"Oh, I hardly see you around. Zexion, is it? Lovely ring to it."
The Cloaked Schemer's visible eye flashed with a glint of silver-blue as he watched Larxene examining several books on the shelf. "I thank you for the compliment," he returned politely. "And how are you coping with the fact that you are to be paired with Saix on your next mission?" He blinked in mild surprise when he got no reaction from Larxene; perhaps Xemnas had informed her already?
That theory was objected by Larxene's next comment. "Really now?" she drawled with slick astonishment. "I've been here for about a few months, and this is the first time I've gotten a mission with the Luna Diviner. How interesting." The Savage Nymph continued idly scouring the thick texts, skimming her fingers across new and ancient. "Has our wise and cunning Superior also informed you of when I am to meet with his favorite?"
Zexion felt his back prickle with unease as he heard the mockery behind Larxene's honey-sweet voice, tingling with poison. "He said tomorrow," he answered coolly, never wishing to reveal his displeasure at this woman's exterior attitude. "You two are to meet at a village tomorrow. Xemnas shall show you where to head for."
Larxene nodded at the silver-haired young man, returning to the books. She suddenly chuckled to herself, and Zexion raised an eyebrow. Larxene sighed, soft but loud, and turned a happily melancholy gaze on the young man. "What is in a name, Zexion?"
Zexion's silver-blue eye swirled with wary curiosity. "Why the sudden question?"
Larxene smiled lamentably as she ran her slender fingers along the spines of the books. "A name can define someone, no? But what if we were already nothing to begin with? Do names redeem us? Or are they just there to give us a faux sense of being?"
Zexion had no comeback for her questions; instead, he could only stare at her, his mind wracking his brain for an answer.
Larxene turned a somber look to the Cloaked Schemer. "Look at me: I ask these questions, yet my hypotheses are contradicted already. You know how? Look at your name, Zexion. Look at everyone's names. Our former names are rearranged, but the 'x' is inserted. It is a reminder to us, to tell us that even though we have a new name for our new life, we are still nothing. No longer ourselves, but also not anyone else. Am I right?" She sauntered purposefully over to her companion, and Zexion, for the briefest moment, was unnerved. She placed her hands on the table he was seated at, and she leaned toward his face. "Are we nobody?" she hissed quietly. "Or are we nothing?"
"What difference is there?" he retorted, the hair on the back of his neck beginning to rise. "No body, no thing."
Larxene's blue eyes crackled. "So we are things now? Not even spared individuality?"
Zexion's shoulders raised, his muscles taut with tension. He took in her eyes, the seas of blue that concealed a hunger beyond reckoning. It was twisting her, and the young man was quite sure that this quest of hers was driving her mad... "Larxe--"
Larxene didn't listen; she turned sharply to the side and prowled about the room, her eyes blazing. Zexion quickly raised himself from his seat and tried to approach the woman. "Calm yourself, Larxene!" he commanded quietly. "Don't get yourself so worked over!"
Larxene heard him, but he was far away. Her pursuit of the knowledge she craved was gnawing at her insides more viciously, and with every bit she gained and learned, the more the feeling increased. She wanted to attain everything she could; she needed to. If not, what was she doing with herself? Was it worth it living like this, or was it worth it living with a heart again? She lashed out at nothing as she snarled to herself; Larxene pounced to all fours and whirled around and glared at Zexion, who came to an abrupt halt.
"Larxene," Zexion said steadily, hands slowly going up. "Steady..."
Larxene, deep inside, was trying to contain herself; her mind was becoming muddled, buzzing with the lances and spikes stabbing at her. She almost couldn't take it; she fell back on herself and clutched her head in pain.
Zexion could only stare at her now; to see someone like this... He had never seen it before at all to begin with, actually. This... This...
For the first time in his 'non-existent' life, he was afraid...
Larxene's lips curled into a snarl of ferocity, her eyes flaming like that of the predatory wolf. She was sure she would lash out at the man in front of her soon, and she wasn't so sure of her ability to restrain herself...
The Savage Nymph stiffened suddenly, then rose. Zexion's eyes stretched wide as she took a step toward him; he was absolutely frightened of her eyes and the storms that they held.
Sparks of electricity danced around her slender form as she clenched her fists repeatedly. Yet, just before the muscles and nerves in Larxene's kunai-loaded hand worked to swing at Zexion, the woman was tackled into a portal. Larxene spat in curses as she wrestled in the arms of who she knew to be Axel. "Let me go, you mange-bag!" she spat, thrashing all the more as he simply locked her into his form on the floor of her room. Larxene barely managed to roll onto her stomach; she tried bucking him off, but Axel only kept up his arm lock around her neck and torso.
"Calm down, Larxene!" Axel hissed into her ear.
"Why should I?!" she retorted harshly, rolling back to face him. "I need not do no such thing! What does it matter?! I am nothing! Nothing to ANYONE and EVERYONE!"
That last part came as a shriek, and Axel found himself slapping her face; before he knew it, he was also squeezing her arms with bruising force. "You call yourself NOTHING?! When all you've sought and gained was worth SOMETHING?! Don't disgrace yourself and fall into a self-dug pit! You've worked too hard so far to just fall into a lapse and give in to it!"
Larxene stopped her fits of rage and stared at him, her eyes glimmering with surprise and confusion. She looked into Axel's blazing emerald eyes, and realized the horrible mistake she had made. The sheer realizations of her recent actions piled onto her, as well as the reasons for them.
Before either of them knew anything, something slick and wet fell from her eye.
Larxene blinked in dead astonishment and her eyes widened, making them threaten to spill the rest of that strange liquid. The sudden happening startled her into silence, and she could tell it did the same to her fire-wielding companion; he was above her, his eyes shocked and confused. Axel wiped the salty trail away with a shaky finger, and Larxene slowly raised herself into a sitting position. But that fallen liquid had thrown her mind back into those fuzzy yesteryears when she actually did experience them...
"The tears...," was all she could murmur, once she had regained her voice. "I had forgotten about the tears..." She looked to Axel, who could only remain rooted to his spot beside her. Larxene found her mind wanting desperately to indulge in this condition of tears, just this once... Just this once...
Everything had happened so fast... Had come at a rush...
Larxene threw herself into Axel's open arms, and he cradled her shaking form. The tears were spilling down her face in so many forms... Tears of hate, tears of joy, love, sorrow, anguish... It was all spilling down her face and onto Axel's chest, and he continued rubbing her back.
"Oh, Larxene...," the pyromancer murmured, finding sympathy in his voice. "You're destroying yourself... You need a vent... An outlet... You're keeping everything so caged up that now it's starting to burst out..."
Larxene looked up at him, and her body began to steady, though she was still taking shaky breaths. She didn't answer him, but allowed him to stroke her hair and pull her into his lap, where he held her close and poured unto her a certain feeling that only a certain kind of understanding friend and comrade can place. He noticed that she had gone limp, and he carefully picked her up and placed the Nymph in-between the sheets. She was worn out raw, he knew, and rest was the thing she need now more than anything else. He made a note in his head to reschedule Larxene's mission with Saix; Axel knew that Xemnas would not force a member to perform a mission if they were unfit in any way, physically or mentally.
Axel stood over Larxene's weary body and contemplated for just a small while. A few moments later, Axel crawled in beside her, knowing that -deep within Larxene's very soul- she needed him, and he felt a sense of duty to this confidante.
Maybe their next realization was bloomed to save both their sanities. Or maybe it was because they were sick and tired of this place and way of living. But both somehow knew, just by their close contact right now, that tomorrow would bring a dawn where they would devise a plan that could sweep the very stars away.