(Now, I bet some of you are interested in what Axel's up to, or maybe what's become of Larxene. Well, I think we should go and check. Let's hope they don't run into Steiner. I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of its charas. They're either owned by Square Enix or Disney, depending on whom that character is.)

CHAPTER 8

Another day of had ended at Twilight Elementary, and Axel was busy seeing off all of his students and making sure they caught the bus home. As he watched the bus pull away, he chuckled to himself. "Well, I hope the parents don't get TOO mad when they find out about the "special words" I taught the kiddies," Axel told himself, "though it's better they find out from me rather than the TV or their parents. Besides, TV and video games get a bad enough rap as it is." Putting a hand into his lunch bag, he pulled out a green apple and bit into it as he left the school grounds. "I wonder what Roxas and the girls are up to," Axel wondered, "but maybe I should go see how Larxene's doing."

Meanwhile, Steiner was prowling through the streets still on his search. "Blast it," he cursed, "why did Miss Naminé have to be absent from her home? Now how am I to find Miss Larxene," he groaned as he looked all around, "when I don't know where to start looking?" At this point he was wishing that Marluxia had given him a little more information to go on. As he turned a corner, he saw a familiar looking red-haired man coming his way.

"Maybe I should go see how Larxene's doing."

Steiner's eyes widened. 'Larxene!?' He ducked behind the wall and watched the man pass by him. "Why, that's Axel," Steiner remembered, "the one Marluxia told me about. He just mentioned Larxene! I'd best follow the knave and find that electrical wench." Steiner slowly followed Axel from a distance, so that Axel wouldn't hear the squeaking of his rusty armor. 'Blast it, I really SHOULD clean my armor sometime,' Steiner thought, "But how on earth do I keep getting all this rust?"

Ever since they managed to coax Larxene out of Marluxia's control, they all agreed that Larxene live with Axel for the time being. Axel had no complaints about it and surprisingly, neither did Larxene. This was strange for Axel because during their times as Nobodies, Larxene's title was the "Savage Nymph" was justified due to her reputation as an abrasive sadist, who took great deal in tormenting her enemies. However, both he and Marluxia were the only ones closest to her, and surprisingly she considered them her only friends. Axel's other friends didn't really get along with Larxene; as Demyx was afraid of her and her torturous fighting techniques (despite the fact that she was of a lower rank than him), and Roxas despised her for her sadistic nature and attitude (not surprisingly, his hatred increased after what Larxene had done to Sora when he first met the Organization and how she treated Naminé during her final confrontation with Sora). Axel admitted, Larxene was difficult to get along with sometimes (especially since she got a real kick out of antagonizing, insulting, and teasing him), and her passion for torture and sadism did make her seem quite fearsome; but through all the insults and antagonism towards him, Axel was told Larxene did has some level of fondness and respect for him. Of course, Axel didn't believe it at first. But nowadays he was thinking: Could they have been right? How DID Larxene feel about him? How did HE feel about HER?

Meanwhile, at Axel's house, Larxene was in the living room, curled up on the couch, reading her favorite book: "Marquis de Sade," the life and times of the infamous French writer of the same name and the founder of sadism. You could say he was Larxene's idol, which was understandable given Larxene's passion for sadism. It was this passion that earned her an equal amount of teasing from the one Organization member she loved to tease and irritate, Axel. Due to her love of Sadism, Axel would often tease Larxene by saying she had whips and chains in her closet, and wore leather underwear underneath her cloak. 'Heh. Oh Axel,' Larxene thought as she read her book, 'there's no doubt in my mind you'd LOVE to be on the receiving end of a whip as long as it's from me.' An image appeared in Larxene's mind of Axel in a leather Speedo and chains, with her in a leather teddy, thigh-high boots, and brandishing a long whip. A giggle escaped Larxene's lips as she thought of Axel shouting, 'I'm bad! Whip me, mistress!' "Maybe he'd look good in leather," Larxene told herself with another giggle, "even if he is a tad on the skinny side. He probably wears a girdle or a corset to keep that figure." Larxene burst into a fit of giggles at the thought of Axel in a leather corset along with the Speedo, but also had a slight blush on her face.

The sound of the door opening suddenly brought up Larxene's attention as she looked up from her book, in time to see Axel walk in. For a brief moment, Larxene's fantasy replayed in her mind as she briefly imagined Axel in a leather Speedo and gimp mask. Once more she allowed herself a giggle at the naughty fantasy.

Axel watched as Larxene briefly looked up from her novel to giggle at him with a weird smile as he stepped inside. Cocking an eyebrow, wondering what sort of freaky ideas Larxene had gotten from her reading, he started to walk past her and asked, "What's so funny Larxene?" He looked at her choice of reading warily, wondering if her thoughts were something Sadism related.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" Larxene said giving the Flurry of Dancing Flames a mock innocent smile and fluttered her eyelashes.

Axel cast a worried glance at Larxene's mock innocence. "You know, maybe its better off that I don't know," he said warily and backed away before hurrying to the kitchen.

Larxene shook her head and giggled to herself. "I know just how to freak him out," she said with a grin, "and he manages to look so cute when freaked out." She suddenly halted her train of thought and blushed. "Wait a minute! Did I just say old flame head was cute!?" She shook her head and sighed, "Having my own heart again is making me go soft, I think." But even as she told herself that, she couldn't help but allow another thought of Axel to swim into her brain.

Meanwhile, outside, Steiner crept out of hiding with his sword drawn. Tailing Axel had proved to be quite rewarding, as now he knew and was standing in front of the location of his target. "Finally, I've found her," He told himself, "after all the trouble and searching I went through. Now I just have to draw them out and finish them off."

Axel was busy in the kitchen preparing supper for the night, but as he prepared the beef stew he couldn't help but wonder just WHAT Larxene had been thinking about, no matter how kinky, sadistic, or freaky it might have been. "Ah, then again she always takes every moment to mock or tease me," he told himself, "but it's kind of funny how I'm one of the few people she gets along with. We could've worked well together if she hadn't had been tempted by Marluxia's false promises. What the hell did she ever see in him anyway?" He thought with jealousy and some anger directed at Marluxia.

Axel's thoughts were interrupted as loud booming voice bellowed from outside, "Come on out, Larxene! I have a duty to find you and defeat you, you traitorous wench!"

Axel ran to the kitchen window to see a large, stocky knight in rusty looking armor, hopping up and down, bellowing at the house for Larxene to come on out. "Who the hell is that," Axel asked himself, "making such a scene like that? Hoo boy, he must have a death wish to challenged Larxene and call her something like a wench."

Outside, Steiner watched as the door flew open, revealing a rather vexed looking Larxene.

"Who the hell are you calling a wench!?" Larxene demanded angrily.

"Aha! So the target has shown her self," Steiner said triumphantly, as if he had already won the fight. "By order of my client, Mr. Marluxia, I, Aldebert Steiner, must kill you!"

"Marluxia!?" Axel summoned up his chakrams and bolted out of the kitchen, heading towards Larxene. "Damn it! He's one of Marluxia's goons," Axel announced as he joined Larxene outside.

"What, is he too proud to come and get us himself?" Larxene scoffed.

"Enough talk," Steiner shouted, "Prepare to die!" Steiner waved his sword around as the blade began to glow with heat energy, until it suddenly ignited in flames. "Flametongue!" He announced before he jumped at the two Organization members and swung his sword at them, shooting flames all around himself.

Axel narrowly dodged the incoming flames with Larxene and readied his chakrams. "Sorry pal," he told Steiner, "but I'm the only one who's going to be too hot to handle!" Axel's chakrams set them selves ablaze as he spun them around like fan blades, before he launched them like shurikens at Steiner.

"Bah! Children's toys!" Steiner gave two quick swings of his sword and deflected the chakrams back at Axel, who caught them in mid-air. "Blade Beam!" Steiner raised his blade behind his shoulder, before slashing through the air and sending a shockwave of energy directly at Axel, cutting through his body and knocking him backwards.

"Axel!" Larxene cried out, "Are you—AGH!" Larxene had no time to dodge as an aftershock of Steiner's attack emitted from Axel and right at Larxene, not hurting as much as it did Axel but still reasonably painful. Dropping to her knees, Larxene hissed at the pain igniting her nerves. She stood back up shakily and produced a set of kunai in each fist. "If you expect me to go home crying, then forget it. Because big girls don't cry," Larxene told her opponent, "they get even!" She raised her kunai into the air and began to produce electricity from each one, concentrating it all into a single point above her and creating a growing ball of electricity.

'That's the same attack she once used against Roxas,' Axel thought as he started to recover from Steiner's attack.

"BOLT BALL!" Larxene threw her attack at Steiner.

Steiner held out his sword in a blocking position but was unprepared for the attack's effect as, when the attack hit, he was suddenly caught in an electrical gravity field that seemed to immobilize and slowly crush him. "URGH! What manner of trickery is this?"

"Something that gives us an opening," Axel retorted. "FIRE WALL!" Axel raised his hands into the air, and columns of flame began to erupt from the ground in front of him in a wall formation, before they moved forward and swept up Steiner, his cries of pain a sign of success.

By the time the "firewall" had dissipated, Steiner was left, down on his knees, his armor scorched black and his face showing slight burns and groaning. He was lucky that he was wearing thick armor, which had absorbed some of the pain and damage of Axel's attack, or else he could have been seriously hurt. "Impressive," Steiner complimented as he got to his feet, "But I'm not down and out yet!" He gripped his sword tightly. "It's time to cut you knaves, right down to the bone! ARMOR BREAK!" Steiner leapt at Larxene with his sword glowing and slashed right at her. The blade seemed to cut right through to the bone, igniting Larxene's nerves with intense pain and seemingly draining her vitality.

Larxene cried out in pain as she suddenly felt as weak as a kitten and extremely sensitive, physically. "My strength," she moaned, "is disappearing?"

Steiner chuckled aloud. "Armor Break cuts right through my enemy's defenses," he explained, "and makes them twice as weak to physical attacks." He tapped the flat edge of his sword on his opposite armored palm as he started to walk towards Larxene.

Axel darted in front of Larxene, as if trying to shield her from Steiner. "Don't you understand who you're working for?" Axel pointed at Steiner as he spoke. "Marluxia's not as gentlemanly and refined as he seems! He's actually a pretty evil dude, whom we've had some bad experiences with!"

"What a joke," Steiner snorted. "You actually expect me to believe that that man whom I spoke too is some unrefined tyrant who's trying to cause trouble in Twilight Town? And why should I believe those words?"

"That's because, it's the truth!"

Steiner tore his watch from Axel and turned to the source of the shout. He looked over to see the figure of a blonde teenage boy; dressed in white and carrying two very familiar looking swords which were both each in the shape of a key. His eyes widened as he observed the boys weapons. "Those swords are…Keyblades!?"

Roxas shrugged, keeping his warning glare as he brandished the Oath Keeper and Oblivion Keyblades. "Yes they are. You've heard the legend haven't you?"

"Of course I have," Steiner shouted, "I'm not a fool!" He studied Roxas for a moment. "Tell me Keybearer; is your name Sora, by any chance?"

"No, my name's Roxas," Roxas smirked, "But you're close. I'm Sora's Nobody!"

"Roxas? Nobody? Axel? Larxene? Marluxia?" Steiner was slowly starting to put two and two together. "You are… You're all from Organization XIII! I've been duped!"

"Geeze, this guy is slow," Axel grumbled as he gave Larxene and himself a Megalixir.

Larxene sighed in contentment as she felt the Megalixir's healing nutrients enter her body and heal her internally; undoing the damage done from Steiner's attack.

Steiner meanwhile was squaring off against Roxas now, as he gripped his sword tightly. "Well, it seems that after this little job, I should pay Marluxia a visit and demand an explanation!"

"You can do that without fighting us," Roxas told him, but kept his Keyblades up to defend his self. "We're not your enemies! Listen to your heart and"

"A Nobody doesn't even know what a heart is," Steiner protested before he rushed Roxas. "So be quiet and feel the taste of my Murasame's blade!" He swung his massive Sword at Roxas.

"Shit!" Roxas cried our before making a cross sign with his Keyblades as he blocked and parried the incoming attack. "Nice try, but I won't go down easy!" Roxas broke the cross block, and he struck the stocky knight across the chest with diagonal slash from one Keyblade, before following up with an opposite slash from the 2nd Keyblade and creating a deep X-shaped dent in Steiner's armor, cutting right through the metal.

Steiner grunted and stumbled back from the attack. He looked down at his now dented and scratched chest plate. "Blast that Keyblade cut right through my steel armor!" He looked back up at Roxas and narrowed his eyes. "It's been a while since I had a worthy opponent to face."

"Oh really? Then allow me to make the fight more interesting!" Roxas slide dashed at Steiner, and swung a Keyblade down upon Steiner.

CHING! CHING! CHING!

Steiner had blocked successively with his Murasame sword and now struggled to keep it up as Roxas swung down Keyblade after Keyblade upon the knight sword. He slowly started to back away as Roxas kept on swinging, before he suddenly broke his block and swung his sword around, throwing Roxas off a little bit. "Now it's time for a little shish kabob," Steiner told Roxas as he held his sword in an impaling position. Positioning his feet, ready to push himself forward, Steiner lunged at Roxas blade first. "CLIMHAZZARD!"

Roxas barely had time to dodge roll out of the way as Steiner rushed past, trying to impale him on the end of his Murasame. 'That was close," Roxas thought as he looked at the destruction left in the wake of the attack. Barrels and crates lay in splinters of wood, bits of iron, and loose nails from Steiner's impact. 'He's like an iron bull,' Roxas thought warily. 'That Climhazzard attack looks like Sonic Rave on steroids.' Wasting no more time, he slide dashed at Steiner as the knight's back was turned and knocked him into the air with an Aerial Sweep. He then before leaping after his foe, placing a flurry of combos using both Keyblades upon the knight (and directing the majority of the blows to Steiner's damaged chest plate), before spinning around in a vortex swinging both Keyblades around, and creating an intense vacuum the pulled Steiner in for Roxas to do maximum damage.

Steiner had no time to react as he was caught of guard and thrown into the air, before Roxas assaulted him with a dual Keyblade combo, and drew him into a vacuum/vortex attack. 'Argh! What skill and power!' Stiener was in awe of Roxas' ability. 'He really IS the Nobody of the Key Bearer and lives up to his reputation as one of the Organization's fiercest fighters.'

Finally there was a small explosion of energy as Roxas finished his combo and sent Steiner crashing into the ground below, sending pieces of his armor about the place. Roxas landed on his feet, still gripping his Keyblades tightly. "How was that for a 'worthy opponent'?" Roxas mocked Steiner's earlier words.

Stienr grunted heavily as he stuck Murasame into the ground like a cane and pulled himself up. "Impressive," Steiner complimented. "You've certainly been quite a challenge. Your reputation in the Organization perceives you." As Steiner spoke, his sword began to spark with electricity as he gripped the handle. "But I'm not going to go down so easily." He leapt up into the air, his sword sparking heavily with electricity, before he hollered, "THUNDER BLADE!" Steiner sliced the air in front of him, sending a wave of electricity at Roxas, engulfing the former Organization member in electricity.

Roxas screamed in pain as his body was pumped with 100 volts of pure electricity, as if he were struck by lightning. He was shocked for 5 seconds before, Steiner landed, ceasing the attack. Roxas dropped to his knees, every nerve in his body burning, not even being able to think straight.

'Aha! I've got him now,' Steiner thought as he charged at the disoriented Roxas. "Now it's time for to feel my pain! MINUS STRIKE!" He slashed his sword at Roxas.

SLASH!

Roxas cried out as he fell to the ground, blood splattering onto the pavement, feeling immense physical pain and exhaustion. "Wh-Why did I become…so…tired?"

"My Minus Strike," Steiner informed, "gathers up all of my physical pain and tiredness into my blade and lets me direct it all at my opponent." Steiner raised the Murasame up to Roxas' head. "Now to finish the job, before I attend to the others of your kind." He raised his word backwards, ready to slash. "My Iai Strike will take care—"

CHING!

Steiner's sword was suddenly knocked out of his grasp as a chakram and kunai; both collided into Steiner's wrist. The Knight groaned and clutched his wrist, as he turned to the direction of which the weapons were thrown from; to see Larxene and Axel with their hands out, glaring at Steiner.

"Back off, Tin Man! Got it Memorized?" Axel snapped his fingers, and shot out a ball of flame right at Steiner's chest.

Steiner was hit right in the chest and sent flying backwards away from Roxas.

Axel rushed over to his fallen friend on winged feet. "Roxas! Are you ok?"

"Ugh. Body hurts all over," Roxas groaned as Axel helped him to his feet, "but it's nothing a little Magic won't cure. HEAL!" Roxas cast his "Curaga" spell and green leaves of healing energy sprinkled all around him, instantly restoring the majority of stamina and health. "Ah," he sighed in relief, feeling his strength rejuvenate, "that's much better. Now where's that tin can?" Roxas looked around, until he found Steiner, just getting back to his feet. "It's time for a little payback. STRIKE RAID!" Roxas launched Oblivion at Steiner.

Steiner already saw Oblivion come at him and blocked with the Murasame, deflecting it, but left his self open for Roxas to slide dash him with Oath Keeper right in the stomach, and knock him up in the air with an aerial sweep. "WHOA!"

"Now I've got you!" Roxas leapt up and released a flurry of a combo, placing blow after blow on Steiner's torso with the Keyblade, which was starting to burn with energy, before striking Steiner away with a finishing blow. "RAGNAROK!" Roxas aimed the glowing Oath Keeper at Steiner's falling form and released a cluster of lasers that rained upon Steiner as he fell before exploding all around him. Roxas landed on the ground and picked up Oblivion, before walking over to a badly injured and weakened Steiner.

"Ugh," Steiner groaned softly, "You defeated me…"

"Now," Roxas asked, "are you willing to listen?"

Steiner's eyes flickered away for a moment. "I guess I have no choice, now. Go on and speak. Perhaps you just might convince me."

For the next few minutes, Roxas went over every detail about what had happen since Sora defeated Organization XIII, and how that a selected few nobodies regained hearts and were allowed to live their own lives as regular humans, including a few Organization members. He then went on to tell him what Marluxia was doing and the trouble he had caused before and was causing now.

Steiner absorbed every word that Roxas had said, and his face of defiance turned into one of guilt. "So that's it… Roxas, it appears that I have done you and your friends a great discourtesy, believing ill of you all and the words of a madman. I won't ask for forgiveness as my actions seem beyond it at this moment."

"Nah, it's ok," Axel told him, administering a potion to him. "Ever since we were Nobodies, we're used to being hated."

"Yeah, and manipulating people is what Marluxia does best," Larxene added.

"The three of us all have our personal beefs with him," Roxas put in, the memories of when he was Sora still lingering in his mind.

"I see," Steiner noted as the healing effects of the potion kicked in and healed his injuries. "Now the question is—"

"The question is how could you allow these 'children' to defeat you?" A proud female voice stated.

"Oh for God sakes," Roxas growled. "Don't tell me Marluxia has backup!"

"This is—" Axel began.

"—getting old? No shit." Larxene finished.

"If he did have backup, I didn't know about it," Steiner immediately said, fearing they might accuse him. He turned to the direction of the voice, and his jaw nearly dropped when he saw the owner of it. "It's you!"

TO BE CONTINUED