I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.
Henrietta was shaking with fear, as she prayed again and again to the Founder that she would open her eyes and find that it was all just a terrible nightmare. But each time she didn't even have to open her eyes to know that it wasn't. She could smell the decay and rot that surrounded her in the small iron cage, and she could hear the heavy rasping breaths of her jailer as the monstrous creature glared at her through its eyeless helmet. Heat pouring off of its body in small waves.
The Princess would be hard to recognize as a princess in her current state. He wand had been snapped in two, her crown and royal cape were gone, and her pure white dress was covered in tears and dirt. She had no more of that noble posture or smile. She was a scared, trapped young woman, waiting for whatever was to come, and not knowing what was worse, the waiting without knowing, or what would actually happen when it did come.
Henrietta pried open one eye to glance up at her captor. Its giant form close by, never moving more than a few feet at a time. His massive form taking up a good deal of the rundown fortress where Henrietta was being kept. Cuts along its body bleed with a strange blue liquid, as if this monster was not truly of this world. Seeing her looking at it, the beast let out a low growl, scaring the princess so that she tried to push herself farther away from the creature, until her hand touched something smooth and brittle.
Henrietta swallowed and slowly pulled her hand away, making an effort not to look down at the bone that her fingers had blushed again. Bones littered the cage's floor, though Henrietta was fairly sure they were animal bones and not human, the sight and feel of them still horrified her. She did her best to remain calm, though she was not sure what good being calm could do for her in a situation as bleak as this.
"Are you comfortable, your majesty?" A cold and hollow voice echoed through the air, sending goose-bumps up and down Henrietta's neck and arms. Her eyes shot upon and she whipped her head around to stare wide eyed at a man who had seemed to materialize out of the shadows in the corner of Henrietta's cage.
The man was not that tall, but not short either, standing at an average height for a man of nineteen years. His clothes were perhaps the strangest Henrietta had ever seen, a sort of one piece, full body, black leather outfit with dark red lines on the chest. But even that seemed ordinary compared to the boy's hair and eyes. Henrietta shuddered at the sight of them and quickly looked at the ground. The dark black hair stuck out on all sides in odd directions, lines of gray sprinkled throughout it, giving him the appearance of a shadow that has come to life. And his eyes, they were pale golden orbs, completely void of mercy or regret, eyes that only a cold blooded monster could have.
"May, the princess won't even look at my face. I am such a hideous beast." The man said in a cruel tease.
"You won't get away with this." Henrietta said, only earning a long laugh out of the man.
"My how cliche can you get?" He laughed he started walking towards her with a cool, uninterested expression. Henrietta found herself wondering what to do. She couldn't run, she couldn't hide, and she refused to beg. So she stood as tall as she could as the man approached her. This turned out to be the wrong response as the back of the roughly gloved hand struck her in the face hard enough to draw blood from her lips and she was knocked from her feet and onto the ground, bones scattering as she landed on top of them. "You see, I've already gotten away with it. Or at least I will have in a moment."
Henrietta gagged on the taste of blood in her mouth, her ears ringing from the force of the impact. But over all of that, her mind still buzzed with fear. This man was going to kill her.
The dark figure burst into laughter. "I'm not going to kill you. There would be no fun in that, and it isn't your life my master if after anyways. You don't interest him at all."
Henrietta blinked in confusion. If it wasn't her life, then why go through all of the trouble of kidnapping her. But before she could draw any form of conclusions, the man stomped his boot onto the girl's hand.
Henrietta let out a shrill cry of pain as she felt the bones in her hand snapping underneath the heavy boot of the cruel man. She tried to pull her hand away, but he put more and more weight on it, laughing as Henrietta cried. Her eyes went to the man and the expression on his face was akin to that of a devil.
Next thing she knew, he lifted the foot, and kicked her in the face, knocking her over to cry on the ground. Her eyes were closed with the pain as she sobbed. Brief imagines of her crying as a child from a scrapped elbow flitted in and out of her mind. How foolish she had been to believe that was pain. She had never even known what pain was.
Her injured arm was pulled away from her chest and rough hands pulled at the broken fingers causing even more pain. "There, now I've got all I wanted." The man... no... the monster said with a cold laugh.
Henrietta struggled to open her eyes, to see what it had been that he had taken from her. Her heart went cold when she saw the small ring in his hand, the Ruby of Water, one of four rings that had been passed down in the royal families since the Founder had left this world behind. It was a symbol of the country, and more importantly to Henrietta, it was a symbol of her promise to Prince Wales.
"No... please." Henrietta said between sobs, reaching out for the small ring with her good hand. The that monster just grinned and kicked her again in the stomach.
Henrietta collapsed on the ground, trying and failing to replace the air in her lungs. But her gasps came to a stop when see felt cold metal pressed up against the side of her face.
Her eyes took a while to focus, and when they did she saw the man holding and oddly shaped black metal sword to her face, a cruel glare in his eyes, telling her that he didn't care for her at all. "Before I take my leave, tell me, who summoned the red haired man?" Henrietta's mind took a few seconds to recall who he was taking about, but then the image of her friend's familiar came to mind, his black cloak, red hair and bright green eyes, that cocky smile that made it seem like he was somehow above it all. "Tell me, did you summon him? Did you break the taboo and attempt the summon servant spell?"
"N...no." Henrietta said before she could think.
"Oh really, then who was it? Who summoned that familiar?" The man demanded.
Henrietta thought of Louise's face. Them playing together as little girls. The promises they had made to each other to always look after one and other. She couldn't sell her friend out. So she kept her mouth shut.
The man began to laugh. "Oh, so you won't tell me then?" He said, his blade cutting a small line on her cheek and he moved it down towards the center of her chest. "Good. It wouldn't be fun if you gave in too quickly." Henrietta let out a scream of shock as he pulled his blade down, cutting her dress open and leaving her body bare. She tried to cover herself, but the man grabbed her around the throat and lifted her off the ground, smashing her into on of the bars.
Before Henrietta could even react, his sword disappeared and his now free hand reached up and grabbed onto her ripe breasts, squeezing it hard, causing Henrietta even more pain. The man leaned into Henrietta to whisper in her ear. "You will find, that I can take everything you have from you." He said in a cold voice.
Henrietta wanted to shout, she wanted to fight back, but the hand around her throat stopped the words short, preventing anything from escaping her lips besides a pained moan.
"By the time I am done with you, you will be the one taking your own life." The monster laughed as his hands went down between the princess's legs, and drove in two rough fingers.
Henrietta gagged with pain as the beast started to rip at her soft flesh, until he started to draw blood. Tears poured down the princess's cheeks. And she wheezed the only words that came to mind. "Someone. Help me."
"Shit." Axel swore after Tabitha finally went to sleep. It had been hard for him to get the story about those monsters from her, not wanting to pressure her in her distressed state, but in the end he had pieced everything together.
When she was young, those monsters, along with a young boy who controlled them attacked her family, killing her father and doing something unspeakable to her mother. Considering Tabitha's reaction, he probably did something to her too. It all made sense. She hid her heart away because out the horrors of what had happened.
The detail that caused her the most pain was the memories of that boy, the one that controlled the dark creatures. Her memories of his cold golden eyes.
Axel sat behind the table of his expanded room, waiting for his servants to return. It was odd that they were taking so long. A being like that giant shouldn't be hard to track for his assassins. He could have done it himself, but he didn't want to leave Tabitha's side.
He stiffened when he felt someone approaching his barrier. He wondered if it was more of those creatures, or if the Princess's royal guard had decided to try to arrest him. He started to call on the fire that would block out all intruders, but then he recognized the feel of the person who was moving towards him. Her fire magic was rather strong, making Kirche as easy to spot as a torch in a dark room.
He figured she was a friend of Tabitha's and that she was just there to check on her. So Axel let her through, she was not too dangerous, and she was alone. Killing her would be easy if she decided to attack him.
"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Axel said sarcastically as he turned to the door. Kirche stood there in shock, looking around the room. She hadn't been to it since Axel had used magic to make it bigger.
"I... I came to see if Tabitha was doing alright?" Kirche said as she walked in. Her concern was clear as day on her face. "How is our little girl?"
"No worse than she was before." Axel said, believing that saying she was fine would be a lie, and an unproductive one. "She said that those creatures were the same ones that once murdered her father. Its easy to understand that she would be shaken after something like this."
"Her father was murdered!?" Kirche gasped. Axel made note of it. Tabitha didn't share to much about herself. That was no surprise really. "Why... why have I never heard of these monsters before?"
"How knows. I'm more concerned about who controls them." Axel said glaring off into space. "A boy with cold golden eyes that seem to radiate dark itself." He looked over at the confused girl. "I suppose you don't know the significance of eyes like that. I forget how little you people know about my kind of magic."
"What do you mean? What is the big deal about gold eyes? I've seen plenty of people with..." Kirche started by stopped as Axel turned towards her and she stared straight into his green eyes. It dawned on her that even though she had seen green eyes before, they were never anything like his. They seemed to glow from within with a unreadable power that sent a shiver up her spine.
"Eyes are a gateway into an individual's true nature. At least when it comes to the dichotomy of light and darkness." Axel said with a cocky grin as he knew his eyes had that kind of effect on people when he wanted them too. "When someone uses their body to channel magic, making themselves physically stronger than anyone could otherwise be naturally, their eyes change based on their natural affinity. If someone is by natural skilled in light magic, then their eyes become as blue as a crystal clear sky and hold a warm light that shines from within them." Axel just had to imagine Roxas or Xion's eyes. The blueness that seemed to eat away at the darkness. Then Xenmas's face appeared in his mind. "On the other side of the coin, someone with a natural affinity for darkness has eyes that are pale gold and eat away at the warmth inside anyone who looks at them. This boy who controls these creatures is definitely my kind of fighter, and he is definitely rotten to the core. More than likely, the princess is dead. And if she isn't, I feel sorry for her."
"What do you mean you are sorry for her if she isn't dead?" Kirche asked, trying to process what Axel had just said.
"There are things a lot worse than death. Take my word for it." Axel said remembering his own death. That hadn't been nearly as bad as some of the things he had seen in life. Physical, psychological and spiritual torture was far worse than anything death had.
"What about you?" Kirche asked, trying to change the subject. "What about your eyes? What do they mean?"
Axel smirked. "Green is the color you get when you mix yellow and blue. I am at a balancing point. My skill with dark magic is equal to my skill with light magic. I not truly of light or darkness. I do whatever is needed at the moment, without a care for good or evil. It is a fairly common color, among Nobodies like me." He said with a dismissive shrug. It was true, though not entirely. Since nobodies like him were reflections of their original selves, they maintained the look of those individuals, rather than gaining their own identifying magical eyes.
"Is that why you were able to leave Princess Henrietta so easily? Because you didn't care about doing the right thing?" Kirche said, more questioning than accusing. "Or was it because you love our little Tabitha too much?"
Axel's smirk faltered for a moment, not liking being called out on his attachment. Attachments were weaknesses. His years as an assassin had taught him that lesson well. "I think you mistake her usefulness to me for love. I enjoy her presence, but it is friendship, not love. Got it memorized?" Axel said, trying to keep his calm and working on what he needed to say. He hadn't been on this side of fence before.
"Oh really?" Kirche said, this time she was the smirking red head, and it was Axel's turn to wonder what her game was. "Well, either way, you should realize that Tabitha thinks of you as more than just a friend. I would know. A woman can tell about these kinds of things. You got that memorized?"
Axel's brow twitched at the use of his catch phrase against him. What did the girl mean 'more than just a friend'? Did she mean family, or maybe... oh god. "If you are done, maybe you should just skedattle before you test my patience." Axel said, keeping up his care free demeanor even as his mind was doing cartwheels.
"Fine, I'm going. But I should have known that no fire mage could be as cold hearted as you pretend to be. Deep down, you are just a fuzzy little bunny." Kirche said as she headed for the open arch out of the stable. But she stopped right before leaving. "Take care of her. She deserves the best, Axel." She said in a motherly tone before slipping out.
"Stupid girl knows nothing of fire." Axel spat. He had heard the girl talking about the flames of passion. 'Passion' was one thing that fire most definitely was not. Fire was greedy, thinking only of itself and damming the consequences. Fire was all consuming and would do anything to maximize its satisfaction, even at the cost of its own existence, and Axel was fire.
"No... mommy... leave her alone... daddy... please daddy..." Axel froze as he heard Tabitha whimpering in her sleep. A nightmare, drawn up by her resent experience with her father's killers.
"Tabitha." Axel mumbled as he watched the girl struggling against the enemies that were assaulting her in her heart and mind. He could remember seeing it, the pain of all her life's experiences clear as day in her bright blue eyes... Just like with Xion. Axel reached out, patting her head as she slept. "Sleep easy. I won't let anyone harm you tonight." He whispered to her, and she slowly stopped stirring, instead rolling over to grab at Axel's waist.
"Stay with me..." She mumbled in her sleep.
Axel felt his chest throbbing with pain and cursed his new found heart. But he did stay, placing and arm around the little girl and pulling her into a hug, using his arms to shelter her from the darkness that surrounded them.
As he closed his eyes, he could have sworn he heard Saix taunting him. "What is it with you and picking up stray puppies?"
"Can't help it Isa, its their eyes." Axel mumbled as he himself drifted away.
Agnes and the remaining members of the Musket Squad moved as silently as possible towards the stables, swords and guns in hand. She felt it a little hard to believe that such a powerful mage would confine himself to a place meant for animals, but that just showed that he was a savage beast.
After her own short encounter with the fire mage, she went and gathered as much intelligence on him as possible. He wasn't just a traitor to Tristain, he was a monster, a heretic, and a psychopath. He was dangerous, and he had to be done away with.
"Captain, we have the place stacked out, and witnesses say that the criminal is indeed inside." Michelle, Agnes' lieutenant. She had moved up beside her leader along with three other Musket Squad members.
Agnes nodded. "Set up the smoke bombs. I want this done as fast as possible." Agnes said, her hard green eyes focused on the door of the stable, as if she expected it to be blown off its hinges at any moment. They had heard stories from the noble children of how terrifying this man was, but they were not foolish children. They were trained if fighting against mages and they would not fail.
"Do you think we can really beat him like this?"
"Of course, even the most powerful mages are helpless in their..." Agnes started by then stopped as she realize that it wasn't one of her soldiers who had asked the questions. She could hear a sort of low gargling sound and could smell the unmistakable smell of blood and burned flesh.
"I suppose your right. But you'd have to catch me asleep for that." Axel stood there behind Agnes, her four subordinates were all died, lying in a pill which the nobody of fire was sitting on as if it was a throne. Agnes had to stop herself from gagging when she saw what was in his right hand. The last moments of shock where edged into Michelle's face as her severed head dripped blood onto the ground. Axel held it up by its dark blue locks, a smug smile of victory plan on his face.
"You bastard!" Agnes shrieked in rage as she grabbed her sword, pulling it from its sheath.
"Gravity." Axel said in an almost disinterested tone. A small dark sphere coming from his hand, almost invisible in the night against his black coat.
Agnes was pulled to the ground hard as it felt like a dragon was being placed on her shoulders. She could hardly breath as her ring-mail dug into her body, tearing her skin. She could hardly keep herself on hands and knees as her light metal shoulder pads tried to drag her down to the earth, and the metal boots were digging into the ground under their own weight.
"You know, if you had just turned and walked away, I would have let you live. But you insisted on coming after me, and I can't have that." Axel said in mock disappointment, shaking his head side to side. "A pity, I saved your life, and now I'm going to take it."
"Fuck... you." Agnes gasped as she used all the strength she had to leave her single shot pistol on Axel's head. The bang from the gun echoed in the night air as Agnes pulled the trigger.
Axel hardly even reacted, simply lifting one of his chakrams to swot the bullet out of the air. "You might as well just stop. You aren't making the best cause for yourself as to why I should let you live." Axel said watching Agnes' angry eyes. Not a single sliver of fear in them, just raw hate. "Why do you hate me so?"
"You abandoned the princess." Agnes managed to growl as she continued to struggle against the weight that held her to the ground.
"For real? Is that the reason? I am pretty sure that was your job." Axel said, dropping the lieutenant's head to the ground and getting up off of his seat of bodies to stand over the girl. He looked down at her, watching as she struggled to get up and kill him. "You remind me... of Larxene." Axel said as a dream like expression crossed over his face. It was true, if he just squinted a little, he could hardly tell the difference between the two short haired blonds. "She was a bitch too, who died for the sin of angering a power that was beyond her."
Axel reached forward and grabbed Agnes by the neck, pulling her up off her feet as though she weighed nothing at all, even though the gravity spell was still activated. Agnes' heavy sword fell to the ground with a small crash. "If you expect me to beg, then you are wrong." Agnes spat, her look of pure hatred never leaving her face.
"Wasn't expecting you to. But in all honesty, it is better for me if you and yours all just turn up missing than having all of your corpses on hand. After all, with you all rushing out like this to rescue the princess, it is just a tragedy that you were slaughtered by the monster that took her. But with a little hope that some of your ranks might still be alive, someone could win favor with the princess by using all of their power to find you." Axel said with a smug grin.
Agnes was having a hard time understanding what the man was saying, until she felt something cold brushing against her back, slowly wrapping around her body. Axel gave a sad shake of his head as he pushed the princess's bodyguard backwards into an opened Corridor of Darkness, watching as the murky blackness surrounded her and swallowed her whole.
"Goodbye, you raging bitch." Axel's voice echoed in Agnes' ears as her vision faded to black. "If you want to live, you better start running. If you can get to the exit before the darkness catches you, you can still make a life on the other side."
The world around her was cold. So very cold. Feeling as if it was reaching into her and grabbing a hold of everything that she had used to keep herself going and taking if from her.
Agnes shivered uncontrollably as she looked around with wide eyes. She was on a narrow path that could easily be seen underneath her feet, even though it had no color and was surrounded on all sides by darkness so thick that it could never had seen the light.
"What in the Founder's name?" Agnes swore as she looked around at what could only be described as hell in her mind. Her eyes and spirit being pulled into the darkness around her as her eyes disparately tried to find an end. A giggling like sound shocked her out of her search. The sound had been close, but where had it come from?
Agnes gave a cry of pain as she felt something sharp digging into her leg. Looking down she saw shadows moving within the greater darkness. Small creatures with large golden eyes that deemed to eat away at her courage as they crawled around her. "No! Get off of me!" Agnes shouted, trying to kick the creatures away, but her attempts to hit them were as effective as an attempt to swot away air. Panic started to raise up in her chest as larger and larger pieces of darkness formed within this world of evil and started to close in on her. Glowing blue lines on their forms showing open mouths with shadows that formed teeth, long fingers stretched out in front of them like giant claws, reaching out for her.
She needed to get away, but she couldn't, they were everywhere. She tried to pull herself free of the smaller beasts but her legs would no longer move. She couldn't even feel them. Finally as one of the larger shadows raised up a clawed hand she realized, she was going to die. "I failed you, my Princess." The dark fingers drove themselves down into Agnes' chest, releasing a large spray of blood as the fingers reached down into her.
The last thing that Agnes would ever see, was a large ruby red crystal in the shape of a heart flouting out of the wound in her chest, before being consumed by the surrounding darkness.
Axel stood calmly at attention behind his small master as they entered the dining hall for breakfast. Tabitha had recovered from her fright and after some time, she walked with her old purpose and her quiet look.
The air was filled with gossip, even to the point where some people had not quieted at Axel's approach, not wanting to waste a second to talk about recent events. No just about the princess's kidnapping, but the sudden disappearance of her entire personal guard.
The theories about it were divided. Some said that the guard was attacked by the monsters from the other day and that they ate the corpses to make sure that their was no trace of them. Others said that they had all left in the night, not wanting to waste a single moment to look for the Princess Henrietta. Still others had crazy theories that the guards were somehow involved with the monsters and were running away before people could find out. A few people had pointed the finger of blame at Axel, but without evidence, it was not taken anymore seriously than the others.
Reaching her usual spot, Axel pulled out the chair for Tabitha to seat her before taking the seat next to her. One of the reasons why no one but Kirche still sat anywhere near those seats at the dining table, and occasionally Louise, trying to over come her fear through something she called 'the rule of steel'.
Today seemed to be one of the days that Louise would swallow her fear of Axel and attempt to eat nearby. More than likely in a hope to get news of her Princess. Not that Axel cared whether she was there or not.
"Good morning, Tabitha. It's nice to see you are well." Kirche said with her usual smile. The motherly one that she used on Tabitha whenever she was concerned for the introverted girl.
"Yes." Tabitha said simply with a nod as she started to eat her breakfast. Kirche wasn't fooled. She knew Tabitha well enough to know when something was wrong, so even with the limited signals, she could tell that the girl was still a bit jumpy. For one thing, she actually said yes instead of just nodding, and for another, she didn't have a book open as she ate.
"So, all of the classes today are canceled because the whole school staff is being preoccupied by the... well you know. So I was hoping that we could go shopping together in town today." Kirche said, clapping her hands together. Tabitha didn't answer, just looked down at her plat, eating a little slower, to show that she had heard, and that she didn't like the idea. "Oh pretty please? I promise I won't try to force you to wear anything pink or frilly this time."
Tabitha was silent for another moment before responding. "Promise?"
"I promise you on my family name." Kirche grinned before leaning down to whisper into the girls ear. "And who knows, you might find something that Axel would like to see you in."
Tabitha had a small blush on her stiff face, glancing over at Axel who seemed to not be listening as he surveyed the room for anyone foolish enough to attack them. But everyone quickly avoided his green eyes. Showing that they were still to scared to even think about approaching him for an attack. His short fight with the giant monster and his display at the Exhibition had been enough to further implant a seed of fear in the students.
Tabitha was thinking about whether or not she could impress Axel with a nice dress, or what kind of style he would even like when Louise smashed her hands on the table. "How can you talk about a shopping trip at a time like this!?" She asked angrily. "The Princess is missing!"
"I know, but it isn't like sitting around here threating about it is going to bring her back. Why not try unwind a little." Kirche said with a shrug. Louise looked like she was going to shout again, but Axel cut her off.
"Until my scouts come back with information about the enemy's location, I can't exactly go after them." He said in a disinterested tone of voice. "You real should just kick back. It isn't like you could do anything even if you knew where she was."
"So you want us to just leave it to those things of yours! What even are they!?" Louise demanded of the red haired man. To shaken from worry to be properly scared of him.
"Sounds like someone is forgetting who is in charge here." Axel said in a disapproving voice, glaring at the pink haired girl until she backed off. Finally he decided to answer. "They are Nobodies, just like I am."
Kirche started to giggle. "You are just going to try to sell them and yourself off as nothing important?" She said with a skeptic look.
"I'm saying no such thing. Nobody is actual the name of our race. Just like yours is Human and Flame is a Salamander, we are Nobodies." Axel said with a twisted smile.
"You... you're one of those creatures?" Louise gasped.
Axel started to chuckle. "Though we are both part of the same species, I'm in a whole other tier from them. They are next to witless creatures, operating on instinct alone. Without my control they would more than likely just sit around on their asses all day doing nothing but gathering dust in the emptiness." Axel said rolling his eyes. "Comparing me to them is like comparing an full grown adult to a newborn baby."
Kirche and Louise both seemed shocked that Axel wasn't really human, but Tabitha had been told that a while ago. She didn't care. No mater what he was, he still was Axel.
Axel felt a shifting underneath the ground and a small smile passed over his face. "It seems one of them has come back." He said, standing up and turning around to meet his Assassin.
There were gasps of panic and fear as the silver creature started to move up out of the ground. Even Axel was a bit surprised when he saw the condition it was in.
Though the Assassin was standing tall and showed no sign of being in any pain, it was missing one arm and dark red blood dripped from the ripped off limb. "My Leigh, I have returned." The Assassin said as it went to one knee.
"So you found them then?" Axel asked, seeming not to care that his servant was dying right in front of him. The Nobody nodded. "Good." Axel said before driving a hand into the Nobodies chest. There were screams of horror through the room as the Nobody fell to the ground and started to dissolve into black smoke.
"What the hell was that?" Louise shouted in shock along with several other students.
"His body was to damaged to lead us there, so I simple took what I needed." Axel said holding up a card with the picture of an arena. "The memory of where he found the princess. This is all I really need."
"So you just... killed him?" Kirche said a bit shocked.
"Don't feel sorry for it. A Nobody is just an empty shell void of heart. We have no emotions or feelings. The weaker ones like this don't even have solid memories, or a drive to exist. Nothing was lost when it died. In a few minutes, you won't even be able to remember it. That's the fate of a Nobody." Axel said as he started to walk away.
A small hand pulled on his black sleeve. "Where?" Tabitha asked, looking up at him with her blue eyes.
"I'm going to go and put down the guy who is in control of those monsters, and rescue the princess while I'm at it." Axel said in a calm voice.
Tabitha's lower lip twitched slightly. "Take me." She said in her steady voice.
Axel looked down at the girl. She was scared. He knew she was. So why was she offering to go with him? "No. It's better if you just stay here. I can handle it myself." Axel said with a smile, reaching forward and patting the girl's head. "I know you're worried, but I can handle myself. I will always comeback for you, so keep your chin up."
A corridor of Darkness opened up and Axel passed through it, closing it behind him, leaving the shocked students to try to figure out what had just happened, and leaving Tabitha standing their with a slightly distressed look. "Please... don't leave me..."
She stood still for a few seconds, before running in a very un-Tabitha like fashion towards the stables and Sylphid. She had to help Axel. She couldn't stand to lose him too.
Chapter 5 complete.
Plans for Agnes's body that might make you wonder whether or not Axel planned it all.