Depression's going away at normal speed, thank god.
I'm keeping myself distracted, yet my heart's being a witch at times.
Anyways, enjoy the chapter, I think you'll like it.
Chapter Eight: Change of a lifetime
Today was my first real mission, and my partner was Larxene.
Many of the other members often told me of her impatient and rude personality.
But to be honest, I liked her a lot. She was a pretty cool fighter, and I wanted to learn how to fight like her. When I got to know her more, I found out that we were similar.
And that frightened me...
Merixa walked out into the main room, where everyone was just hanging out. She saw Demyx strumming his sitar, Zexion reading a book, and Xigbar just lounging around on the couch. Demyx looked up from his strumming and smiled and waved at Merixa, she replied by doing the same. Zexion also looked at her, but simply nodded his head. Of course, Merixa did the same. Xigbar hadn't talked to Merixa in a long time, and figured it was about time to do so.
"Hey, Newbie," he called out. Merixa looked at him, and raised her eyebrow. She didn't know why he wasn't calling her by her given name, but she walked over to him nonetheless.
"Why did you call me 'Newbie', Xigbar?" she asked.
"It's called nicknaming, Newbie," he said, scratching his nose and getting even more lazy on the couch.
"Ahh, nickname—A kind of by-name that describes a person by a characteristic of that person—right?" she asked, releasing the nerdy side of herself.
"Geez, you some clone of Zexion or something? How do you even remember definitions like that?" he asked. Zexion slightly turned his ear towards the conversation, and he was pleased to know that Merixa's brain hadn't turned into mush what with hanging around Demyx and Axel all the time.
"Well, I read a little of the dictionary before I go to bed," she replied. Xigbar started laughing lightly.
"But hey, if you're giving me a nickname, I should give you one," stated Merixa.
"Sure, give it your best shot," he said, not really caring.
Merixa placed a finger on her chin, and began to think. Xigbar was a sharpshooter and shot arrows, he had a scar, and an eye patch. He had a pony-tail, and grey streaks. She thought for a while, but then eventually came up with one.
"Scar-face," she said, smiling at her ability to make up a nickname.
"Well..." he said, thinking about it. "I guess it's not bad."
"Cool," she replied. "Well, gotta jet. Mission time."
She ran past Xigbar, and he waved his right hand at her. Merixa walked towards Saix and smiled at him. "So, what do I get today?"
Saix chuckled lightly yet lowly as he saw the happy and cheery nobody in front of him. "You are privileged to start going on real missions. Your time of practicing and training are over, and now you're ready to start collecting hearts."
"Oohkay? So where am I headed off?" she asked.
"Twilight Town, and you'll be paired up with Larxene," He warned. Merixa sighed, as she wasn't looking forward to working with Larxene. She has never worked with her, but she heard some nasty stories about her. She was very sardonic and sadistic, and just overall a grand witch. Merixa wasn't looking forward to it.
"She's waiting at Twilight Town, go now or you'll regret it," he warned again. Merixa raised her eyebrow, but left nonetheless.
She entered through the dark corridor, and made it to Twilight Town. She saw a blonde woman in a black cloak—most likely Larxene. She walked towards the woman, and called out her name.
"About time you got here," she said in a very annoyed tone. "You better have been worth the wait."
"Let's just get this over with," Merixa said, walking a little ahead of Larxene. "We're just going to collect hearts, correct? Well, I don't want to waste any time, so let's go."
Merixa walked a little more ahead of Larxene, and stopped when she didn't hear footsteps. "Are you coming or not?"
Larxene glared at her, and simply stomped to where Merixa was. She started walking past her, and got out her knives. A heartless appeared in front of her, and with a quick jab to the thing, it disappeared. Merixa 's eyes lit up, she had never actually seen hand-to-hand combat. She found it rather interesting how Larxene was the only one who possessed this ability.
"You didn't use your knives," Merixa pointed out. "You were using hand-to-hand combat."
"Well, duh," Larxene said rudely. "I have really good agility, so it comes in handy."
"Interesting, would it work for me? Hand-to-hand combat?" Merixa asked.
"What? You wanna learn it?" Larxene replied. "I don't think you're fast enough, physically and mentally."
Merixa scoffed, and glared at the blonde. "I bet I can take out the pure-blood heartless with just one hit to their heads."
"Oh really?" she asked. "If you can do that, I'll acknowledge you somewhat."
"Please, I'm not like Roxas," Merixa said. "I heard about your mission with him. You don't think anything of him, am I right?"
Larxene scoffed at this remark, but nonetheless answered. "I'm guessing you don't think highly of him either, right?"
"I know I can do things better than him," she replied. "And I can hold a conversation unlike his mute self."
Larxene laughed out loud. She was starting to like Merixa, as she was pretty bitter towards the young boy. Merixa, on the other hand, was pretty serious. She hated being compared to Roxas, and if anything, it was her pet peeve. Merixa sighed, and then scoffed. A bunch of heartless suddenly appeared around herself and Larxene, and Merixa noticed they were emblems. She growled in frustration, and ran up to the damned things.
She placed an attack on one of the heartless—A Red Nocturne—and it disappeared instantly, sending it's heart to Kingdom Hearts. Another one came at full speed towards Merixa, but she bashed it's head with the blade, and it died. She was in a bad mood, and nothing was getting in her way as far as she knew.
Larxene fought off the Yellow Operas, and she kept keeping her eye on Merixa. She was fighting like she was insane, her attacks were fairly quick, but really strong. Strong enough to kill off a Red Nocturne in one hit, and it only took Larxene three strikes to kill them.
Larxene of course, wasn't surprised. She had heard about her incident with Vexen, and was rather amazed how Merixa placed Vexen's life in danger. Unlike Roxas, Merixa had been around people of interest, minus Demyx. Zexion was one to note, as he taught Merixa how to even speak. He had taught her a lot of important things... things that would prove useful in the future.
Larxene looked as the emblems were slowly killed off, but then a bunch of pure-bloods appeared. She prepared to attack one, but as she began to run the heartless disappeared. She looked at Merixa standing there with her arm extended and her fist in the air, another pure-blood came running behind Merixa, but she turned around and kicked it really hard. Larxene heard the impact of the kick as it was rather loud, and she only stared at Merixa.
She shook her head after, and composed herself. "I suppose you can take out a pure-blood with just one hit."
as Merixa punched the last pure-blood, she looked at Larxene. She had a slight smirk on her face, and walked up towards her. "Like I said, I'm not Roxas. I'm not incompetent."
"I have to say though, you kick and hit pretty hard," Larxene commented.
"Let's report back," Merixa said.
-x-
After the mission was done, Larxene and Merixa parted ways. Larxene actually gave Merixa her word that she would acknowledge her, and that she has her respect for being a strong girl. Merixa wasn't interested, but thanked her anyway. Merixa had some time on her hands, and decided to walk around. She passed by Demyx, Zexion, and Xigbar and greeted them. Words were exchanged, but she ended them quickly.
She was only interested in speaking with one person, and that was Axel. She walked around the castle and tried finding him, but she wasn't getting any luck. She took a deep breath, and figured he was eating ice cream with Roxas. Go figure.
She lowered her head, and walked to her room. Along the way, she bumped into something soft. She looked up, and noticed it was Marluxia. She tilted her head, questioning why she never got the chance to talk to him, but she ignored it.
"Merixa, I believe?" he asked.
"Yeah, what's up?" she asked.
"Nothing, but I have heard quite a lot about you," he said interestingly enough. "You don't have powers like us, as demonstrated when you nearly put Vexen's life in danger. Or how you sent Xaldin flying back with just the snap of your fingers."
"And?" she asked. "What about it?"
"No one else in the castle is capable of doing that," he replied. "Don't you find it odd how you have special powers, yet you're just like us?"
"N-no...," she stuttered.
"You're quite the nobody, just like Roxas," he said. "You two are very similar I've noticed, yet I never see you two together. I'm sure you both would have something in common."
Marluxia left without saying goodbye, and only snickered. Merixa was left there to think about what he said, and it kind of disturbed her. True, she almost killed Vexen, and she managed to make Xaldin fly for like, three seconds. But she was starting to question it now, maybe she is different from the rest?
As Merixa stood in the middle of the hallway wandering in her own mind, Axel began to walk from the other end of the hallway. He raised his eyebrow as he saw Merixa standing there, face totally depressed, and looking totally dead. He started to worry a bit, and hurried up his pace.
"Hey, Merixa?" he called out, but she was unresponsive. He waved a hand in front of her, but she still didn't respond. He began to worry a little more, so he lifted both his arms to grab her shoulders.
As she looked into his eyes, he couldn't help but notice how familiar they looked. The shape, colour, everything about them were familiar. He also noticed how very pretty they were, as they were very bright and big. He remembered staring into those same eyes, but he was only able to see dead eyes. Now, he was able to see something in them, he was able to see life in them.
"...Axel?"
he was caught off guard as he heard his name, and looked down at the young girl. He shook his head, and let go of her shoulders. Her left eye-brow was raised, and she continued to stare at the very awkward-looking Axel.
"W-well, now you talk back," he laughed shyly. "You were like Roxas a while ago with your zombie like stand."
Merixa took a deep breath, and ignored Roxas' mentioning. She placed her hands on her hips, and smiled at Axel. "Say let's go get some ice cream."
"Sounds good," he replied smiling. They both walked out of the hallway and went to go to their usual place. Although he didn't realize it, Axel forgot to tell Merixa that Roxas meets up with him at the clock tower. So the chances of Roxas meeting up with them was pretty high.
Roxas
Roxas was standing in the grey room, and looked outside the window. He had just finished a mission, and was about to leave to meet up with Axel. As he turned around, he noticed Larxene walking up to him. He remembered his mission with her, and she was pretty rude. He hoped that she didn't come to talk to him just to say rude things.
"Well, well. If it isn't the dud," she said, causing Roxas to glare a bit.
"You know, there's someone here who reeaally doesn't like you," she continued, pointing a finger at Roxas.
"Who?" was his only reply.
"The new girl, Merixa," she replied. "She doesn't think so highly of you, and she says she is better than you at everything. Oh, and that she can hold a conversation."
"What..?" he asked, a little shocked, and hurt that someone like Merixa said that. It's true that they haven't talked to each other in a while, but was Merixa really this rude? Larxene began to laugh, and bade farewell to Roxas.
Roxas closed his eyes, and thought about Merixa. He was really hoping to get to know her better, but with what was said he wasn't so sure now. Roxas gave out a long and deep sigh, and started walking to his room. He didn't really feel like meeting up with Axel.
Merixa
"Man, nothing sure beats hangin' out with your friend and eating ice cream," Axel said, taking a lick of his treat.
Merixa sat there as her ice cream dripped down her hand. She had been thinking on what Marluxia had told her, on how she wasn't like the rest. She had grown into someone, and she noticed, she was someone who was always smiling, and liked to talk. She felt pretty confident that she was now growing into her own personality, but she still felt she was still the same. She needed another change, or something that made her stand out... made her different.
"Say, Axel. How would you describe my personality now?" she asked, looking at Axel while taking a bite out of her ice cream.
"Well, you're happy, friendly, cheery and you're always smiling," he answered. "But when you get mad, you get mad. at least that's what I've heard from Larxene."
"What? She told you about our mission? I just finished not to long ago and she's already telling everyone?" Merixa sighed out of annoyance, Larxene sure knew how to make Merixa angry.
"That's Larxene for you," Axel replied. "But at least you'll be respected for that. No one will mess with you now, haha."
"Haha, very funny," Merixa said sarcastically. "But anyways, what else is there about me?"
"Well, I don't know," Axel said. "There's this familiar yet mysterious air about you, and I don't have it figured out yet."
"I see... in that case," Merixa replied. "I want you to call me Aura from now on."
"...What?" Axel asked. "You can't change your name you know, or else the superior will get mad."
"What he doesn't know, won't kill him," she smirked. "Plus I really hate the name I was given. Aura sounds more... me."
"How?" he asked.
"A distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing—the definition of Aura," she said. "So basically what you said, how there's a familiar yet mysterious air about me."
"Yeah, you changed a lot, in a good way," he said, taking the last bite of his ice cream. "And there is that air about you. Well... I guess it wouldn't hurt to call you Aura."
"I want everyone to call me that," she said. "I don't want to be called Merixa, it's so ugly."
"Haha, you got that right," laughed Axel. "Alright then, Aura, we should head back. We gotta wake up early for a mission."
"We have a mission together?" she asked.
"Yep, so sleep well," Axel laughed. She laughed with him, and they both returned to the castle. She was excited to go on another mission with Axel, as it had been a while since they've been on one together.
The only thing that's changed... are her feelings, and her name.
From that day on, I was officially known as Aura.
I was no longer the distant, mute, scared girl. I was no longer Merixa.
I was a happy, friendly, honest and bubbly person. With a dangerous temper.
My reputation rose quickly after my name change, and many of the members started realizing just how serious I was being.
But... EVERYTHING changed after that.
YAY, name change for Merixa!
I originally planned it to be at chapter ten, but meh.
Hope you guys liked the chapter.
Anna Shiki:
Love triangle, FTW!
Stella, not FTW!
And that, my friend, is a very good question.
Will she or will she not, only my mind can tell.
kingdomdisney:
DUN, DUN, DUN, DUN. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!
Captainface:
Yeah, I sold it for personal reasons.
But maybe when I get a job I'll be able to get another one.
Yeah, they're going to be close from now on.
Especially when Axel leaves to Castle Oblivion.
I'm still thinking how it should look though, I don't want it too girly, or too tomboyish.
Yep, identical[except for the colour] to the one on Marie's head.
Well, she will. It's gonna be a love-hate relationship.
TheKeeperofKingdomHearts1:
Yea I have it all planned out, well the rough idea at least.
I know the plot of KH: 358/2, so I'm not totally out of the loop.
I just want to get the feel by watching the videos.
starlightmint72:
Oh my, thank you! That makes me feel happy. XD
Thanks! I hope you liked this chapter as well.
Alexandria Volturi:
Thank you!
warrior of six blades:
No that's alright, everyone has lives. I don't expect you to sit on your sit and read 24/7, that's too cruel! Yes, oh cruelness. Aura and her triangle of love and doom. Quite fun to read if I do say so myself.
SisterOfScarletDevil:
Yea really, don't. O-O
She'll send you flying dead into next month. O_o
And I really like that name. XD
burry and bunny:
Haha, thanks!
You'll notice her extreme temper problems, but hey, we all get people-killing-angry, right? -_-
Yeah, well that'll change, and you'll be like WTF. Cuz it's really gonna get confusing.
I mean like, she likes Axel as in like-like. And it's a friendship/love triangle, more friendship in KH2.
sajere1:
Haha, yes. Love sucks. Literally.
Marie/Axel? Don't you mean Aura/Axel?
Meh, same people. Literally. Lol.
I was honestly thinking of Aura/Riku at one point.
I really and honestly believe those two would make a really great couple.
an1995616:
Lol, I'm glad as well. ;D
Lele-the-Greek-Geek:
Lele! Long time no type!
Yeah, it sucks. A lot. Especially when your trying to stuff it down a bag and throw it in a dumpster. Yeah, it's a shocking turn of events. XD And it only gets better.
I assure you though, the Roxas/Aura time will be really lovey-emotional.
I think you should totally make a fic! I would LOVE to read it, really!
SkyeRockette:
Haha, it's okay. You have a life!
And .GEE!
I say hellllooooooooooo as well. I can't believe she's off Luna, but I'm so glad she has her own fic site. Which I should really join!
Yes, she is developing rather well, I guess. But don't get her pissed. XD
I hope you liked this chapter, and if it's up to par. XD
And don't worry, it's going away. Although it's been a long time, I'm glad it's going away.
