I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.


Lord Osmond, the headmaster of the The Tristain Academy of Maigc, was an old man, but not until recently had he ever really considered retiring. He remembered when teacher had been fun, and when the most stressful thing he would have to worry about was worrying about where he would find a new secretary after his pervious one inevitably quit from all the sexual harassment. Not that he ever had very much trouble there, after all, he wasn't picky as long as they were of age and had a nice butt. But more recently he was starting to run into more and more problems. It had all started with that Vallière girl, actually all of it seemed to have something to do with her.

First there was the problem of her lack of talent in magic. The explosions she caused where destructive beyond the level of most students' most deliberately damaging spells. The cost of repairs and of lawsuits against the school because of injures was almost unbelievable. It got to the point where they had actual told Louise to never even try to use magic, which kind of defeated the purpose of even being at a magic school. But they couldn't kick the girl out, not without expecting a visit from the girl's even more famously destructive mother.

It seemed to have worked out fairly well, though there were a few incidents. Then came the Spring Time Summoning Ritual. None of the teachers or students had expected Louise to be able to summon anything, then there would have been a valid reason to dismiss her and that would have been that. But to everyone's shock, she had summoned something. And not just any something, but a human. It was outlandish and unheard of, but the girl had done it, so she stayed.

Osmond could still remember Professor Colbert coming into his office to inform him and show him a copy he made of the runes that had appeared on the man's chest. The familiar runes of Lífþrasir, one of the four Legendary familiars of the Founder, Brimir. Osmond shuttered at the implications of such a thing. It would mean that the Louise was actual a void mage, and if word of that got out... who knew what would happen. Most likely war would break out over the right to possess the girl or kill her, claiming that her existence went against Brimir's blessing or something. It would be a horrible blood bath, and not something the old man wanted to place on the shoulders of such a little girl. The knowledge that she was in some way responsible would be horrible for any one to deal with.

So the head master wished to just sweep the whole thing under the rug, but unfortunately the familiar decided to draw attention to himself; fighting a duel against one of his students, acting like a psycho, openly denouncing his master, declaring himself to be in the service of one of their top students, bushing off a teacher as if she was a child, and showing off magic that they could not identify.

The man was powerful, a maniac, and barely being kept in control by some kind of deal he had with Tabitha. Students and teachers alike were terrified of this man, begging for something to be done, but there was nothing that Osmond could do. After all, a familiar is an extention of there master, and even if he declared himself separate from Louise, the law begged to differ. Any use of force against the man would be the equivalent of a use of force on the noble girl herself in the eyes of the law.

Then he had received the letter. Princess Henrietta was planning on visiting the academy for the Exhibition, the show of sorts where all the second year students would show off there knew familiars.

For the life of him, Osmond couldn't understand why the Princess would want to come, but he had to figure out a way to secure the place while she was there. Between the master thief Fouquet, the serial killer Lea, and the unpredictable familiar Axel, Osmond wanted to beg the Princess not to come. But he couldn't, it was not his place to question her decision, just to act upon her wishes. He could only pray to the Founder that nothing went wrong.


Axel took a deep breath, the weeks of research and endless hours of work had come to this moment. He lifted the short scepter he had taken from Mott when he had killed the perverted nobleman. "I, Axel, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following my fate, summon a familiar." He said calmly though the new heart in his chest felt like it was having some kind of crises.

The signal stones of light that Axel had created to act as a catalyst to make sure that the one summoned would be a being with a light attribute, began to glow with a soft silver light that illuminated the room, casting away all the shadows. Axel's own nothingness magic energy mixing with the light.

He could feel it, the spell working fast, ripping apart the air around him as it tore through time and space, reaching out for what Axel could not have obtained with his own two hands.

A lime green oval appeared in the air, just like the books described it and Axel's new heart leapt up into his throat as all prayed to gods that he usually not give two shits about, that it would be her. The portal started to shrink and standing there in her own black coat uniform of the Organization, was Xion.

"Xion." Axel said, it was hardly more than a whisper as he rushed forward throwing his arms around the small girl, breathing in her smell, holding onto her as if afraid she would disappear. "You're here. I finally got you back." Axel said, mosture coming to his eyes.

"Yes... master." Xion said in a dull voice. Axel's heart fell into his shoes.

"Xion... what are you talking about. Stop goofing around." Axel said, trying to keep his voice steady as fear took over him.

"I am sorry, Master, but I do not understand what you mean." The girl said. She looked up at him with eyes that were completely blank. "I am master's familiar."

"Is this what you left me for?" Axel's head whipped around to see Saix standing behind him, the Nobody had the usual emotionless look on his scarred face.

"Saix..." Axel mumbled. He looked exactly like Axel had remembered him, long blue hair and pale golden eyes that seemed cold, evil even, with a 'x' shaped scar over his face. Axel's original self had been friends with Saix's original self, and the friendship continued for a while after they had become Nobodies together.

"Aren't we friends?" The voice that came from the blue haired Nobody wasn't his own. Suddenly the man was gone, and Tabitha was in his place. "Were you just using me? Why do you choose that doll over me?"

"She isn't a doll!" Axel shouted, anger flaring up inside of him. He remembered how the Organization had treated Xion, like she had been worthless or replaceable. The called her the doll, said that she was even less then nothing. But she had been more than all of those bastards combined.

"She is a doll." Saix said as his image replaced Tabitha's again. "Just kill her, and summon me."

"No! She isn't a doll!" Axel shouted, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned back to Xion, only to see that her face was gone, replaced by a short sequence of runes. Axel flinched away in shock. "I am just a doll. If I break, then I should just be replaced." Xion's voice echoed around Axel.

Axel watched as Xion's body began to crack, and then exploded into crystal dust. "No!" Axel screamed.


Axel's eyes shot open, his breathing was heavy as he sat up in his pial of hay. "It... it was just a dream." Axel mumbled, trying to chase away the memory of it. He knew that there was a chance that either Xion or Roxas wouldn't be able to resist the effects of the runes. Both had shown themselves to be weak to memory based magic. But Axel couldn't let that stop him. He needed to find a way to summon them. If the runes did have a strong effect on them, then that would just have to be the next objective.

"Papa?" Axel turned his head to see the baby dragon, Illococoo beside him in the nightdress they had given her after finding her cuddled up to Axel that one morning. Axel didn't really see any problem with it. Regardless how she looked, she was still just a baby, huddling up to there parents was natural to them. Though it still seemed odd to him that she would start calling him papa. "You okays?"

"I'm just peachy." Axel said with a chuckle, trying to put on the air that nothing was wrong. "I just had a really weird dream. One where food was eating people."

The baby dragon's eyes widened. "Food eating people." She said with a mixture of wonder and maybe a bit of fear. "But then what do people eat?"

"Grass." Axel glanced over to the side to see Tabitha, laying in her bed which had been moved down into the stables. Actually, the stables had been changed a lot since that first night the Nobody had been in it. Where before there had hardly been enough room for Illococoo's true dragon form and just a pill of hay, now there was considerably more.

Axel had used some home made magic cornerstones in order to use some space magic. Space magic wasn't all that useful in a fight, since it took a lot of power and concentration, even if you did have a talent for it. Usually the end result would just be a teleporting bullet, or a quick move across a large room, something that only lasts a fraction of a second. But by attaction the magic to objects, it can be used for several different things. So Axel carved some magic cornerstones and used it to increase the size of the room over ten fold. The space was huge, much bigger than even the noble's dorm rooms. Axel had dug out a spot and created an indoor pool, had moved in several work benches which held the books that he had taken from the library, he even brought in a table for them to eat meals at.

Since the room was so big, Tabitha decided to move in, bringing her bed with her. Axel had considered grabbing a bed from himself, but the things were too soft for his liking. He was used to the rock hard beds of the Nobodies' depressing castle. Even the hay was softer than those things, and it was much more to his liking.

Louise and Kirche had tried to take Tabitha out of it, saying that it wouldn't do for her to be with such an older man. Not that the two of them were even really sleeping together, and even if they had, the age gap wasn't that big. Regardless how they looked, Tabitha was really almost seventeen years old, and Axel himself was just a very mature looking eighteen, though he looked about twenty six.

"But grass tastes yacky!" Illococoo whined.

"Well then, you better make sure that it is you who eats the food and not the food that eats you." Axel joked, the baby dragon nodded quickly. "Lets just get back to sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

Axel leaned back down, but sleep didn't quickly. He had to admit to himself, that he actually did like being around Tabitha and Illococoo. But even so, he still wanted his old friends back.

His thoughts towards the little girl and her baby dragon were similar to the ones he had for Xion and Roxas. He wanted to protect them. To shelter them from all the wrongs in the world that might ruin their gentle ways. He wanted to keep them near because they made him feel like he was important to someone.

"I'm not replacing them." Axel told himself. "I will bring you two back... but I don't know what I will do after that." Axel closed his eyes, refusing to think about it any further. He murmured a spell that forced him into a deep dreamless sleep.

He would not change from his chosen path. He was a raging fire, and he wouldn't change. Not for anyone. Not even for himself.


Princess Henrietta smiled and waved from the back of her royal coach as she road through the entrance of the Tristian Magic Academy. Students gathered on either side of the roadway leading up to the academy's main building, all of them screaming her name.

Henrietta was quite popular, considered to be the heart of the nation since the unfortunate death of her father, the former king of the nation. Though whether her popularity was because of her policies or her natural beauty and charm, it was hard to say.

Henrietta's shoulder length purple hair worked well at framing her gentle, pale face and light brown eyes. Her smile was enough to send up cheers from the gathered students. But even though everyone was so glad to see her, her eyes were only searching for one face as she scanned the crowd for any sign of bright pink hair.

Her eyes jumped from face to face, but nowhere could she find her distent cousin and childhood friend, Louise, the girl who was the entire reason she had risked coming to the year's exhibition. She wanted so badly to her again, to have someone who she wouldn't have to pretend to be strong with. Someone who would be able to see her cry. But it was no good with this dense crowd of students, it was impossible to find anyone.

Henrietta was about to give up hope when her eyes spotted something odd. A large hole in the crowd where only three people stood. One was a small girl dressed in a school uniform with bright, sky blue hair and a long staff in hand. She seemed to be much more interested in the book in her hand than she was in the passing princess.

The second girl was much taller with darker skin and dark red hair. She clearly had a look of a Germanian and her school uniform was looking strained with the difficulties of keeping in the watermelon landslide of her chest. She stood with a pouting look on her face as she watched the princess coming by, as if jealous that the purple haired royal was stealing all the attention.

But both of these people were normal compared to the last person. A man dressed in a black robe held closed with silver chains. His dark red hair was similar with that of a Germanian, but his pale skin was different from the darker skin of the Germanians. He stood with his arms crossed and a flat mouthed expression as he stared hard at Henrietta as she rode by. The princess's smile faltered as she stared back into his bright green eyes that seemed to be weighing her life.

It was clear that this man was the reason that there was a gap in the crowd. The students around the edge of the gap threw him worried glances and pressed up against their neighbors as they tried to get as far away from the red haired man. He was clearly dangerous, but who was he? What had he done to bring about all this fear?

Henrietta did her best to pull her eyes away from the man, but she could still feel his gaze. Those bright green eyes that seemed to stare right through her.

As the princess headed away from him a small smile passed over Axel's lips. "Got ya."


Axel had not expected a chance like this to literally stroll right in front of him. He had been expecting to have to travel across the country to pull the girl out of her bed in the middle of the night, but it seemed like fate was on his side now.

Ever since he started reading up on the connection between the Founder and the royal families, Axel had become more and more sure that they were the key to the power of the void, and summoning a nobody.

It hadn't taken him long to find that Louise was really a blood relative of the Tristian royal family, her grandfather being a bastard of a former king.

The royal families were constantly inbreeding in order to keep the blood line pure. So if a branch family member like Louise the Zero could inherit enough nothingness magic to call upon a nobody familiar, than surely a pure blooded royal could do the same.

It all made sense. The taboo surrounding a royal family member summoning a familiar was supposed to be to discourage favoritism towards their underlings who managed to summon the same type of familiar, but it was much more likely that the rule was to prevent beings like Axel himself from being summoned. An action that would mark them as a user of the void.

He stared hard at the princess wondering if she would have the power that he sought after. If only the moons and sun were in the right position in the sky. They he could just kidnap her at that very moment and force her to preform the ritual.

As it was, he thought he might have a way to get by that limitation in the summoning ritual, but best to use an expendable pawn to try it out. If it back fired and killed the princess then he would have to fight another one. Not worth the risk.

Even so, with the girl so close by, Axel could work on winning her favor in some way, thereby side stepping the need to force her to preform the ritual against her will.

It would also give him the chance to confirm whether or not she even possessed the qualities needed to summon Roxas or Xion before he went through all the trouble.

"Just wait a little longer. Roxas, Xion. I will get the two of you back." He mumbled to himself as the Princess left her carriage to speak to the headmaster. Possible plans forming in the back of his mind.


Louise didn't know what to do. Princess Henrietta had come all the way from the Palace to see the Exhibitions, but she didn't have a familiar to show her.

She had managed to summon a powerful being, but he was to far out of her control, and everyone knew it.

She couldn't show up on stage in front of the princess without anything to show. It wouldn't just be a shame upon her family, it would shame her in front of her best friend. The only real friend she had ever had.

She had always told Henrietta that she would become a powerful mage so that she could always stand by her side and help her, but she had never even managed to cast a single spell. She didn't even have an element. Or at least, not one that she could understand.

'Nothingness magic'

She had no idea what it was, she had tried to find out what her wayward familiar meant by those words, but so far her search was fruitless. She wanted to know if it was real. She wanted to know if their really was magic that she could preform, but she couldn't build up the courage to confront the man who had the answers she was looking for.

Axel was not just scary, he was a nightmare that walked like a man. An unreal force, cold and cruel who could not be stopped or hindered in any way. One who thought nothing of killing them and wasn't afraid to let them now it. He stood in plan sight in front of them and watched them shiver in fear and back away from him. Batting aside any attempts against him with disinterested ease. He had done everything in his power to sew the seeds of fear into the people surrounding him.

But... he had healed her burns. He had stood up for the maid and defended her when Guiche had assaulted her. He was friendly and gentle with Tabitha and her familiar. And he was spending every waking moment trying to find a way to reunite with his family.

It was like there were two sides to him; the cold hearted warrior, and the soft hearted older brother. The only real question was, which was his true self?

Louise nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard a frantic knocking at the door. "What idiot would be running around at this hour." Louise mumbled, trying to play off her sudden fright, even though no one had seen her being startled. The knock came again as Louise moved for the door. "I'm coming!"

But the moment she slid the lock on her door, the thing was pushed open and someone in a brown cloak pushed in past her. Louise was startled, but since the cloak was brown instead of black, she wasn't exactly scared.

"Wh...who are you!" She stammered as the door swung shut. Louise had pulled her wand and was pointing it straight at the intruder.

"I guess it have been a long time." A sweet and familiar voice said from beneath the cloak. Louise blinked in surprise and lowered her wand as Princess Henrietta rushed forward, pulling her into a hug. "Louise Françoise!" She shouted happily.

"Princess!" Louise said in surprise before breaking the hug and going down on one knee. "You shouldn't have come here. These quarters are unworthy of your grace."

"Oh stop that Louise Françoise. No one's around, so you can just call me Henrietta, like when we were children." Henrietta said grasping her hands and smiling down at Louise. "I've missed you so much Louise Françoise."

Louise smiled back. "I missed you too, pri... Henrietta." Louise said as she got up to give her old friend another hug. For a few moments Louise felt her cares drifting away, but they all came crashing back when the Princess began to speak again.

"Oh Louise, I am so glad I got to come here for the Exhibition to see you. I can't wait to see what you and your familiar have prepared tomorrow." Henrietta said as she leaned back to give her friend a kind smile, not noticing when the pink haired girl froze up. "Where is your familiar? I would love to meet it."

"Huh, he sleeps in the stables." Louise said adverting her eyes. It was not technically a lie, but not the whole truth either.

"Then you must have summoned a large and impressive familiar indeed. I just knew you'd be able to do it." Henrietta said smiling.

"Yeah he's pretty big alright, and impressive." Louise said thinking of the tall red haired man and his overwhelming presence and power. "Though he's a little... hard to handle."

"I look forward to seeing him tomorrow then." Henrietta said before they changed the subject to how the queen was doing and bringing up stories of when they were little girls. Though throughout the entire conversation, Louise couldn't help but to think about the Exhibition.

She had to find a way to get Axel to act as her Familiar, even if it was just for that one day. She would rather die then let the princess know that she was a failure.

So after Henrietta left to return to her quarters, Louise pulled on her own clothes and robe and left to go to the stables. She had to convince the red haired mage to be her familiar. She just had to.


"Ivaldi stood upon his slain foe. His bones were weary and his breath was heavy as smoke in his lungs, but he had done it. He had emerged victories where others had failed, and the dragon which had held his princess and people in its scaly hold was no more. Ivaldi had truly became the hero he had always claimed to be..." Axel read quietly to Tabitha and Illococoo. The nobody could hardly believe it. He was reading a bedtime story to a little girl and a shape-shifting baby dragon. What was even more ironic was that the story had a hero slaying a dragon in it.

It was apparently Tabitha's favorite book, 'The Hero Ivaldi'. It was such an innocent and childish thing. Something that surprised Axel more than he cared to admit.

He stopped when he could hear soft snores and turned his head to see Tabitha's eyes closed and her head pressed into her familiar's chest as the baby dragon hugged her, drooling slightly in her sleep. After some time Tabitha managed to get Illococoo to wear a nightgown while sleeping in her human form. Illococoo complained about it getting rapped up around her while she slept, but she did as her big sister told her to. Putting the book down, Axel pulled up the girls' blankets to cover them both before returning to his own nighttime works.

It wasn't so long ago that he had snuck off to another world to grab a few supplies from one of his emergency stashes that he had created in the case that the Organization betrayed him while he was out on a job. It wasn't much, but the basic elements for crafting dimensional fields and new enchantments and spells were all there.

He had wasted no time creating a barrier around the place in which he slept with Tabitha and Illococoo. One that would only allow them through and would throw up a wall of fire if anyone else ever tried to pass without his approval. The spell was complex, but the Orginization had made thousands of them in order to secure their home turf, so Axel was familiar with their workings and how to make them.

Though at the moment he was creating something rather different. He was crafting a spell.

Tabitha had shown interest in his method of spellcraft, so Axel had explained to her its workings. It wasn't like it was a big secret, and he gained some enjoyment from talking with the girl. And when she asked if he could create a spell for her to use if she ever lost her staff, he had simply responded with sure. It didn't take too long, about an half hour and he had crafted a blizzard spell.

To anyone who didn't know any better, they would say it was just a card, a colorful piece of paper with a picture of a blue snowflake on it. Though this design was simple something that Axel used out of habit from his days in Oblivion Castle. In truth you could use any medium to transfer the spell with. You simply needed to complete the matrix that converted the magical energy on the object and then have the user absorb that power into their bodies.

Axel had studied every book in the library that had even a mention of the summoning ritual. At this point the only thing he needed is to experiment with it. To test the knowledge he had gained and his theories about how to summon Roxas and Xion.

In true, there was nothing that still held him to Tabitha. Nothing, but his heart. In the weeks he had spent with the small girl he had grown to care for her and the baby dragon. The school was obnoxious but it wasn't as though it was any worse than anywhere else. Axel really didn't have anywhere he needed to be.

So he stayed. He stayed by the tiny blue haired girl, his little master, performing the small tasks she asked of him, keeping her company and telling her stories of the thing she had never been able to see before. She remained mostly quiet, but he had learned to read her well. She was a friend to him, and as such, he would burn to death anyone who tried to harm her.

Axel was putting the finishing touches on the spell card when he felt someone triggering his barrier and hear a squeak of friend. Spinning away from his work bench he called up his Eternal Flames. If someone was planning on taking him in his sleep, they would be dealt with; quickly and permanently.


Louise was shocked out of her wits when she came close to the stable where Axel slept and a wall of fire leapt from the ground to bar her path.

She staggered away from the flames as the waves of heat pressed down on her. The sudden bright orange light blinding her after the darkness of the stables. She covered her eyes, blinking fast to try to become adjusted to the light.

"Don't move." Axel mocking voice said from behind her. She froze as she felt metal against the skin of her neck.

"Please... I... I just..." Louise panicked. She thought that she was about to die. But to her surprise Axel lowered his weapon.

"Oh, its just you." He said in a bored voice. "What do you want?"

"You. You're not going to kill me?" Louise said awkwardly.

"That depends, why were you here?" Axel asked, glaring down at the girl. Even with the light of the fire gone, his green eyes were easy to see in the darkness.

"I just wanted to talk to you." Louise said quickly, hoping beyond hope that this man would not take offense to anything she had to say. "It's about the Exhibition."

"That event for showing off your familiars. Yes I suppose you are up shit creek there aren't you." Axel said stiffly as he crossed his arms and stared down at the girl.

Louise bit her lip. She wished he would just blink more, or at least put his weapons away. "I was hoping that I could convince you to act as my familiar during the event." Louise mumbled before holding her breath, waiting for one of the bladed weapons to slice off her head.

"And I would do this why?" Axel asked raising a single eyebrow.

"I... that is to say..." Louise was at a lose, she hadn't expected to get this far.

"We've been over this before. If you want me to do something for you. You need to have something I want. Got it memorized? Though to my knowledge, you don't have anything, do you?" Axel said with a disinterested wave of the hand as if he was telling her to get lost.

Louise started to tear up. "Please! I can't face the princess without a familiar! I don't want her to be disappointed in me! I want to show her that I am good enough to still be her friend! Please just help me! Just this once! I'll do anything you ask!" Louise sobbed as her stress overwhelmed her.

Axel stood there, considering the girl. So, she was a friend to the princess. Meaning she would probably try to keep him around whenever the princess could see. It would be a good chance for him to observe that possible summoner without having to resort to anything dangerous. Pretending to be a familiar for a few hours would be no harm to him.

"I must be going soft." Axel said, even though it was completely a calculated move. Louise stopped crying as she looked up at him with shock clear in her eyes. "I will tell my master that you wish to borrow me for the Exhibition. But remember that you owe me for this." Axel sound in a warning fashion. Louise nodded frantically, afraid that Axel would change his mind.

"Good, know if you excuse me. I've got some things to do." Axel said, turning the girl away as he went back to his modified stable.

Louise couldn't believe it. Not only was she alive, but her super scary and powerful familiar had agreed to play the part for the Exhibition. It had all gone almost too perfectly.

She raced back to her room and when she got there she barely had time to get to the bed before passing out as all the adrenaline left her.


When Louise woke up the next morning, she was more than half convinced that the entire thing had just been a dream. After all, why would the cold hearted familiar ever agree to help her with only a promise of a future favor in return. He had already given voice to his lack of caring for the noble girl and said that her word was worthless to him.

But no, she knew that it had really happened. She didn't know why he was doing it, whether it was out of real compassion or out of some hidden objective. Though she supposed she shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. She was desperate enough to not care one way or the other.

Looking out the window, she saw the sun rising over the horizon and realized she had to start hurrying. After all, she had never actually spoken with Axel about what exactly his plans were for the Exhibition. Regardless how impressive of a fighter he might have been, he still needed to be able to put on a good display for the judges.

She had managed to get dressed and comb her hair before she paused, remembering the events of the last night. Going to his little den was probably a bad idea, unless she wanted to risk that home defense system of his roasting her alive. Maybe she should go to breakfast and try to find Tabitha instead.

Speaking with the near mute girl was still difficult, but not nearly as fatal.

Unfortunately, Tabitha never came to dining hall. There were only a few hours left until the start of the Exhibition and Louise was starting to worry. "Kirche, do you know where Tabitha and my familiar are?" Louise asked the red headed mage.

"Hm? Last I saw of them they were heading to the back of the school. I'm not sure why though. Tabitha mentioned something about 'practice'." Kirche said tapping her finger on her chin. "Why do you need to find them?"

"It's... the Exhibition's today." Louise said.

Kirche nodded understandingly. "So you need to have a familiar. Do you really think that Axel will agree to help you? He doesn't seem the type. Maybe we can find a magic creature to pretend to be your familiar for the day." Kirche suggested.

Louise shook her head. "I asked him last night. He agreed to do it in exchange for a favor in the future." Louise admitted. "But I never actually asked him what he was going to do for the event. So I'm trying to find him."

"You are actually going to trust him after..." Kirche started with a frown, remembering how he had forced her to use magic without any care for her safety. But she realized that Louise really didn't have a choice. If she wanted to say at the academy, then she needed to present the familiar she had summoned. Kirche sighed. "Alright, I'll take you out to them."

Guiding the girl out through the back entrance of the academy they could see Axel standing there with Tabitha and Sylphid, once again in her dragon form. Axel stood with his arms crossed as Tabitha faced a straw dumbie a little ways off. Louise and Kirche stopped, watching the two, wondering just what they were doing.

"Remember, the spell has a natural rate in which it wishes to be charged. Try to feel the flow of magic in order to figure it out." Axel instructed Tabitha who nodded.

Tabitha raised her right hand, but her staff was leaning against the wall a little distance away. She couldn't do magic without it. No normal human could.

"Load." Tabitha said slowly. "Channel. Focus. Visualize." She mumbled one word after another as she closed her eyes in concentration. "Realization. Blizzard."

Louise and Kirche were both shocked as a large cluster of ice crystals appeared in front of Tabitha, combining together to form a single large crystal before rocketing away from her. Even though she missed the target by a mile, she had still preformed magic without the use of a focusing instrument.

"Not bad, but you need to keep your eyes open during the visualizing phase. It is harder to form the spell that way, but if you don't then you won't be able to aim the result properly. Got it memorized?" Axel said with his cocky grin. "How about you try it again."

Tabitha nodded. This time she was silent, not even mumbling the names of the steps, only using the very last word. "Blizzard." She said quietly. The ice shard formed again and this time flew straight through the air and right through the straw dumbie's head, ripping the thing off.

"Nicely done." Axel said with a grin.

Tabitha turned to him and Kirche couldn't believe what she was seeing. There was a small smile on the little girl's face. It was the first time Louise or Kirche had ever seen Tabitha smiling, even if it was only a small one.

Axel reached out and patted the girl on the head. The was a kind and energetic smile on his face, not the sadistic smile that he usual wore when dealing with people, or the fake charm he used when he simply wanted something. This might have been even more unbelievable then Tabitha's smile.

Louise felt jealous as she watched them. It really did seem like a girl and her older brother. It reminded Louise a little of how her older sister Cattleya was always with her. Gentle and supportive.

"Remember though, aiming for the head isn't always the best plan. Better to aim for the chest. That way if you miss by a little you still hit something and with so many vital organs in one place, you will probably kill them anyways. Even if it won't be quick or painless." Axel swung his hand in the direction of the stuffed target and a fireball shot from his hand, smashing straight through the thing's chest and setting it a flame.

"Yes." Tabitha nodded, a slight bit of happiness in her voice. Then she spotted Kirche and Louise and the small smile vanished. "Company."

Axel's eyes darted in Louise and Kirche's direction as he reached out and grabbed onto Tabitha's staff, flicking it too the small mage who caught it effortlessly.

An aura of danger was coming from the red haired man until he realized who it was that had been watching them. "Spying isn't exactly a very noble pass time, girl." Axel said in a disapproving voice.

"We weren't spying!" Louise insisted before realizing that shouting was probably not the best idea. "I was just looking for you so that I could ask what the plan was for the Exhibition. That's all. The Exhibition is going to be starting soon, so..." Louise mumbled weakly.

Axel grumbled and started to scratch his head. "Right. Guess we need to do that." He said in irritation, as if it was a waste of his time. "With your leave, Master." He said to Tabitha, a show meant to show Louise that she was not in control of him. He might as well not have bothered, Louise remembered full well that she couldn't control this man.

Tabitha nodded though to Kirche's surprise she saw the girl's mouth twitch slightly during the gesture.

"So, where do you want to do this?" Axel said crossing his arms as he turned back to Louise.

"I um... I suppose my room would be the best place." Louise answered quickly. Axel nodded and followed the pink haired girl away leaving Kirche, Tabitha and Sylphid behind.

Sylphid gave a small whine as they watched them go, Tabitha also staring after them. Though Kirche herself was watching Tabitha's reactions.

"Tabitha... you aren't jealous that he is going with Louise are you?" Kirche asked grinning at the small blue haired girl. Tabitha didn't answer but took a book out of her cloak and turned her back on Kirche. It was as good as a yes for the fire mage. "Oh that is soooo adorable! My little Tabitha, you have fallen in love!" Kirche squealed.

"Kirche..." Tabitha said, snapping the girl out of her squeals.

"Hmm?" Kirche asked just before Tabitha's staff pulled out her legs from under her, sending Kirche falling backwards onto her bubbly butt. "Ouch!" Kirche cried as she started to rub her poor bottom. Wind picked up as Sylphid took off with Tabitha on her back, leaving the Germanian girl on the ground alone. "I was just saying." Kirche whimpered.


"So um..." Louise stammered nervously after she had sat down in her room with Axel standing across from her, looking as bored and angry as ever. She realized that this was the first time he had been back in her room since he had declared his independence from her, and that she had neglected to remove the hay from the corner of the room. She hoped that oversight wouldn't anger him. "What is the plan for the Exhibition?"

"You tell me. I hardly know or care about this event of yours." Axel said with a shrug.

"Right." Louise said swallowing and trying to pull herself together. She was the daughter of Karin the Heavy Wind. She needed to get a hold of herself. "The Exhibition is basically a talent show. You simply need to preform a feet of skill that would impress the judges."

"So I just need to do something that looks impressive." Axel said in a disinterested manner as he held out his right hand with the palm up. After a few moments a rainbow of fire started to rise up out of his finger tips, spinning into a sphere of colors. Louise had to stop herself from gasping at the beauty of it. She had heard of square class fire mages who could produce blue fire, but this was so unreal. "Will this do?"

"How do you do that?" Louise asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Each color is a different density of fire magic; red is the least dense, purple is the most dense." Axel said simply. "Considering your reaction I'll take that as a yes, it will do." Axel said as he let the fire die. "So, when does this Exhibition thing start?"

"In a little more than an hour we are supposed to gather at the stage." Louise said, still in shock by those flames. Then she remembered what she had seen earlier that morning. "I saw you teaching Tabitha your style of magic." Louise said, testing the waters.

"Yeah, and?" Axel replied leaning back in his seat. He knew where this was going, but no point in not making her squirm. It was always funny, like watching a mouse trying to ask a cat for a piece of cheese.

"I just didn't know that you could teach others your kind of magic. I assumed that it was something unique to you." Louise said, trying to prase him in hopes that it would make him more likely to answer her request.

"I could teach the kitchen staff magic if I really wanted to. Not that I would." Axel said as he did an over dramatic yawn.

"What? But... they're all just peasants. They can't use magic." Louise said, though in the back of her mind she wasn't so sure.

"You only think that because you have such little knowledge of magic. I could write entire libraries with the things that you people down know about magic." Axel boasted with a grin. "For example, your magic."

Louise stiffened. "Could... could you teach me?" She asked, swallowing hard.

"Yes." Axel answered simply.

Louise gasped, not believing what she had just heard. "You will?"

"No." Axel said with his cocky grin, causing Louise to come crashing back down. "You asked me if I could, and I can. You ask me if I will, then the answer is that I won't." Axel said knowing full well that it was a cruel jock.

"But you have to!" Louise shouted, reason leaving her in her desperation to find out about the reason why she could never use magic. "You are the only one who can!"

"You are probably right there. I don't think you will be able to find anyone else here who knows how to preform nothingness magic, but I still won't teach you." Axel said shrugging.

"Why not!?" Louise demanded.

"Because, if you did learn, then you would be a threat and I would have to kill you." Axel said. Louise froze as his green eyes bored into her. "Just be glad that I am helping you this once, girly. Don't forget that you have no power to command me."

Dark flames licked around his hair, scaring Louise back into the real world. A world were she is a powerless little girl in front of a monster that she could never hope to beat, begging for a favor from him. He could kill her in an instant, and he knew it, and he knew that she knew it.

"I... I understand. Thank you for your generosity." Louise said as she cast her eyes downwards. In the end, he still held all the power.


The day was bright, but not too bright. Just enough clouds in the sky to keep the air tempered without casting a shadow over the lands. All and all, the conditions for the Exhibition couldn't have been more perfect.

Everyone said that it was the Founders way of blessing the visit of the Princess of Tristain. To see that the sun smiles upon her face as she witnessed the talents of the young man and women who would one day serve her court.

She was told this so many times that Henrietta felt like screaming for them all to just shut up. Honestly, they would thank her for the sun rising in the morning. There was a fine line between admiration and having gone of the deep end, and most of her subjects seemed to be in the latter category. She had so many embracing displays 'dedicated to her beauty' that she half wanted to smear dragon dung on her face to get them to stop it. The only thing that was stopping her was the suspicion that they would still say she was flawless even after being covered in shit.

That said, once she managed to drown out the fan worship of the crowd she was actually having fun watching the young mages and familiars putting on a show. Each one showing a different set of skills and a bond between them and their masters that was simply a thing of beauty.

She watched with amazement and a bit of envy as a smaller girl with bright blue hair flew about in the sky above them on her dragon familiar. What Henrietta wouldn't give to have such freedom. To be able to fly away whenever she wanted, to be free of this life she had been born into. But all too soon the dragon returned to the ground and the display was over.

"That was Tabitha, and her familiar Sylphid." The instructor who had been tasked to read off the announcement said. "Next up is Louise and her..." The man's voice dropped of and he seemed to pale. "Oh no."

Henrietta was confused. Why did the man suddenly seem worried. Glancing around she noticed that he wasn't the only one. Several of the other instructors and even the students whispered nervously to each other.

"How did she convince him to actually do it?" A nearby teacher asked her neighbor in a worried tone.

"What is going on?" Henrietta asked one of her bodyguards. But before she got her answer, her childhood friend Louise stepped up onto the stage, and standing right beside her with his arms crossed and a smug grin on his face was the man with the red hair and green eyes, dressed in the same dark robe as before.

"This is my familiar." Louise said looking only a little less nervous than the audience. "His name is Axel... his time is, a mage."

Henrietta was dumb struck. A mage. Her childhood friend has summoned another noble?

Axel stepped forwards before glancing back at Louise. "Might want to take a few steps back." He said. Louise quickly did as she was told. Then Axel turned back to his terified onlookers. "Now lets get this party started!" He shouted throwing out his arms.

Axel's entire body burst into flames, covering from head to toe. There were screams of shock from the crowd as they watched the fire take on a rainbow of colors and start to twist around his body forming into a large orb before flouting up into the air over him, leaving Axel standing beneath it, undamaged by the mass of fire that he had just unleashed.

The ball spun in a multitude of colors as it grew bigger and bigger, until it was the size of a large horse. Then it split, the two halves turning into a pair of massive wings as the ball transformed into a giant flaming bird.

The fire bird flew in the air just above the students, drawing out shrill cries as it went, each student believing that it would burn them all to death. But after circling the gathering once it returned to the air above Axel before exploding, sending down small flakes of multicolored fire that all disappeared before reaching the ground. "Tada." Axel said in an almost taunting manner.

Henrietta couldn't believe what she had just seen. Louise's familiar had just preformed magic like nothing she had ever seen before. Not only that, but he did it without any kind of medium and without an incantation.

Her familiar wasn't powerful, he was insanely powerful. It was no wonder the students and staff were so wary of him. "Well, that could have gone a lot worse." The headmaster of the Academy mumbled off to Henrietta's right.

"Indeed. Do you think that Louise has finally managed to get a bit more control over her familiar?" A balding teacher replied from the other side of the old wizard.

"Unlikely, but I suppose it is possible." The headmaster replied.

Henrietta blinked before her eyes went to Louise, standing a good distance behind Axel, looking as frightened as the students and staff.

The announcer coughed awkwardly. "Yes well. Lets here it for Louise and her familiar, Axel."

As Axel and Louise left the stage, Henrietta watched them carefully. It was true that they didn't seem to share a close relationship like the other masters and familiars. The tension between them seemed more like that between a noble and a serving girl. Seeing the proud Duke's daughter so worried about angering this man was a worrying thing, but... it did make Henrietta curious about this man. This unknown mage who could call on fire without a wand.


Louise had been one of the last students to preform before the judges went away to decide.

As breath taking as the display with the fire had been, it had only been the familiar out there and without any interaction or instruction from Louise, which was what ended up losing the competition for the girl. As much as Henrietta wanted to give the prize to her childhood friend, it just won't have been right.

After some discussion, the judges finally decided that they would award Tabitha as the winner of the Exhibition.

Henrietta went up onto stage in front of the students of the Magic Academy and smiled down at them, making sure to keep up her public face. "Everyone. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being her today and for letting me witness all of your wonderful familiars." Henrietta said. The speech was just a speech, not a word of it really meant, but it was something that Henrietta had long since learned she had to do. "In my eyes you are all winners, but unfortunately there is only one prize. And so, it is my great honor to award..."

Henrietta was cut off by a panicked scream followed by a massive crash as something heavy hit the ground behind the stage were she stood, blowing her over.

The princess coughed as a wave of dust was knocked up into the air and when it settled she fond herself looking up at a massive metal golem like creature. It's body made of a dark purple and blue metal and a strange symbol on the center of its chest. In one hand was a mallet the size of a small tower and black chains hung from the creatures wrists.

It gave an unearthly roar as it swung its hammer through the air, steering up a massive wind.

Dozens of other smaller creatures appeared out of the air, most surrounding the Princess though some were scattered throughout the crowd too. Beings of several different shapes and sizes, each giving off this chilling aura as they moved around like puppets on the ends of strings.

The castle guard started to jump into action and the last thing Henrietta remembered before the strange darkness coming from the giant caused her to pass out was the words of her personal guard, Agnes, shouting. "Protect Her Highness!"


Agnes and the other women of the musket squad had rushed the stage in an attempt to get to their fallen princess, but their way was quickly barred by three of the strange creatures, these ones being large and fat with short arms and legs. The knight was found their appearance to be repulsing, their faces had no eyes or mouths, the strange purplish shell of their bodies looked soft enough but when they swung their swords to try to clear a path, the blades simply shattered on the creature's bodies.

Agnes pulled out her pistol and shot one of the creatures at point blank range, but the bullet seemed to just bounce harmlessly off its body. The monster responded by winding up a punch. Agnes stepped back to where she thought would be out of range of the short arms, but the creature's limb seemed to stretch with the punch, the hand becoming longer at the end of the swing, knocking Agnes back several feet onto the ground.

As the squad captain struggled to get back up she heard her squad members scream out on pain. Looking up she saw that two of the creature had some a sort of body slam, crushing her soldiers underneath their massive guts. It was a horrible sight, the twisted limbs of the proud women sticking out at odd angles from underneath the dark masses.

Agnes was still yet to recover when the third creature waddled up to her, standing over her, preparing to do the same to the captain as they did to her subordinates. Agnes bared her teeth at the monster and held out the broken stump of her sword. "Well, come at me then!" She shouted angrily at the creature.

It's belly bobbed up and down as if it was laughing at her before it started to jump. Agnes held her eyes open, determined to at least die with pride. But the fat creature never reached her as a ring of fire passed straight over her head, slicing the monster in two.

She barely had time to register that the monster was gone before a figure dressing in place passed over her head, cutting through the remaining two monsters with twin discs that were covered in pointed blades. It was the familiar of the pink haired noble girl. The fire mage.

Agnes watched in a state of shock as the red haired man continued towards the stage, slashing whatever monster got in his way to pieces before throwing one of his weapons at the outstretched arm of the giant as it reached for the princess. The giant gave a startled cry as the blade passed over its wrist and it backed up.

"Hey now, just so you know, I saw her first." The red haired mage said in a sarcastic tone. His thrown weapon reappearing in his free hand as he stepped between the giant and the princess. "If you want to kidnap her. Be ready to fight for it."


For one of the first times in Axel's existence, he had no fucking clue what was going on. It was rather annoying. This must have been what it felt like to be Sora.

Even when he was being summoned, he still had a pretty good handle of what was going on. When he was dying, he knew what was going on. Even when he was slowly developing a heart, he still had a fairly good handle on things. But right know he was completely clueless.

He didn't know what these things were. He didn't know where they had come from. He didn't know why they were attacking. He didn't even know whether or not he should even care.

He tried to sense the creatures' power to try to get an idea of what he was dealing with, but the results were not just confusing, they were impossible. He could sense not only dark magic from them, but both Nothingness and Heart based magic as well, even though those opposing forces could have canceled each other out. The only explanation Axel could think of was the the dark magic was acting as some kind of glue, holding together two forces that should not be able to exist at the same time.

Despite how ironic if felt for him to be the one thinking it, the things were truly abominations. Something that went against the natural order of reality. They were not heartless or nobodies. More like something that existed between a nobody and a somebody, as bazaar as that was.

Luckily Axel didn't need to understand them to know that he had to take them out. No for any moral reason of protecting the children, but because there was still the possibility that Princess Henrietta was the person he had been looking for and would be able to summon Roxas or Xion.

Even if there was only a narrow chance of that, it was still something that Axel would fight for. And if that meant killing a giant monster or two, then so be it.

Axel was keeping in close against the monster, using the the fact that its arms were ill positioned for close up attacks and its hammer was designed for midrange combat, to do some serious damage to its chest.

Axel slashed at the beast over and over again, leaving several cuts across its stomach as it tried to reach for him before he would dart out of the way and continue at another position.

Finally having more than enough of Axel's attacks, the monster began to spin rapidly around, holding out its hammer in such a way to create a massive wind that would blow Axel back, even if the Nobody managed to dodge the hammer strikes.

Once Axel had been pushed away from the creature it began to throw fireballs at him. Each one hitting the target until Axel was completely hidden in the smoke. The creature gave out a cry of victory, but it stopped when it heard Axel's bone chilling laugh.

"Seriously? Did you just try to stop me with fire?" Axel said as the smoke blew away, showing him standing there untouched and covered with dark crimson flames. "Let me show you how it's done. Bursting Firaga!" Axel held his twin weapons above his head and dozens of fireballs each the size of a large cat flew up into the air before curving around and smashing into the monster, each one setting off a large explosion of its own. The monster had been beaten up by the assault, but still managed to get back up to its feet. "Oh, still want mor..." Axel started by he heard a scream.

He froze as the voice registered in his mind. It was Tabitha.

He turned his head to see the blue haired mage girl with the other students that were trying to fight off the monsters that were attacking them. He had expected her to be fine. Her magic should have been strong enough to fight the creatures off. But Tabitha was huddled on the ground, shaking in fear, her eyes uncharacteristically wide as she stared at the monsters from behind her glasses. She was having a panic attack.

Sylphid was doing her best to protect her master, but with seven smaller various of the creatures, each with sharpened claws, the baby dragon was being overwhelmed. Axel could see claw marks on Sylphid's legs and the dragon tried to fend off the attacking dark creatures.

Axel was moving even before his mind had fully weighed the options. Screw the princess. He was not going to lose his friend, his family again, not for a slim chance like this.

Axel closed the distance between himself and Tabitha in a half second, bringing his blades through the monsters, cutting them to piece. "Tabitha. Are you alright?" Axel said in a worried tone as he faced outwards, throwing his blades at anything that tried to get too close it his friends.

Tabitha looked up at him, tears in her eyes. Axel was shocked by the display of emotion by the girl. "Don't let them take me." She whimpered.

Axel put a hand a free hand on her head. "Don't worry. I will never let them have you." Axel said gently even as he throw a fireball at a nearby creature, reducing them to ash.

"It has the princess!" Someone screamed. Axel looked up to see the giant holding the princess in its grasp just before it started to spin again, tunneling down into the ground.

Shortly after the boss disappeared the other monsters left as well. When Axel could no longer sense their darkness he turned back to Tabitha. "You alright. You aren't hurt are you?" He said as he quickly looked over her for any injures.

"Alright." She said as she started to regain her steady breathing. "Sorry." She mumbled.

"Don't be. Though I want an explanation later." Axel said with a sigh before ruffling the small girl's hair. "For know, your safe, that's all that matters."

"What are you talking about you fool!" Axel turned his head to see the blond knight he had saved on his way to the princess. For a second Axel was convinced that it was Larxene yelling at him again. "Why did you abandon the princess!"

"Wasn't my problem." Axel said simply as he turned his back on the woman. "Not my fault her body guards failed."

"Not your... that is treason!" Agnes shouted.

"Last I checked, neither myself nor my master are citizens of this country. Tabitha's safety took priority." Axel said, blowing off the knight.

"Sylphid." Tabitha said as she went to her injured familiar. Sylphid cued in a bit of pain as she bleed from several claw marks.

Axel moved up to the dragon. "Heal." He mumbled holding his hands to the dragon's cuts. Sylphid gave off a satisfied sigh as the green ribbons laced around her cuts, patching them together. "There, good as knew. How you feeling?" Axel asked the dragon. She gave a delighted cry and started to lick Axel's face.

"Teach me that later." Tabitha said, as she watched the heal spell at work.

"Sure thing." Axel said as he patted the dragons head.

"No he won't be. He is under arrest for treason, the damn fire mage." Agnes said angrily.

Axel looked at her over his shoulder with an annoyed expression. "Don't you have anything more important to do? I could have sworn your princess was just kidnapped right in front of you. You really should get on that."

Agnes gapped incredulously before she was interrupted.

"What were you doing!?" Louise shouted as she ran up to Axel. "You should have saved Henrietta!"

Axel glared at her, but Louise was to angry about him just abandoning Henrietta to care. "Tabitha takes priority." Axel said causing the small blue haired girl to blush. "After all, she is the one I have recognized as my master, not the princess, or you."

"No you idiot! The Princess always takes priority!" Louise shouted.

"Complain all you want, but I have made my choice." Axel said as he stood up. "But now that Tabitha is safe, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try to hunt down that thing that took your princess. I am rather curious as to what it was anyways." Louise and Agnes were slack jawed at the statement. That he would only save the princess because it happened to coincide with his curiosity.

Axel turned away from them and pulled out a bit of his own dark magic, luring out the creatures he needed. "Assassins!" He summoned. The mages who had all been watching him stumbled back as three silver creatures appeared out of the ground. Each one had a humanish form to it and was slumped over forward slightly. Steel blades hung from there arms like wings made of knifes.

"You called us, my liege?" One of the Assassin class Nobodies said in a hollow voice.

"A dark creature escaped from me using that hole over there." Axel said pointing to the hole that the monster had dug. "Find it and report back to me."

"At once, my liege." The Assassins all drowned together before sinking into the ground and going off on their assigned task.

"What the devil where those things!?" Agnes shouted, her eyes wide. But Axel didn't listen to her. He just opened up a Corridor of Darkness and led Tabitha and Sylphid through. They would wait on the ceiling and maybe Axel would get some answers as to why Tabitha had broken down earlier.

"Today was not my day." Axel mumbled to himself as the door to darkness closed behind him.


Complete chapter 4