"What's his name?" Zexion asked.

"Axel," I said before I thought about it.

"You did make a new friend!" Demyx yelled and tried to hug me. I dove to the side, but caught him before he rolled into the lake. I tossed him back to Zexion.

"Control him," I said as I stood up.

"Your right. Come on Demyx, it's time to do our mission," Zexion said as he pulled Demyx up, ignoring my statement.

"I thought we had to do our project for mom and dad," I said as we starting to leave the park.

"Hmm, that too. On a more important note, where are we supposed to go? The superior just said to find out more information, which is kind of open ended."

"Don't know. I always saw them around the square. That is where everything of interest is for the town. You'll blend right in Demyx," I said leading the way out of the park and to the square.

"What about you and Zexy," Demyx questioned. I turned around and rose my eyebrow at Zexion. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I forgot to tell him. Oops."

"Forgot to tell me what," Demyx said looking between the two of us, starting to get a little nervous.

"You're the only one that's going to be getting information. Me and Zexion will be watching from far away."

Demyx looked surprised and turned towards Zexion to see if what I said was true.

"Demyx, you have the lowest vampirc aura of all of us," Zexion said, putting a calming hand on his arm. It wasn't working, Demyx was looking more and more panicked by the second.

"Demyx, we'll still be covering you, just from a distance. We're here for a reason you know. I wouldn't let anything happen to you and neither would Zexion," I said giving him a small smile. After a minute, Demyx smiled a face splitting grin and blurred over to me. The next thing I knew, I was in a crushing bear hug from Demyx with my feet not touching the ground. Before I could tell him to get off, he sprang back next to Zexion with a smile on his face. I tried to glare at him, but in the end I just shook my head.

"You remind me a lot of him," I said continuing down the path.

"Who do I remind you of?" he questioned from behind me. I kept walking forward but tilted my head back to look at him.

"You remind me of my twin," I said, multiple emotions coloring my voice. I turned my head forward again, not breaking my stride. After a couple of seconds, an arm wrapped itself around my shoulder. I looked over and saw that he put his arms around mine and Zexion's shoulders and was walking between us.

"Well, the organization is one big family. It also has lots of incest too if you think about it," Demyx said tilting his head to the side and actually thinking about it. I snorted and Zexion just sighed and shook his head.

"Are there going to be any kids there? It is a Monday morning," Demyx asked leading us to the square.

"It should be better for us actually. All of the punks that skip school and like to brag about their abilities will definitely be there. You just have to go, throw a name or two around and watch them sing. Perhaps you should show some interest in joining this new group," Zexion said starting to slow his pace now that we were approaching the square.

"What group am I with?" Demyx asked as he stood in front of and started to shuffle his feet.

"Here, it's a Crushing Tides ring," I said giving Demyx a blue stone ring with three squiggly lines engraved on the front.

"How'd you get a vampire hunter's crest?" Zexion asked looking at the ring while Demyx put it on.

"It's a long story," I said with a smirk. The other two just looked at me and then looked at each other. Then Demyx started talking again.

"Okay, I'm Myde from the Crushing Tides, and I'm trying to find this new group because I want to join them and you two will be watching my back," he said still fidgeting with his hands.

"Don't worry Demyx, just be yourself," Zexion said grabbing one of his hands.

He calmed down a little and took a deep breath. He then put on a big smile and finished walking towards the square. Me and Zexion followed behind him until we found a place where we could see the whole square clearly. Zexion closed his eyes in concentration while I watched the area around us start to shimmer slightly.

"Nice illusion," I said speaking so low that only he could here it. He nodded his head towards me before he glued his eyes to Demyx.

I looked around evaluating the square. It looked like a industrial cul de sac. It had cafés, benches, trees, a movie theater, and everything else a teen could desire. A nice place to sit and relax. There were some individual kids, but the most interesting ones were sitting at the café. They all had muscles and scars, and even the few girls there looked like they could give a grown man a run for their money. As soon as Demyx approached, they all zeroed in on him, letting their instincts show. There was no way that these were normal teens ditching school.

Demyx got there and waved with a big smile on, trying to defuse the situation. After a couple of minutes of conversation, they treated him like a long lost friend. Only Demyx could go up to a group of vampire slayers and be treated like a brother. One of the girls apparently thought that he would make good boyfriend material. I heard a low growl from Zexion and looked towards him. He was tensing up and glaring holes into the back of the girl's head. I poked him in the shoulder and he relaxed a little. I shook my head and motioned to the group again.

After about 10 or 15 minutes passed, they all got a lot more serious. Apparently Demyx finally turned the conversation to where we wanted it to go. One of the kids looked up and said something that made all the other ones look towards him. The same kid kept speaking until he broke off and looked up. Everyone else looked up and past us. Demyx started to get a look of fear on his face that we could see from here.

We turned around to see a true slayer walking straight towards Demyx. He had numerous scars all over his face and had one arm sticking out of his red trench coat like a make shift sling.

"Shit," Zexion and me said simultaneously.

"Roxas, distraction."

I nodded my head and waited for the right moment, gathering up my power. There was no doubt in either of our minds, that this slayer would be able to pick up on Demyx's aura, no matter how faint it was.

Demyx was trying, and mostly failing, to stay calm. He wasn't sticking out much since all the other kids were doing the same thing. One of them turned and said something to Demyx who only nodded vaguely, his eyes never leaving the new comer. He said something and got up and started walking at an angle towards us. The man kept walking towards the others but he turned his head to look at Demyx. The exact moment that his eyes widened in recognition, was the moment that several things happened at once. While I made a huge flash flare go off 5 inches away from his face, Zexion dropped the illusion and blurred towards Demyx. Demyx and Zexion got to each other, then started running to the back of the movie theater while I set off another two flares in front of the man and the teens before I followed. When I got there, the other two had already opened a portal and were half way through. We all rushed through and we ended up falling out of the portal onto the floor of one of the rooms in El Baile Muerto.

We all stood up slowly and looked at each other.

"Told you we would have your back."

"Shut up Roxas."

AUTHOR NOTES: The scene with Roxas at the lake, playing with a little brown ducky was just so cute, I had to put it in there. Please review, every time you don't, a little Sora ducky gets real sad.