All Outta Luck

Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts nor do I own any characters or related matter.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A loud and obnoxious vibrating sound erupted from Axel's bedside waking him with a jolt. The young man snatched up the cell phone opening it violently.

"Who the hell's calling?!" He demanded hostilely.

A voice on the other end cleared its throat. "I'm Kareena from the modeling audition yesterday." Her voice, again, betrayed no underlying emotion.

Axel felt the blood drain from his face and his voice kicked up a notch.

"Oh."

"Yes, well, I'm calling to inform that you have been chosen as one of the lucky winners."

The words echoed in Axel's mind bouncing off the walls in his head and sinking into his conscious perception.

"I've been chosen?"

"You have."

The cell phone fell to the mattress as the young man flung himself out of bed and pumped his fist in the air triumphantly silently mouthing "yes" with as much gusto as he could muster. His dance lasted a few seconds before he picked up the phone again now composed.

"Hey, that's great to know, so what now?"

"We'll be flying to Los Angeles this Monday."

Axel had to digest her words before answering.

"That's soon." He played it off calmly.

"You have the rest of this week and the week end to pack and get ready. You'll need just the basics that you would take to a sleep-over. The rest will be taken care of."

"Sure thing. Thanks for the heads up and I guess I'll see you Monday. Should I meet you at the airport?"

"If you would be so kind."

"No sweat. I'll be there. What time?"

"We'll need you there at six AM; until then."

And the line went silent.

...

Running footfalls shook the stairs causing a landslide of dust and splinters to fall from under the old wooden stairs of the Inn. They continued through the lounge room where hotel guests looked up inquisitively some with disapproval on their faces. This didn't deter the human typhoon.

The footfalls ended in the kitchen where the objective was found.

"Unc!" Axel exclaimed as he approached the old man sitting at one of the break fast tables watching an old TV playing the news across the room.

"Yes Axel?" The man said as he turned his eyes to the young man.

"Guess who just snatched himself a modeling job?"

The old man's eyes widened and lit up. He stood and hugged his nephew tightly.

"Well, did I not tell you that you could make it?"

"It wasn't really doubt over whether I could get in or not; it was more along the lines of keeping up appearances."
His uncle rolled his eyes with his shaggy white eyebrows lifting momentarily and landing in place once more.

"But you did say I had nothing to lose; you were wrong there."

His uncle lifted a brow in confusion. "And what, pray tell, might you have to lose?"

Axel motioned for his uncle to take a seat and sat down across from him.

At first he hesitated and then looked up meeting his uncle's curious expression.

"I'm... leaving to L.A. next Monday."

The old man's expression turned from curiosity to comprehension and he smiled his old wise smile that Axel was very fond of.

"My boy, you are of age now that you can choose for yourself where you'll go and how you will live. If you're concerned about me and the Inn, you shouldn't. I may be a geezer, but I'm no push over." He punched Axel playfully in the arm with a wrinkled old fist worn with the years of work and experience.

The young man clutched at his arm melodramatically pretending to flinch. "Hey, I'm gonna need that."

The two laughed together and Axel joined his uncle for breakfast.

"And this guy comes up walking like something out of prehistory only with a Metallica T-shirt in addition to his oversized shoes and I was just waiting for him to walk too far and crash into a wall. I had to wonder whether he had eyes." Axel told the story with wide hand-gestures and emphasis on the key words to make his tale amusing. His uncle laughed duly as he sipped at his coffee.

"It sounds like you had a pretty interesting crowd."

"Sure did, but I was of course the most dashing." The young man said this with his trademark smirk and a straight back for more effect.

His uncle laughed again. "My boy, I doubt it not."

...

The rest of the week was gone before Axel could process the passing of time properly. Before he knew it his uncle was driving him to the airport with not much more than a small suit case on wheels packed with a tooth-brush, Axel's favourite clothes, a comb, hair gel and the usual toiletries.

The car pulled into the parking lot that was jam packed as always. Uncle and nephew climbed out of the car and headed to the main entrance where Axel immediately recognised the brilliant red-headed girl. Today she wore what looked like a small child's white dress with pink pockets in the shape of apples on either side of the fabric covering her thighs. It flared out at the bottom and reached just barely beyond her backside. Under that she wore thick white tights and little black shoes. She looked like a porcelain doll standing with her eyes to the brightening sky; spacey as usual.

"Hey Charlie," Axel greeted once he was within ear shot.

The girl came down from her cloud distractedly until her eyes focused on Axel and suddenly her face lit up with a small smile.

"Hi." She said waving.

Axel and his uncle crossed the busy taxi-clad street to reach Charlie on the other side.

"Charlie, this is my uncle Vernon, and unc, this is Charlie."

Vernon held out a hand and Charlie took it to shake.

"Pleasure to meet you young lady."

"The pleasure is mine."

As Axel looked around he saw more familiar faces, but of them all, the most shocking was cave man.

"Whoa! He got in?" Axel asked Charlie. The girl met his eyes obviously shaken out of her dream-land again.

"The guy whose eyes are hidden."

"Oh... Well, I suppose he must have. He is here after all."

Axel found himself wondering for the umpteenth time what about this tiny creature made him want to growl at anyone who might even look like they wanted to do her harm. It was a weird big-brother feeling. She was so odd, small and fragile that everything about her begged for special attention. Axel was surprised to realize how attached he felt to Charlie after only seeing her twice.

He shook the feeling for a moment to look around for Kareena. She'd have to be there somewhere. He scanned the closest perimeters until he locked on to the goddess with the long braid down her back.

"Ah, and there's our guide."

Kareena turned around on cue and saw Axel. She smiled briefly and approached the group.

"Thank you all for being on time. We will be taking a private plane, so please follow me."

Axel turned to his uncle and gave him a hug good bye. Something inside him wrenched at his heart-strings as he realized how much he'd miss the person who was practically his father.

"I'll write you an e-mail to keep you posted on what I'm up to; the dirty details and all."

Vernon smiled. "I'll be expecting them. And perhaps you could give me a call every so often."

"Yeah, sure thing."

Axel smiled brightly and turned to follow Kareena. He noticed Charlie had waited for him and didn't pick up her bags to follow the group until he did. He felt his chest swell warmly at the gesture.

"A private plane...? I've always wondered what it would be like to fly." Charlie sighed absent-mindedly.

Axel chuckled, "I've wanted to get up in those clouds since I was just a kid, so I know how you feel."

Charlie smiled to the sky no facing the tall young man next to her and nodded.

The group arrived in an open lot with a handsome looking plane parked proudly in the middle facing the run way. It wasn't huge, but it was obviously a better ride than the typical planes used by the airport. The body work was forged into sleek curves and painted with a glittering silver coating. On the side was an emblem that read: "Clandestine Modeling".

The stairs up to the entrance were out inviting the passengers to board. At the bottom of these was a blond young man waiting to receive the group. He smiled as Kareena approached and gave a polite bow and she boarded. The young man did this as each passenger climbed the stairs into the private plane. Axel motioned for Charlie to go ahead of him and climbed the stairs after her nodding back to the receiver boy as he passed.

There were no assigned seats, so Axel sat next to Charlie in some luxuriously wide recliner chairs with foot rests included. The pair marvelled at the elegant interior of the plane. The lights reflected off polished hard-wood bar-surfaces and the white-carpeted roll-out carpet that lined the floor. The cabin was spacious with enough seats for the small group. All the seats were set at a twenty-five degree angle towards the middle walk way that had a wide flat-screen TV set in the white wall with two curtains on either side assumingly leading to the pilot deck.

"It's so big..." Charlie said with her usual far-away voice.

Axel had to agree. It was a lot more luxury than he'd seen in his life-time. In all his short nineteen years of life, he'd only seen this kind of luster on TV. He admitted that he could definitely get used to it.

The receiver boy who had been at the bottom of the stairs entered the cabin and proceeded to control a panel that folded the stairs automatically pulling them into some compartment under the door and then the door closed tight.

Kareena walked up to the front and cleared her throat, "Welcome to the Clandestine Modeling agency everyone. You're about to endeavour some of the toughest trials and the most entertaining of challenges. It will be the best of times and the worst of times, but it all depends on your output levels of energy and enthusiasm that will make you go far in this business."

The room applauded lightly and two men came out from behind the curtains dressed in formal outfits.

"These will be your pilots today, Rally and Chendit. They will also be your supervisors and prefects while you're with us. And the one who greeted you is Roxas. He is a young model that has been with us over the last two years and will answer any questions you might have about being a young model."

The young blond smiled and gave a wave before taking his seat next to cave-man.

And then a tall and thin man dressed in a purple suit with short black hair gelled back and side burns growing down from his temples and a slight goatee stepped out from behind the curtain. His eyes were a striking blue that commanded a silent authority. His face was still young as he appeared to be in his mid-thirties. His face was long with prominent cheek bones that gave his face a handsome edge just as much as intimidating. The room was silent with curious admiration at his appearance.

"And this will be your manager, photographer and mentor. This is Farran Laird."

The tall man grinned and gave a small bow.

"A pleasure to be of your acquaintance, all of you," he spoke with a thick Scottish accent, "I'm looking forward to our interactions and expect much from all of you."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A/N: Quick updates at last. Well, drop me a review to let me know what you think!

Creepstats3