Fire Resides in Her Heart (Axel+Kairi) Part 9

~A Walk in Andante playing~

I stepped out of the shadows after Axel, Selphie trailing hesitantly behind me, still clinging to my hand like a frightened toddler.

I looked around, trying to guess where we were without Axel telling me. Everything seemed to be a shade of orange; the buildings, the street. I couldn't hear any cars, but a loud train whistle could be heard in the distance.

I smiled brightly as I recognized the world.

"Where are we?" Selphie asked timidly, looking around.

"Twilight Town!" I exclaimed excitedly. I ran down the street, Selphie hurriedly trying to catch up. Axel didn't bother; he knew where I was going.

From the signs I saw that we were on Market Street. I headed south, then into the back alley. I hoped they'd still be there, even after five years. Please let them remember me, I thought. I know I remember them.

I took a deep breath, then pushed past the worn curtain to the Secret Spot.

Three pairs of eyes immediately locked on me and Selphie. They looked wary. Did they remember me?

"Hayner?" I asked tentatively. "Pence? Olette?"

Their doubt instantly disappeared at the sound of my voice. "Kairi!" Olette squealed, and ran up to hug me.

I returned her embrace happily. "Olette!" I said just as excitedly. "How are you?"

Hayner walked up behind her and put his arm around her waist. "We're doin' pretty good," he answered for her, smiling.

"Y-You're together?" I stuttered, and Olette nodded, beaming.

"Hey, Kairi," Pence said, walking up. "Remember me?"

"Pence!" I hugged him and grinned. "You haven't changed a bit."

He shrugged, blushing bashfully.

"But you have!" Olette said, jumping back into the conversation. "Look at you! You're gorgeous!"

"So are you, babe," Hayner said, taking the chance to look like a good boyfriend, and kissed the top of her head. She giggled and he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind affectionately.

Their cuteness was almost overwhelming; I couldn't help smiling. Then I heard a tiny laugh from behind me. I turned and saw I'd left Selphie standing by herself at the worn curtain entrance, shifting her feet anxiously and watching the scene.

"Oh, guys!" I grabbed her wrist and dragged her into the middle. "This is my friend Selphie."

"Hi, Selphie," they all said together, as if we were in an AA group meeting.

She smiled and was soon the subject of conversation.

We had been talking, all five of us, for what seemed like hours, just thinking of new, random subjects to explore. I never got bored listening to their stories, and there were so many! Olette and Hayner had been together for almost a year, and were looking forward to their anniversary. Olette already had his present, she'd told me secretly, and I'd smiled. Of course she did. She had always been so organized, at least that was the impression I'd gotten from the few hours I'd spent with the gang. Turns out I was right.

Pence was now the conductor of the local train. I laughed when he told me and Selph, just because I could picture it so easily! They'd told me how they had tried so many times to get train tickets to go to the beach, but something always happened that prevented them from going. As far as I could tell, they still didn't remember Roxas. It made me wonder, was this place still just a computer program? Was there some file I could access to restore their memories? It was sort of depressing think of them as nothing more than files, so I pushed the thought out of my mind and listened to Hayner talk about his present life.

He taught at a sort of dojo on the edge of town. I was happy to hear he was expressing his love for fighting in a healthy way. Olette was a few buildings down, working as the secretary to the major.

It was nice to hear that they were all living successful, happy lives. And that there were no signs of Hollows. I guess Axel had it wrong, I thought. Maybe we should check out another world instead.

At that precise moment, Axel walked through the entrance, the curtain falling back to its place in ruffles, as if suffering from the indignity of being pushed aside so carelessly. He said nothing, just did his upwards nod to acknowledge our prescence.

All conversation had stopped, and the three pairs of eyes turned to him. Selphie smiled at him, welcoming him, then turned back, and was unnerved to see everyone else staring at him with such intensity.

I blinked, practically feeling the suspicion thicken around me.

And then I remembered. They'd all tried to protect me when Axel had come to Twilight Town to capture me. They'd all been scared and hurt by him, and apparently they hadn't forgotten it.

And then it was four angry pairs of eyes glaring at him.

He raised a brow in confusion, in the cocky way he always did. "What?" he asked, taking time to look each one of us in the eye, as if hoping that making eye contact would make us look away, as if this was a high school hallway.

Hayner stood up, not saying anything, and walked up to him. He was still shorter than him - why was Axel taller than everyone? - but only by a little, so it wasn't that embarrassing. And then, without any warning but the clenching of his teeth, he punched Axel in the face.

Axel stumbled back, his hand up somewhere near his face in surprise. He glared at Hayner and wiped blood from his lip on the back of his hand. "What the fuck is your problem?" he growled.

"Get out of here," was all he said back. He ran at Axel again, fists clenched.

It meant a lot to me that Hayner would go to such lengths to protect me from Axel, but he was totally gonna get his ass kicked.

And man, was I right.

Axel stopped Hayner in his tracks with a lazy punch in his stomach. It appeared to be effortless, but a trickle of blood ran down the corner of Hayner's mouth. Axel moved his hand back and tripped him so he fell forward, but before he could fall hardly three inches, he caught him with a punch under his jaw. Hayner went flying back, and landed on the ground. Olette was there instantly, helping him sit up and whispering comforting words to him.

Axel wiped more blood from his mouth. "Asshole," he muttered under his breath. Then louder, he said, mostly to me, "Fuck this, there's obviously nothing going on."

"We're gonna stay here for a little while, Axel," I informed him, making sure he had no window of opportunity to put in his opinion. I sent him a look that dared him to disagree with me.

He merely scoffed. "Alright, well, when you're done with your little tea party here, come find me, and maybe we can save some other people from being murdered." He stalked off, every move he made filled with tension and anger.

I watched him leave, and couldn't help but feel guilty. It was hard, but I shoved the feeling to the side. If Twilight Town wasn't in any danger, then surely everywhere else was safe, right? At least for a little while.

Right?