Thank you for the reviews! ...I'm kind of half-asleep right now, so I don't know what else to say, other than poor, poor Axel. So here's chapter 11.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts (2).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Axel was being very cautious a few weeks after he and Roxas had tricked Zexion. Axel wondered if Zexion was planning something. Both he and Roxas felt bad several minutes after Xemnas had dragged Zexion off to punish him. No one probably deserved to be tortured by Xemnas.
Axel was currently resting on a couch in the library, staring off into space as he thought. He hadn't seen Zexion after that incident, but from what he had heard from Roxas, other people had seen the Cloaked Schemer. Axel blew out a long sigh and turned onto his other side, to stare at a door. He wondered again if Zexion was planning on doing something to him.
Axel suddenly let out a short laugh and closed his eyes. Nah, Zexion was probably still recovering. Axel didn't know that screaming could be heard from a far distance (he and many others from the organization hadn't gotten a good night's sleep). But...what if Zexion was planning something?
"Axel...?" Roxas' voice asked.
Axel opened his eyes and glanced over at the door, where Roxas stood. "What's up?" He asked. Hopefully it wasn't about Xemnas wanting him to go on another mission.
"Vexen wants to see you." Roxas answered.
Axel made a face as he sat up slowly, stretching and yawning widely (and it was very exaggerated). "What does the old man need me for?"
Roxas shrugged. "I don't know. It seemed to be urgent."
Axel heaved a sigh and got off the couch, heading for the door. "Well, then I might as well see what he wants, so that he won't keep pestering me..."
Roxas watched Axel walk off towards one of Vexen's labs, wondering why he didn't just use a portal.
----
Axel entered Vexen's lab, and saw the Chilly Academic working on something intently on a table. It seemed pretty intense to Axel, so he waited quietly (amazingly), since he didn't want Vexen flinging chunks of ice at him again (Axel had disrupted an experiment some time ago, and Vexen's reaction was one that Axel didn't feel like provoking anytime soon).
Vexen kept working on what he was doing, already knowing that Axel was in the room. Vexen was glad that Axel was being quiet, but was beginning to start to feel guilty for having requested Axel to come down into this room. He decided to strike up a conversation to try to feel better with what was about to happen.
"You got here fairly quick. I thought someone would have to drag you kicking and screaming down here." Vexen said as he carefully added one potion to another, smiling when the result seemed to be the desired one.
Axel rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"
Vexen paused what he was doing, keeping his gaze firmly on the table as he sought out an answer. As long as Axel didn't know he was in on another of Zexion's ideas, he would be safe. He had to keep up a friendly front. Hopefully Zexion would be on que. "Well...I was going to ask you about a few of my experiments, but perhaps I should have someone else...Oh! Zexion."
Axel's attention immediatly went to the said individual, eyeing him suspiciously. Had he been hanging out in the lab for the past few weeks? That must have been stressful, having to listen to Vexen babbling. He hoped that hadn't made Zexion snap or anything.
Zexion came out from the shadows, carrying some kind of potion in an uncorked bottle. "I found the potion Vexen...Ahh!" Zexion 'tripped', and he lost his grip on the bottle, 'accidentaly' splashing Axel with its contents.
Vexen , while Axel was distracted, shook his head in disapproval, before leading Axel to a shower where he could rinse off.
While Axel was doing that, Vexen went back over to an evilly grinning Zexion. "It's nice that you've been making better potions, but can't you put your efforts into something else? Like other things better than what's going to happen to Axel with the potion you just spilled all over him?"
Zexion continued to grin evilly. "But this will be so much fun Vexen..."
"What if he tries to do something back to you after the potion wears off?" Vexen asked.
"As long as he thinks I got him with the potion unintentionally, he probably won't do anything..." Zexion replied as he listened to Axel muttering something about how the potion should have been covered.
A few minutes later, Axel headed towards the door of the lab. He glanced back at Zexion, who was looking back at him with a weary expression. "Maybe you should get some more rest Zexion."
Zexion shrugged. "You should too Axel. And I'd change into new clothing as well."
Axel scowled at Zexion as he left the lab.
Vexen watched Axel leave, then went back to the table as Zexion began to snicker. This was going to be...amusing. At least, to him. Axel wouldn't be happy at all.
----
Roxas passed Axel, who was headed for his room. "So...what did Vexen want?"
Axel glanced at Roxas. "Not sure...Zexion spilled a potion all over me though..."
"Oh..." Roxas replied as Axel went into his room, and shut the door.
"Um...okay..." Roxas said to no one in particular, and he walked off..
----
Inside the room, Axel took another shower (even though he didn't like it). But, he wanted to make sure that the potion residue was gone. After changing into some new clothing, Axel collapsed onto his bed wearily. He was wondering now whether Zexion had planned that or not. Axel closed his eyes, deciding that he should get some rest, so that he could think more clearly.
----
Zexion had gone to his room as well, because he couldn't stand Vexen giving him disapproved glares. Zexion knew that he was only half angry at him, since he knew that he'd be interested in what would happen to Axel. Zexion curled up on his bed, yawning. Axel had been right, he should get some sleep.
Zexion drifted to sleep, smiling in anticipation. He knew what the potion would do to Axel, even though it would only last for a few days.
----
Vexen was still in his lab, and was currently scribbling down notes furiously on anything that remotely resembled paper. He paused momentarily as he thought about what Axel was going to be subjected to. Vexen went back to writing, still feeling a bit guilty.
-----
The next day...
Axel woke up after having a very strange dream. It was so scattered that he couldn't remember any of it clearly. The more awake Axel became, the more he felt kind of...funny. Not in a laughing way, but more along the lines of feeling stange and uncomfortable. Axel decideed to ignore the feeling for now, and concentrate on waking up fully and getting out of bed.
The feeiling still hadn't gone a few minutes later, and Axel was beginning to feel uneasy. He got out of bed, only to lose his footing and go crashing into the ground. How the heck did he manage to fall over? Maybe he was still sleepy...
Axel's thoughts screeched to a halt as he looked up at a mirror. Axel leapt up in horror, then cautiously approached the mirror once he figured out how to move. Yep, that was definatly his reflection in the mirror. And it was then that Axel hoped that this was some sick kind of joke and he was just imagining things.
The reflection in the mirror showed a regular dusk, though somewhat smaller with different coloring. What was white on normal dusk was mostly red, and there were little markings beneath where the eyes would be. The rest of the colors were normal.
Axel raised his hands shakily, and found himself staring at bound dusk hands... Oh...no! He turned into a dusk?! When did that happen?! Did Xemnas come into his room and change him into one? Or what? Axel scurried around his room in panic. This was not happening to him! It had to all be a horrible dream.
Axel ran straight into the wall, and it...hurt. No! He was awake! Nononono...this was not happening! Axel began pacing again. Who would do this to him? Zexion? Vexen? Someone? What should he do? Was he stuck like this? While Axel paced in panic, his bedroom door opened. Axel paused in his pacing, and glanced over to see who it was. Roxas maybe? He could help him.
Axel froze when he saw who it was. Marluxia. And after his initial shock, Marluxia's expression became amused, then changed into an evil grin. Axel shrunk against the wall. This didn't bode well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, end of chapter. Please review and let me know how this turned out (or just leave some kind of comment). I'd really appreciate it.
This chapter came up because I remembered the part in the game where Axel was talking to Roxas a second time. I think he said something like 'Yeah, but I'm not getting changed into a dusk for...' before he thought that Roxas actually remembered him. Hmm, maybe I'll go back and play that part again...
I'll update as soon as I can, and thanks for reading and/or reviewing.