"Wake up Roxas…wake up and smell the ashes."
Roxas woke up with a start jumping to his feet with his keyblade already in his hands. His eyes looked around frantically but instead of seeing the danger he had expected, his eyes were met with the sight of camp breaking down. No one even batted an eye at him and went about their business without acknowledging his freak out causing his mouth to gape a tad.
His shoulders slumped as his breathing finally began to ease up as he tried to recollect himself. He straightened up from his fighting stance and tried to dismiss his blade as casually as possible as to not draw any more attention to his predicament. Brushing his bangs out of his eyes he looked back to where he had been sleeping only to feel his stomach drop a bit when he noticed Axel was nowhere in sight.
Before he could even begin to guess where he might have gotten off to a gentle voice called out over the ruckus of the morning crowd.
"Oh good, you're up." Distracted from his thoughts, he turned and saw Aerith venture out of the swarm of packing with a worn expression gracing her features. "I know I took care of your wing yesterday but I wanted to make sure you're ok." She explained walking up to him and peering down with her hands already going to work patting him down.
"I'm fine Aerith, just bumps and bruises, nothing to get worked up about." He tried to clarify as she poked and prodded him while he twitched and fidgeted. "You really don't need to do anything else."
She ignored his requests and continued her inspection with her usual speed. "Just as I thought, almost all the cuts I saw yesterday are gone." She straightened up and smiled, "I wish half my patients had as fast of recovery as you, would make my job easier."
He looked down to hide his sheepish expression. Like always, she reminded him uncomfortably of his mom.
He felt her put her hand on his shoulder and say, "I know you're physically ok but are you ok-" she put her finger on his chest, "-here? You've been through a lot and I just wanted to ask." She seemed so sincere and willing to have him pile his burdens on her he almost started to talk but held himself back and only did his best to smile back at her in reassurance.
"You know me, I can handle anything." He stepped back from her hold and shook himself out, "See, all good" She didn't seem convinced by this display but before she could speak someone, he thought it was Rosa, called out to her.
"Alright Roxas, just take care of yourself, I have a feelings it's going to be a busy day." She waved at him as she said goodbye and walked away leaving Roxas alone on the outskirts of the crowd with only his thoughts for company. Not one for that, he snatched his backpack up and meandered slowly around the edges of the camp to begin his search for Axel. As he walked along he listened in on random conversations hoping to hear what today had planned for them but only heard the same conversation on repeat.
Will what happened yesterday happen today over and over again.
After a while, sick of hearing the same thing, he walked outside to mill around in the people to continue looking just as the first rays of sun had begun to cascade down. The morning had a wet dewy feel causing his wings to fluff up from the chill but with the new sweatshirt on him the cold didn't bite into him like it could have. He was glad he had decided to cover back up, they were warm and he didn't attract the stares like he could have.
Still searching halfheartedly, he saw Sora and Riku out by the dollar store talking to Yuna and Tidus. Walking up he was able to hear the tail end of the conversation.
"This can't go on forever. We need a place to settle down." Tidus complained a tad louder than he should have. The blond adult folded his arms over his chest and searched the crowd just begging someone to come pick a fight with him so he would have a reason to punch said person. Roxas never knew what to think of him; all he knew was that apparently he had been some hot shot jock from the team Zanarkand Abes. According to Rikku though he was 'ultra special awesome'…whatever that meant.
"I agree, one of these days were going to get ambushed not by heartless but by people." Yuna said leaning against the dollar store wall. She had a gigantic Band-Aid on her forehead, a token from the heartless no doubt.
"We will! I bet today we will find that special place meant just for us." Sora interjected waving his hands about for emphasis. Riku had to back up a tad to avoid the flailing movements until he reached out with a silent hand stopping the rogue limb inches from his face. Sora looked sheepishly up at his boyfriend wincing, "Oh, sorry about that."
Letting go of the arm Riku commented, "What Sora is trying to say is that hopefully there is a place out there that can be used our purposes." As always Riku was almost cruelly logical causing Sora to shoot him a glare that was half playful and half serious.
This is when Roxas finally cut in, "Has Cloud said anything on where were going today." They turned their head towards him before exchanging sideway glances. Roxas immediately felt uncomfortable but didn't let it show and instead said, "What?"
Sora was the one to talk first but not before fidgeting around a tad, "Not yet but we think he has something up his sleeve." He stuck his hands absentmindedly in his pockets, "Can't prove anything though." The way Sora said it made Roxas believe he could indeed prove it, he just chose not to.
"Sora's right, Cloud seems to be in his own little world now." She tilted her head to the side as she spoke, trying to catch sight of the man but in the end looked back at Roxas, "I tried talking to him and all I got was garbage." Putting a hand to her head, she touched her Band-Aid lightly. "I know it's hard on him but…" Yuna trailed off.
"Hard on him, what about us?" Tidus seemed to have no pity for their leader.
Roxas couldn't help but to glare at the ignorant man spouting out idiocies before him. In the back of his mind he let himself indulge in a fantasy where he knew that this man wouldn't have lasted a day back in the institute.
"How many people died yesterday because of him?" Tidus tossed his hand about in anger. Roxas looked to the side hoping to see Sora as angry as he was but only saw his brother look away. At least he had the decency to look uncomfortable.
Not able to take anymore, he turned his back to the group and watched the dept. store entrance for Axel. The only other sane person he knew apparently. Unfortunately, he only saw more people exiting with all their worldly possessions stuck on their back.
Dimly, he heard Tidus start talking again but he didn't really pay any attention and instead refocused on finding Axel. He knew he shouldn't, but he was starting to get a pit of worry forming in his stomach.
"Roxas?"
His eyes scanned the crowd looking for the familiar red top. They would be leaving at any second so he couldn't be too far off. 'He can't be that stupid.' Roxas thought impatiently.
"Roooxxasss…"
Roxas drummed his fingers on his pants wondering if he should stay where he was at or go looking again.
"ROXAS!"
Roxas jarred his head back forward feeling his wings bristle up in response to seeing Sora almost right in his face peering into his eyes with his own cerulean. "What?" Roxas asked irritably pushing Sora away with a free hand. He saw Sora stifle a laugh back and had to force himself not to punch his brother in the shoulder.
"I just asked you what you thought." Sora said still cracking a smile. In the back of his mind Roxas was glad Sora was back to his old self and that the conversation had veered away from Cloud apparent lack of leadership.
"Uh yeah I agree with Riku…" He trailed off and looked back to the crowd to again look for his someone.
He absentmindedly heard Riku say, "But I didn't say anything." But that was pushed form his mind when he saw Axel on the fringes of the crowd near the dept. store talking to Rikku with a frustrated look on his face. Axel must have seen him out of the corner of his eye as well for he let out a grin and waved him over before returning to talk to Rikku.
"Sora, I'll talk to you later ok." He said hurriedly and walked off not bothering with a full on goodbye knowing he would get wrapped up in yet another conversation.
He made it over in record time and fell into place next to Axel feeling like just for once he was where he belonged. Axel looked at him with a grin as Rikku droned on about something but Roxas found it hard to pay attention as more people filed past them to join the crowd forming in the street.
"Thanks for telling me Rikku, I'll let you know if I hear anything." Roxas jerked his head back up and saw that Rikku was waving at them as she walked away with a thoughtful expression and if you knew Rikku at all you knew that warranted suspicion.
"What was that about?"
"Nothing you need to worry about, just crap." Axel said sounding almost dejected if Roxas was hearing right. "Sorry I didn't stick around, Rikku came by and I didn't want to wake you."
Roxas shrugged in response not bothering with a real answer. The morning had been hectic enough as it was without him picking a fight over something as trivial as Axel not waking him up.
The day rode out as normal after that with Roxas sticking generally by Axel's side as the rest of the crowd made it out of the dept. store to wait out in the front. They would be moving out soon as this town didn't have the necessary equipment or buildings to house them or serve as a long term settlement. Again the memory of Southern Lights floated forward but it was up to Cloud to make that decision.
All he could do was give his brother the information. Roxas figured if anything went too wrongly then he could make his opinion known to a greater extent but as it was he would just have to live in the background.
Cloud gave out his usual morning speech about where they were heading but made no mention of the encampment and instead told them they were to continue heading in the direction west. No murmurs filled the air as the pack of Nobodies started to walk out of the small town and out onto the winding road that went West. The road they traveled was like the one yesterday but instead of prairie on either side there were fields of dead crops. Every once in a while a lone tree sprouted up from the dirt but aside from that it was unusually flat.
Roxas walked on the outer edges of the crowd with Axel close by and saw the frowns and hunched shoulders that dotted everyone. Moral was at its lowest point and he didn't know what would happen if it ventured any lower. Tidus' words rang in his ears causing his teeth to clench for a second.
The day passed slowly with people sent out every once in a while to check the surrounding area for danger. Roxas couldn't help but note he hadn't been chosen. He kept his head high and his wings covered though not letting Cloud know that he noticed. Not that his surly brother would be able to tell with his head stuck resolutely forward at the face of the crowd.
"It's odd isn't it?" Axel asked suddenly looking around at the unimaginative landscape with his half closed green eyes. His hands were stuck resolutely in the pockets of his jacket as he slowly turned his head down to look at Roxas.
"What is?" Roxas asked not knowing what Axel was getting on about.
"How come we haven't seen people?" He looked away again back at the barren countryside devoid of any kind of life besides the grass and even that was looking worse for wear with brown patches popping up every so once in a while from where a heartless had died. "Some people must have been immune so where are they?"
Roxas shot Axel an exasperated look before answer a second later, "I don't know, hiding?" He said this part slightly sarcastically, "I for one wouldn't want to be out in the open with all this going on...well at least without a group" He added that last part when Axel shot his eyebrows up at him.
"But that's the thing, this has been going on for how long and people are still hiding. Some must be looking for a place to go like us so where are they?"
Roxas opened his mouth slightly in reply but quickly shut it for no snappy reply had come to his mind leaving his dumbstruck. The question Axel posed was indeed one to give thought to.
"Yeah, chew on that awhile." Axel said as he cracked his neck.
It wasn't till the middle of the afternoon did something rock the boat of their relatively smooth travels.
Roxas had been absentmindedly walking behind Axel, drawing patterns on the man's back out of sheer boredom with a finger, when he suddenly found himself ramming into the same back he had just been doodling on. Rubbing his forehead in annoyance he was about to push Axel forward when he noticed Axel hadn't been the only one to stop. The whole crowd had stopped and were all looking with vengeful eyes towards two figures that blocked the road a block down.
He watched with curious eyes as the two individuals didn't move from their spot on the road and instead seemed to be waiting for the crowd of people to come to them. From his vantage point he noted the two people consisted of a man and a woman. The woman was the most interesting to look at, she had striking white hair that contrasted nicely with her warm brown skin.
Oh, and she had two large rabbit ears sticking out of her head.
The man had the smuggest smile on his face that rivaled something Axel was often found to wear. He had short brownish blond hair and was a tad shorter than the woman but aside from that he just looked to be normal.
The crowd stood where they stopped with people tensing up for a fight, muttering arising almost instantaneously, as Cloud took a step forward with Squall close behind guarding his back. Roxas stayed where he was with Axel next to him, he knew it wasn't his place to do anything but prepared himself to lunge forward if anything started to go wrong.
"What do you want?" Cloud cut right to the chase not bullshitting around with theatrics. His voice was cold and sharp exuding authority with every syllable.
The brunet man let out a small laugh, his hand hanging closely next to what looked like a gun that stuck out of his pants just in case the situation warranted its use. "No manners at all. I know that we're in trying times but you can't even have the courtesy to introduce yourself to us?" His partner remained silent during this exchange but her eyes seemed to continually appraise the situation with wisdom beyond her years.
Without warning, Cloud summoned his sword to his hand and let it rest on his shoulder for all its impressiveness to be seen. "What do you want?" He repeated with the cold and sharpness accentuated. Roxas could only imagine what his face looked like with his brilliant blue eyes glaring into the brazen man.
Despite this display the man simple put a hand to his head and tutted lightly as if he was dealing with an eight year old. "I say Fran, this just can't do." As the man talked his hand near his gun played around in the air around it as if he would grab it any moment. If he did the group would pounce on him without a second thought. "If you gentlemen would just calm down maybe we could have a reasonable conversation." His voice was like silk covering a dangerous cobra. "Me and Fran here were just wondering where such a large group was heading."
"That's none of your concern." Cloud said curtly with his hand still gripping his sword tightly. Roxas knew that he wouldn't hesitate to use it, not with so many lives depending on him.
"See, it is some of our concern if you are heading to a place called Southern Lights, is that where you are going?" Despite the threats being clearly thrown his way this man somehow was capable of remaining in control and savvy at the same time with what looked like ease as if he had been born to handle situations like this.
Roxas felt his eyes widen involuntarily at the mention of the place called Southern Lights and he knew Clouds must have done the same if not everyone who knew of it.
The woman, who Roxas now knew was named Fran, then spoke, "We are heading there ourselves and thought it might be safer in a group then on our own. We know the way if you do not." Her voice held an odd accent that he couldn't put his finger on but it also held sincerity, that much could be reckoned.
After she finished her sentence mumbling and muttering began to pick up within the crowd about this place called Southern Lights but the tense atmosphere remained. Evidently Cloud hadn't mentioned it to anyone, not that Roxas blamed him. If people had heard of a possibility that there was a place out there that contained hope there would be no way to stop them from wanting to go even with the risks.
"What's Southern Lights?" Roxas heard Tidus shout out within the crowd.
"That my dear friend is an excellent question." The man said shooting a hand out to point where it had come from. "Southern Lights is the light within this dark world we now call reality, a place where a man can go and feel safe. A place, my friends, worthy of hope." His voice held such bluntness Roxas felt himself falling into the picture the man was painting with his words. He also was oddly reminded of a politician giving a speech about his new and improved campaign plan.
The crowd was silent as the same picture graced each and everyone's mind. Could a place possibly exist that could be everything they were looking for and more?
"Take a break everyone." Clouds voice sounded strained as he issued out this order but surprisingly people followed it. Roxas had expected an uprising to occur of people wanting to know information but it seemed they were content to mull over it with one another and put trust in Cloud to make the right decision. If he didn't make the right decision then they would make their opinions known.
As people began to settle down for a quick break, Roxas watched as Cloud walked forward to meet the two individuals with Squall by his side.
"I don't suppose you think we should trust them?" Axel asked quietly gauging Roxas' response.
Roxas didn't answer right away as his eyes continued to watch the small meeting take place. "The man worries me but the woman seems honest and not the type to backstab." He flashed his eyes up at Axel for a moment though and added with a grin, "But I've been wrong before."
Not acknowledging that dark joke Axel continued, "How did they even find us?" Axel casually sat down on the edge of the road and craned his neck towards the group probably silently wishing he could read lips or had gained the power to read people's minds instead of fire. Roxas sat down next to him and gazed out at the surrounding area and wondered how long this little break would last before finally answering Axel inquiry.
"Were a pretty big group and like you said earlier it's odder than no one else has noticed us."
"Yeah…" Axel trailed off noncommittally.
Roxas rolled his eyes not bothering saying anything knowing he wouldn't get anymore out of the red head until the news of what was going to happen arrived. With the sun beating down on them today and the wind almost nonexistent the temperature was actually starting to head towards warmer territory. Soon he wouldn't be able to wear his sweatshirt without feeling uncomfortably hot. He didn't know how he felt about that especially since he couldn't hide his wings under a simple shirt.
"What month is this?" Roxas said suddenly feeling an abrupt wave of confusion.
"Huh?" Axel didn't even bother looking back.
"What month are we in?" Roxas blinked hard trying to jog his memory. For some reason the fact he didn't know the month was infuriating him. It was as if he could handle fighting for his life but not knowing the month was driving him mad.
"Month?" The randomness of the question finally redirected his attention. "Why do you need to know the month?"
"We almost die on a weekly basis. I think that justifies the simple want of knowing what month it is." Roxas' eyes were almost accusing as he explained this causing Axel to shoot him an odd look.
"Uh…I think its April but don't quote me on it." Axel readjusted his sitting as he spoke almost uncomfortable under the scrutinizing look Roxas was shooting at him.
"Ok, April, then I haven't missed it yet." Roxas said sounding a tad calmer with a month named. Feeling Axel still looking down at him he added, "Thanks"
Sadly that didn't diffuse the confused look but Axel didn't have long to ponder what Roxas meant for evidently Cloud and the two strangers were done discussing what the future of the fugitive group would hold.
Cloud walked back towards the group, his sword long gone, with Squall and the two people at their back. The man, known as Balthier as he would later learn, looked quite pleased with a cocky smile tracing his lips. His lady companion seemed more at ease as well and didn't have the worried air to her as before.
Cloud stepped forward and almost seemed to be…happy, "We're heading to Southern Lights."
And then, despite the danger in doing so, everyone cheered.
…
"Southern Lights eh?" A black gloved hand trailed down the hidden face in thought as the black claddened form watched the entourage cheer from under the shadows of a lone tree. "This just gets more and more interesting." The hand dropped down to their side as a small chuckle came forth completely devoid of cheer and mirth.
The figures laughter was cut short though once a burst of frequency spouted forth from a device lodged in their ear. A curse was spouted as a hand darted in to quiet it down as a sharp sentence was uttered.
"Subject Eight you are ordered to come back now, if you refuse to do this we have-" No more was heard as the static was dimmed though. Leaning back against the tree a smile darted on the figures face as more chuckles bubbled up.
"I can't do that yet Vexen, I have a few more things to do…isn't that right Roxas."
Sharp red eyes flashed dangerously before the figure walked away from the oblivious crowd and out towards Southern Lights.
I know I know this story so far is lacking some of the action packed awesomness of the first but just bare with me. Got to have the boring chapters before the awesome ones.
I like to think my writing skills have improved on this one though :) even though my penchant for romance is severely lacking. If anyone wants to write a scene I would be happy to stick it in somewhere.
So bam there's a chapter and hope you enjoy!
Also a cookie to anyone who can guess what the opening line is form :3
