~Kingdom Celebrations~

~Chapter X~

~The Second's Backstory~

His intial intentions forgotten, Axel walked into the garden, clearing his throat so that the other may notice him.

"Oh!" Marluxia gasped in fright jumping somewhat, probably from being so lost in thought, before looking over his shoulder.

"Your highness!" The pinkette tried to quickly rise to his feet but Axe only smiled and knelt next to the older teen. He took one of Marluxia's hands that were covered from fingers to wrist in dirt before looking up to the bright surprised eyes.

"Been working long?" The redhead asked with a small chuckle, letting go of the hand he had been holding, ignoring the dirt that was now upon his fingers. The other prince quickly collected himself before shaking his head.

"No, not truly, though maybe I have, since I was out here before sunrise." Marley commented as he brought a hand to his chin to think about the time he must have been outside. Axel took notice that he also adjusted his legs, his knees bright red from being on all this time. The Sinclair redhead smiled again as he rose to his feet offering out a hand to the other.

"Let us sit and talk for a moment, if that is alright?" The Radiant Garden heir hesitated for a moment, staring at the body part then slowly eased his hand into the redhead's. Axel did all he could to hide a smile behind his eyes. His and Marley's hand fit just like puzzle pieces. They sat down on the closet stone bench, the pinkette letting out a sigh of relief, rubbing at his knees.

"I am truly amazed at your garden, Prince Axel." Marluxia finally said once the smiled returned to his lips, the hint of pain on his face disappearing. Axel was happy about that for he didn't want the other to be uncomfortable.

"Oh, Prince Marluxia, you haven't seen anything yet. This is only one of our many gardens. This is one of the main four gardens though, the fountain garden. Then on the east side is the rose garden, north is the fruit garden, then in the south we have a sunflower one. My favorite though is off the grounds, it's a huge green house filled to the brim with flowers, fruits, and vegetables." The redhead commented, taking in every movement of the other prince as he spoke.

"For a prince, you sure care a lot about your gardens." Marluxia chuckled lightly as he began to rid his hands of the dirt. Axe was saddened about that for a moment before smiling again, chuclking in as well.

"Well, so do you. I mean, isn't that the reason you were picked to rule your kingdom, because you are so good in the garden." The tattooed prince replied. He had been rolling the little dirt on his hands in between his fingers before looking back up to the other beside him. A shock of surprise twisted upon the pale face, green eyes filling in worry. Marluxia had a saddened slash angered expression spread from one side of his face to the other, his fists clutched tightly in his lap, shaking so lightly that Axe barley caught the movement.

The redhead instantly felt guilty, knowing he had gone too far. Marluxia had sighed heavily running a clean hand through his locks of pink, but other than that made no move, but the younger teen needed to fix his actions. As quickly as he could so that he didn't upset the prince even further.

"I'm sorr-"

"No, Highness, it's fine. I-"

"Axel, please." The redhead assured, he had to let the other know he was truly sorry. What better way than to allow the fellow ruler permission to use his name? Marluxia looked at him for a moment before giving out a small sigh with a nod.

"Alright, Axel, but as I was saying there is no need for you to apologize, to me it's just a complicated and very painful subject to talk about whenever I wish. And since we're so formal now, please, call me Marley." The two smiled to each other, nodding to the agreement, knowing now that they had moved up to, at least in Axel's opinion, friends. The silence suddenly fell between them, but the tattooed one just couldn't allow it to last.

"Would you mind telling me about it, I won't force you to of course, though I am lying if I say that I am not eager to hear the tale?" The redhead watched the other in silence, letting Marley decide if he wish to talk or not. The other prince finally nodded a few mere moments then eased his hand into his shirt before pulling out a small pouch that was actually on a string around the pinkette's neck. That had surprised Axel. Marley undid the pouch from the string then held it in his hand before untying it, letting it fall open in his palm. The redhead stared at the contents, confused once he did. The pouch seemed to hold nothing but what looked like dirt, but once he leaned closer he knew that couldn't be right because it didn't smell of the earth.

"What is it?" The Shinra Prince finally asked, looking up into the blue eyes of the older teen.

"This, Axel, is secret to my kingdom's success." Marley threw back his head and laughed out loudly as he watched the green orbs practically pop out of the redhead's head. Axel was shocked at two things. One, Marley was showing him the success of his kingdom and two, this small dirt was responsible for the rise of an entire kingdom! What in the world!

"You wanted the truth Axel, so I will tell you, but you might want to get comfortable. It's kind of a long story." The pinkette admitted lightly as he placed his hand holding the pouch in his lab and adjusted the way he sat on the bench. The redhead did the same, getting himself in a good position so that he could look at the other prince fully, giving him his whole attention.

"As I'm sure you know, Radiant Garden wasn't always prosperous nor beautiful. My father ruled fairly and truly did the best he could, but…" Marluxia took a moment to sigh heavily before nodding, as if to say to himself that it was okay to continue.

"But the true downfall of our kingdom was my sister, Larxene. She was the first born, I came second, but to this day I am still confused on how she could have come from such kind people like my mother and father. She was so twisted and…ju-just wrong in the head about so many subjects. My parents did everything they could possibly do as they raised her to change the way she acted, but sadly nothing helped. Larxene was so focused on wanting to rule the kingdom. She was so fixated on power, obsessed with it even. She, of course, thought that being the first born instantly gave her the right to be the crown ruler.

"In my kingdom, the crown ruler, or heir to be the next to rule out of the family, is not decided by birth rank. It is decided by our actions and who our parents feel is truly the most right to rule. Larxene could not understand that! She just couldn't get it through her head. I didn't care. I didn't care at all! I let my parents deal with her, but all I saw as my parents did so, they completely ignored our people.

"I was so mad. I hated seeing our own people being ignored and neglected. I couldn't stand it. I started sneaking away from the palace any chance I could, doing everything possible for the people. I did work with them, I took cooks to come with me and helped cook whatever was available. The people were so thankful, praising me and instantly clinging to me like sap on trees. I was happy, things were going okay with our efforts and our people were finally happy. The kingdom was still barren but all I cared about was the people.

"I was walking around the outer gardens on a random day in the afternoon after having helped some of the local villagers early that day. I was lingering time before I had to head back to the palace but something caught my attention the more I stayed. I noticed this strange looking plant that I remembered the villagers had called the 'Coffea' plant. It took my interest because it was the only plant that was flourishing in the whole garden. I took closer examination and found berries on it, then opened them to find a dark bean." Marluxia smiled as he nodded to the pouch of 'dirt', which Axel raised an eyebrow at.

"Well I basically began experimenting with the bean and found out that if I crushed the bean into a powder, put that powder back into the soil, anything that was suppose to grow practically exploded. Everyone was amazed at how incredibly the plants grew taller, brighter and the flowers smelled stronger than ever. We set to work, everything flourished. No matter where we put the seeds in the ground, as long as we put the powder with it, it would grow. The villagers were practically groveling to my every word after that and of course my father took instant notice. I was named crown prince the next day.

"You can not begin to imagine how enraged my sister became once the news reached her ears. Then to make matters worse, my mother gave birth to my sister, Namine. You know, a normal sister would be happy to have a new sibling. Larxene had snapped, in the bad way. During the next month there were three assignations attempts on my life, four on my mother and father's, as well as six on Namine's. I was furious. I was thankfully when I was finally able to connect the attempts back to my sister. When the guards forced her upon her knees in front of me, she only laughed. She laughed out loud to the ceiling in the most sickening way I have ever heard, it made chills sail down my spine. She admitted to it all, without even a blink of the eye. I wanted to have her murdered right then and there, have a knife go right through her heart right in front of my family. She didn't deserve to live after what she did to her own new born sister, to her own parents, for sakes!

"I couldn't, though. I couldn't do it. I could not kill my sister, not by the guards or my own hands. She was still my family. She was my sister. How could I possible sleep at night with her blood on my hands? So I did only what I could. I took everything from her. I stripped her of her rank, took away her title, everything. I practically left her in rags then personally led her out to the gates of the kingdom before throwing her in the dirt, banishing her for life. The last I saw of her was her in binds walking away, disappearing in the rain, and thankfully haven't seen her since. You know the rest of the tale from there." The pink haired prince finished as he nodded lightly to himself, most likely happy that he was able to get such a story off this chest. Axel couldn't say anything. What was to he say to something as extensive as that.

"I'm sorry." Axe mumbled out, not actually meaning for Marley to hear him, but figured the blue eyed teen did when a hand was gently laid on his bony shoulder, a light squeeze following the action.

"No need to be, Axel."

TBC

Yay! Marley's story! Next is with Saix and I soo can't wait to write about that. I just have to fill in a few plots bunnies.
I hope you are enjoying KC, please review and tell me your thoughts if you can, it would make me smile.
See ya around the web! 3