Fire Resides in Her Heart (Axel+Kairi) Part 8

~Kairi's Theme playing~

We all turned and looked at the woman who spoke. She was tall and blonde, with fair skin and deep blue eyes. She was model gorgeous, and I found myself feeling envious of her with just one look.

"What do you want?" Axel asked, obviously not as fazed by her beauty as I was.

She shifted her feet timidly. "I'm Stephanie," she introduced. "I was just wondering if you were the people who killed all those feinds?"

"Yep, that's us!" Selphie said proudly.

Stephanie raised her eyebrows in a look that was probably supposed to be surprise. "Really?" she asked, her voice sounding like the tone a parent uses when they don't believe a lie from their child, but is humoring themselves by pretending to believe them. "How?"

"We killed 'em," Axel said, glaring at the woman. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Axel, be nice," I snapped under my breath. When he didn't acknowledge me, I smiled brightly at Stephanie and dragged him to the side. "Excuse us for a moment."

Stephanie nodded, the slightest hint of an amused smile on her face.

"What's your problem?" I asked him bluntly.

He still didn't look at me; he was tense, all his attention focused on her. "She's a Hollow," he said quietly, as if he was afraid she'd hear.

"Are you crazy or just stupid?" I gestured to her. "Does she look anything like those Wolves?" I'd decided to call them Wolves to distinguish them from the other types of Hollows that were bound to show up.

"Look at her necklace," he replied, ignoring my question.

I sighed. Maybe if I humored him he'd stop being so stupid. I turned around and looked past Selphie - who was having a conversation with Stephanie - at the woman's necklace.

It looked just like the symbol on the Wolves, but the star was silver.

I whipped back around to face Axel. "Oh my god, she's a Hollow!"

"Glad we're finally on the same page," he said, looking at me like I was the stupid one now.

"But how?" I asked, confused. "She looks just like a normal girl."

"Heartless have hearts, but no souls," he began to explain. "Nobodies have souls, but no hearts. Have you ever wondered what happens when they don't have either?"

Oh. I never really did think of that.

"Hollows are just what they're called - hollow. An empty body with no heart or soul. The ones who used to have strong hearts and souls get turned into Hollows that still keep their human form. That's what Stephanie is. Got it memorized?"

So he still used his old catch phrase. "But how come her star is silver?" I questioned. "All the others had black stars."

"When Hollows kill, their stars turn black, and they can never be human again."

"Then why do they kill people?"

"To be human."

"Hey!" Selphie called. "You guys okay back there?"

"We're coming, hold on!" I shouted back. I sent a "we'll talk about it later" look at Axel, and he nodded. We walked back.

Once I got close enough to Stephanie, the Keyblade appeared in my hands. "Stephanie, I think it's time for you to go." I glared her in the eyes and was unnerved to see that she had no pupils.

~Axel's Theme playing~

Her demeanor suddenly changed as she realized she'd been found out. It was strange; nothing was different about her, but I could feel her rage. "How dare you speak to me like that," she spoke, with a force that made me surprised she wasn't screaming. "After you've ruined my chances of getting a soul. A heart, at the least."

Selphie looked the most surprised. Not even a minute ago she'd been talking to this woman as if they were old friends. But as soon as she spotted the necklace, he eyes went hard, and her sheild appeared in her hand. Unlike me, she didn't need an explanation.

"You're never gonna kill anyone ever again!" I yelled, and ran at her, sword raised.

She seemed to jump on a patch of air, kneel, and glide away from me. "You'll have to do better than that," she said, monotonically. Of course, no heart, no emotions!

"How 'bout this?" Axel hit her with the bullet-like fire I'd seen before. It seemed effective, but it didn't knock her down.

She flitted her wrists in his direction, and blades of air cut through his cloak and skin. With each one, he was pushed back a step, and on the last he was knocked to the ground.

I took my eyes from Axel to Stephanie, and knew that we had just gotten ourselves into some deep shit.

Okay, since I can't hit her... I cast Blizzard, sending five shards of ice at her. It got rid of some health, but wasn't too effective. Fire won't work well... Then I had it. I held my Keyblade in the air and summoned Lightning.

Perfect! It knocked her down. I ran to her and started completely wailing on her, as did Selphie and Axel. According to the Scan bar on the base of my blade, just by that we'd knocked a whole bar off her health. Good. Now I just had to do it one more time.

She stood and swept us all away with a big gust of wind. She jumped back on the her patch of air and flew in a giant circle around the battlefield. None of us could get a decent hit on her! She sent wave after wave of cutting wind at us, and pretty soon it became a race to see how fast I could cast Cure on everyone. It wasn't working, and I only had enough MP left for one spell. I had an idea, but it was a long shot if it was even gonna work. "Axel, Mega-Potion, now!" I cried, just before she sent another gust of wind at us.

Right after the attack, we were all healed from the point of near death by Axel's Mega-Potion, and I finally had enough time. "Thunder!" I shouted, thrusting my blade into the air.

She was knocked down by the sudden blast, and I smiled. Good. We were all there, wailing on her, until finally, with one last slash on my part, she was dead.

~Kairi's Theme playing~

She looked at us, and a cloud seemed to lift from her eyes. A black spot appeared in the middle - her pupils. Her face was filled with wonder. "I can feel -" She was cut off as she gasped her breath, then fell back, her eyes closing, a look of peace on her face. She faded before she could hit the ground.

I was too happy to be confused. I'd just killed my first Boss! Sora had always had some crazy stories to tell about his Boss Battles, and now I finally had one to tell!

But I had to push that thought aside. No, I couldn't tell him. I'd have to leave, like he did.

Stephanie's necklace, which had just been laying on the ground, suddenly started glowing, and lifted into the sky. I felt a wind start to stir around me, and I found myself looking out into a sunset on Destiny Islands. I was on the beach, standing in a drawing of a crown in the sand. I looked at the orange sun; the necklace had created a keyhole in it. I smiled and twirled my blade, pointing it directly at the keyhole. It felt natural; I loved it. A blue light appeared at the end of the Keyblade, and shot into the keyhole.

The scene disappeared, and I was back, standing in Bastion Square with Selphie and Axel. I smiled at them. "Radiant Garden's safe now," I said, almost in a dream-like tone. "We can go."

Selphie smiled brightly, but had a hint of sadness in her eyes. I knew how she felt. We'd had to leave Destiny Islands five years ago, and now we were leaving our new home, to go to places we'd only heard of. It was exciting, but also frightening. And with the knowledge that we might never come home again, it was a little sad.

Axel sensed our despair. "Come on, let's get going." He opened a shadow portal. "We can't waste any time; other worlds are in trouble."

I hesitated, then nodded. He was right. We couldn't let the other worlds suffer just because we were scared. I took Selphie's hand in mine, shot her an encouraging look, and stepped into the shadows, where who knows what awaited us.