A/N: This was actually my first fanfic about Axel, but I decided to brush it up a little and upload it as a chapter here. Please note that I wrote this 8.5 years ago, with the ever so fitting title 'Burning Love.' Back then it could have been canon, now it's pretty much AU. :P Oh, and technically, I'm not going to continue with this challenge/one-shot collection, because nobody is reading and/or reviewing this anyway, which I'm taking as a loss of interest.
Still, if you happen to stumble upon this by chance, I hope you'll enjoy this. :)
7. Another Side
There he was again, exactly at the same place, against his free will, all alone in the cold air. Once he realized what was going on, he felt a cold shiver running down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold itself. But how was it possible to be standing there again? He didn't understand. He only saw flashes of what happened, as if he was in a movie that wasn't edited well enough, until he arrived at the right scene. The scene he wanted to postpone as far as possible. But he knew that he couldn't do that.
Everything went very quickly to him, but that wasn't bad. He knew the entire 'movie' too well from his head. He knew what would follow now. This would be a Happily Never After. There he saw her timid face again, full of emotions that he had never had seen on her. He saw fear, despair and sorrow. Her once so beautiful face, made him shudder. She was crying for some reason.
Lea already knew that there was nothing he could do to save her.
He slowly slipped away from the steel door, away from her. Behind her he saw the fire, burning all that stood in its way. The woman would be the next that would be burn, since she was locked behind those doors of steel. Her eyes never seemed to let him go. He went crazy of grief when he saw her like that.
"Lea, help me! Please!" she begged.
He reached his hands out to her, but he was too far away. No, this can't be! I can't loose her! he thought.
"Lea, don't leave me here behind!" she whispered, scared.
He'd perfectly heard what she just said, despite of the sound of fire in the background.
"Soraya!" Lea called, still slipping away from her, but now even faster.
A dull but hard boom, along with a nauseating pain in his temple and the sound of breaking glass, let him return to reality.
It was very dark in the room.
Huh, where am I? What happened? Axel thought, completely confused. However, as soon as his eyes got used to the dark, he recognized every shape in the room, his own bedroom.
He was calm again and his breathing slowed down to a more natural tempo. He wasn't in danger; he was lying in his own bed, bathing in his own sweat.
Eeew, talking about nasty...
He threw a glance at the alarm clock. It was only half past three...at night.
He sighed. "Nice timing to wake up, dude. Guess I'll never learn it," he whispered.
He rubbed his finger against his temple.
Aauw, that really hurt!
When he stopped rubbing, he felt that his finger was wet. Was it sweat...or maybe blood? He didn't really want to know. It was the third time that he'd had the same nightmare this week. Would that ever stop? Each time he would turn around in his sleep, he managed to bump his head against the sharp corner of his bedside table, which made his glass of water fall on the ground and which made him wake up by the noise and the pain he had. It was always the same spot that he would bump against the nightstand too, so a bruise appeared on his temple over and over again.
He got up, carefully so he wouldn't step into the pieces of the broken glass, and stumbled to his bathroom. That was quite a task in the pitch dark. But he was able to find his way to the bathroom.
There, he put the lights on and looked at himself in the mirror. Yes, he should have known. His skin was torn open and he was bleeding again. He cursed. Tomorrow he would be the joke of the Organization. Just great!
He looked in the mirror again. His fire red hair looked messy, as it was standing in all directions. That meant that he had to stand in front of the mirror for another four hours tomorrow, to make his hair look normal again. Xemnas would start to whine that he was so slow...
He grinned. Who takes Xemnas seriously? He certainly didn't.
He praised those who had invented hairgel. His bright green eyes looked back at him from the mirror, blinking and not showing any emotions. Not that that was possible anyway, since he had no heart anymore. Then Soraya's reflection appeared in the mirror next to his. Her eyes were slightly fiery. He got a dry throat. Axel's eyes widened and couldn't move anymore.
"No, not again. Don't panic, I'm just hallucinating again," he muttered, while closing his eyes and praying that she was once he had opened his eyes again.
When he opened them again, Soraya was gone. A feeling of relief washed over him. There were really times that Axel was pleased that he had no heart, otherwise he would still have a heart attack by now.
He turned the tap and splashed some water in his face. "That's just great. Now I can't sleep anymore", he said grumpily.
Now he would worry about everything all night. He went to his desk and opened a drawer. He found what he was looking for. It was a picture of a beautiful woman with long, blonde hair and dark, sparkling, mysterious eyes, as mysterious as her smile. Eyes that gave you a head full of questions and made your brains freeze. A smile that gave you sleepless nights. Soraya...
He remembered the first day that he met her. A smile appeared on his face and he closed his eyes. He went back to that day.
Before Axel could take the next step with Soraya, by telling her how much she meant to him, he had seen with his own eyes how Soraya was killed... by her fiance.
That bastard is going to pay for that!
That had been his very first thought when he'd waken up as Axel. Xemnas had promised Axel many years ago that he, Axel, would have the chance to avenge Soraya's death. He had waited and suffered long enough. Tomorrow, Axel would help Xemnas remember the words he had spoken.
"It's now… or never," Axel whispered.
He kept repeating these words, like a mantra, until he finally fell asleep.
He woke up half past six.
"Whoa! This time I really fell asleep after my nightmare! Unbelievable! This really helps me with being in a good mood. Oh, note to self: I really should stop talking to myself. It freaks everyone out, even me." He laughed maniacally, before getting out of his bed. As soon as he did so, Axel stepped into the pieces of the broken glass. "AAAUW!"
He screamed a lot of things. Most of them were curses.
Next, he walked to his bathroom. There was nothing left of his good mood. He was grumpy again. "Why is it always me? This new life really is a curse for me!"
He wouldn't let anyone of the Organization know how grumpy he was though. They would only laugh at him when they found out. The Organization really had lost its glamour after Roxas' departure, that was certain.
A knock on his door brought him back to reality. "What?"
The door opened. It was Xaldin. "So it was you who was screaming like a helpless girl?" he said, smirking.
"What do you want?"
Xaldin always gave him the nerves in the mornings.
"Wow, a little bit grumpy, aren't we?" He laughed.
"Yeah, yeah. What are you doing here?"
"Xemnas is organizing a meeting. It'll start in ten minutes. Unfortunately you're invited too."
Axel rolled his emerald-green eyes. "Great. I have to change clothes, so if you'll excuse me…"
He quickly pushed Xaldin out of his room. "Hey!" Xaldin yelled, because he almost fell over his cloak.
Axel merely grinned and closed the door behind him. Such a pity he didn't break his neck.
So Xemnas was planning something. He was wondering what it could be. It looked like they would finally get some action. That was the only reason that he started to hurry. His hair took almost ten minutes. That was quite strange, since it normally took him longer to do his hair. He hoped it looked the same as always.
He ran out of his room and didn't even bother to breakfast. "Wait, what am I doing? How stupid of me," he said.
Axel stopped and quickly made a portal. In his hurry, he'd almost forgotten about the dark powers that he had. He was almost late, when he arrived at the place. Every member, save for Number I was already sitting on their chair, patiently waiting for their leader to show up.
"Nice hair," Luxord said sarcastically upon spotting the red-haired man.
Axel just wanted to give him a snarky remark, when Xemnas entered the white room. Everyone was immediately silent.
