Wishful Thinking - Chapter 14

Axel walked through the forest at a slow, even pace. The underbrush was dense, but never got to be more than knee-high, so he didn't need to cut anything back. Philippe picked his way delicately through without complaint. Belle and Roxas remained silent, save Roxas's occasional grunt of displeasure. The one time Axel turned to check on him, he'd been shocked by how pallid his young charge was looking, so now, he kept his eyes firmly forward. He couldn't deny that he was worried, but staring at Roxas like a creepshow wasn't going to help anyone. Axel pinpointed Xaldin's signature magic easily, and he followed the trail somewhat subconsciously, allowing his mind to wander.

Had he been that sensitive to magic while he was alive? He honestly couldn't remember at all. He'd only gotten through two wishes, and the first one was for new shoes, so it was hard to tell. The shoes hadn't made him sick as far as he could remember, but given that he'd long since abandoned all sorts of footwear, he supposed they must have done something bad. In the present, his bare feet squished pleasantly in the mud.

Now, the second wish, being turned into what he was now- that hurt. Like hell on fire. Except, Demyx had confided in him once that his transformation felt like slipping into a refreshingly cool lake on a hot day, though, so maybe the whole fire thing was just Axel's personal demon's style.

"Roxas?" Belle's voice broke his thoughts. "Are you still awake?"

"Uh-huh," Roxas moaned. Axel tried to think of something to say, like a cheerful hang in there buddy or something equally lame, but he came up short. He felt guilty trying to cheer Roxas up, when he knew that no matter what, the boy's life was going to end in shit. If he'd gotten any bottle besides Axel's, this whole mess would be over by now. Axel had long suspected that Xemnas had a way of assigning his minions to certain people. Well, ha ha, boss!

Everyone's laughing.

Big fucking joke.

"Is your genie still here?" Belle asked. The trees were rapidly closing in, and if Axel hadn't known better, he'd have guessed the foliage was trying to grab them.

"Uh-huh."

"Um, do you feel ok?"

"Uh-uh."

"Was that uh-huh good, or uh-uh bad?"

"Unnngh," Roxas let out a long, pitiful moan. Axel stopped Philippe. He had no strong feelings towards Belle, one way or the other, but he still didn't want Roxas to barf on her.

"Come on, buddy," he urged. "Don't puke on the pretty girl." He supported Roxas on his shoulder, and the boy vomited gloriously, in a two-foot projectile arc. Luckily, he hadn't eaten that much, so there weren't airborne chunks of partially-digested french fries to worry about.

Belle totally freaked out anyway.

"Oh my God! I want to walk," she snapped. She pushed Roxas away and tried to climb off the horse herself. Where she was planning on going from the middle of nowheresville was anyone's guess.

"Tell her to save her strength." Roxas tried to do as he was asked, but it came out as mush, so Axel just tugged the horse forward. Belle barely kept her balance.

Axel hadn't really spent a lot of time out here in the middle of nowheresville. The denizens of Twilight Town were traditionally sort of afraid of their bordering forest, which was why it had never been developed, even though Twilight Town had been around since almost the beginning of time. Axel had certainly never come here while he was human, and he'd only come here on account of a wish once. The woman wished for a vacation, and, well, when had Axel ever had great control over the results?

"I wish I had friends."

Axel grimaced, and tried to block the memory out. A wish he was never going to forget.

"I wish I had friends."

"Whoa. Seriously? Um, ok. Uh, wish granted."

"Cool! Does it happen right away?" Axel frowned slightly. Would a parade of sweaty teenagers be bursting through this kid's door at any moment? Or maybe they'd only be weirdo internet friends? He waited for a few moments for some crazy magical shit to go down.

And then he realized.

"Sure does," he beamed. 99% of his job was just rolling with the punches. "Let me know if you want to go to the movies, or eat ice cream, or something."

"Huh?"

"You wished for friends. As of now, I, Axel, am officially your friend. So, lemme know when you wanna do best friend stuff. Oh, and you have seven wishes left." He expected the girl's face to crumple, her spirit crushed by a miserably wasted wish. She didn't look sad, though. On the contrary, her face brightened.

"That's such a good idea!" she gushed. "Let's go to the movies right now!"

"Oh, um. Really?" Axel paused. "You should probably wish that something good is showing, then."

She didn't. That was how Axel got the privilege of sitting through nearly three hours of Stars Crossed: A Tale of Passion.

It was awful.

"This would be much more enjoyable if you could talk," he groused at Roxas, forcing himself not to think of his past masters. Roxas garbled something angry back at him. Their usual banter, however, had an apprehensive air about it.

The forest was getting to both of them.

This kind of place was perfect for Xaldin, though, who preferred things shady and mysterious and clichéd. Knowing him, he probably just kidnapped Belle's father to be a dick and keep himself amused. He was probably, at that very moment, twirling his sideburns with sinister glee at the fact that Axel had been dragged into this mess, too.

The trees whispered on all sides, as if to usher the four of them through faster. They were getting close. Belle was determined, but obviously exhausted, and Roxas couldn't do much more than drool and moan. Stopping to rest wouldn't do much good out here in nowheresville, and Axel didn't have the mad skills to go toe-to-toe with someone five ranks his superior.

Basically, they were totally fucked.

"Rox, you need to pull yourself together. I don't know what's in there, and I wouldn't count on her actually using that sword." The sword itself lay glistening across Belle's lap. She looked afraid hold it properly. Or touch it at all. Or look at it.

"Axel," Roxas whimpered. "I'm trying, Axel." Axel wasn't used to seeing Roxas act this pathetic, and the sight was unnerving to him.

"Well, try harder," he said, mostly for his own sake. Roxas's chin jutted out into a defiant pout.

"You're a douche."

"Look who's talking."

The wind picked up as they traveled deeper into the forest, making it difficult for Axel to keep his bearings. That was Xaldin's doing, too, he was sure of it. He could always turn around. Show up back at Belle's house, say he got lost. Oops, there was nothing I could do! Despite his better judgment, though, he pressed forward.

He'd made a promise to Roxas, after all.

Stupid Roxas.

His parents were probably wondering where he was. Axel could sense that the sun was beginning to creep over the horizon, though it hadn't reached inside the trees yet, and that meant that Roxas had been missing for an entire night.

I wonder if my mom wondered where I was. I wonder if anyone looked for me.

Axel bit his lip.

I wonder if anyone ever noticed that I left.

Then, after many excruciating hours-that-were-actually-just-minutes of hacking through thick underbrush- with Axel doing all of the hacking, lousy freeloading kids- the four of them broke through into a clearing.

Xaldin was waiting for them.

Well, ok, the sun had only just began to rise, so all Axel could see was some sort of dark figure. But it was definitely Xaldin. Who else would be standing out in the woods like this? Unless Twilight Town had gotten way more weird in the last thousand years. Besides- Xaldin's angry and off-putting aura was making a cold wind sting Axel's ears.

"I'm glad you made it," he said, his voice dripping with the kind of politeness that made it sound like the speaker was making fun of you. Yeah, totally Xaldin. Belle responded first. She leaned awkwardly over Philippe's neck.

"Where's my father?" she demanded. Her voice was shaky, but her resolve was firm. Xaldin tilted his head to one side in a quizzical gesture that was very much unlike him.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" he taunted. "Aren't you enjoying your wish?"

"I wished for an adventure," she screamed. "I wished for an adventure!"

"Wouldn't you call this an adventure?" Xaldin's face was obscured by the shadows. "You rode a horse, and you're holding a sword. You journeyed into places you'd never been before, with help of some unlikely allies. Don't you feel adventurous?"

"You didn't have to kidnap my father."

"Not all adventures are pleasant ones," Xaldin said evenly. "You don't always enjoy yourself. You don't always learn something new and special, and come out with a happy ending. Sometimes, you just travel in a circle, and sometimes, you're worse off than when you started."

Axel freely admitted that he was completely shit-his-pants terrified of Xaldin. Of all of his colleagues, Xaldin was one of the most calculating, and one of the most ruthless. On top of that, Axel's entire body was probably smaller than the muscles in Xaldin's neck. But as he listened to Xaldin speak now, he heard something else in his voice, something that he wasn't used to.

It sounded like bitterness.

Bitterness from someone who'd been traveling in circles all his life. Someone with no control over his own choices, who was only able to act for a blessed few days every thousand years.

"You're talking about us," he said out loud. And for the first time, in an unprecedented spark of empathy, he wondered: what had Xaldin wished for to cause him to end up like this?

Xaldin saw Axel's unprecedented spark of empathy, and raised him a stare so cold it made Axel's demon shiver.

"Don't ever make assumptions about me, Axel," Xaldin said stiffly. "Regardless, I've stayed here long enough." He addressed Belle. "Your father is locked in a cage, fifty yards north of here."

"A cage?" she cried indignantly.

"What's the catch?" Axel muttered to himself.

"Axel." Roxas was gasping for breath. His eyes were wide. "Behind." Axel focused on the forest behind where Xaldin was standing. A shadow- an uncomfortably large shadow- was lumbering through the trees, directly towards them.

A lump caught in Axel's throat.

"Get off the horse," he snapped. "Get off the horse! Now!" He grabbed Roxas, who grabbed Belle, and somehow, they both managed to dismount, landing in a heap on the forest floor. As soon had they stopped touching Philippe, the horse disappeared, as if he'd never been there at all.

Totally. Fucked.

"Is that- a monster?" Belle gasped. Her fingers wrapped around the hilt of her sword.

"Don't have too much fun," Xaldin said darkly.

He disappeared.

The creature broke into a gallop, charging directly at Belle. The bulky shadow grew larger, and larger, until finally, it erupted into the clearing with a mighty roar.

It should be noted that very few things that his partners-in-magic did surprised Axel.

His eyes widened, however, as the creature barreled towards them. The thing looked kind of like a cross between a wolf and a cat, if he had to guess, but it was big, bigger than the horse, and it had massive claws on all four feet, and Belle was going to die, and he wasn't going to be able to do anything about it.

Just like before. A girl's life had been taken from her right in front of him, thanks to his own stupid mistakes. He never should have let her come out here, he never should have gone along with what his master wanted-

Belle clutched the sword hilt in both hands. She held the blade straight out in front of her, as if hoping the monster would impale itself. She wasn't going to last two minutes against that thing. Axel wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't.

Fortunately, of the three of them, someone was able to act.

Roxas dove directly in front of the beast.

The claws were coming down. They made contact. Roxas's blood was flying out into the air-

And the entire forest was on fire.

The reaction was immediate and involuntary. Fire was building in Axel's gut, an acidic sensation in his throat, and the heat inside of him was rising. He could barely keep a handle on his magic at the best of times.

"Watch out," he yelled, in a voice that wasn't his own. His body surged- fire itself- and he launched himself, or maybe just the fire, at the monster attacking his master.

The beast fried. Its screeches of pain filled the forest, so that it almost seemed the forest itself was screaming. Axel couldn't stop. He destroyed Xaldin's spell by force. He poured heat on the monster until it melted into nothing.

Roxas and Belle were invisible to him. The threat was everything. The threat must be eliminated.

"Axel," Roxas gasped. "It's dead, Axel. You can stop. Axel!" Axel tried to force the fire back down. He really did. The demon inside of him was pumping him full of power, too much for his human body to handle. He was only distantly aware of how frightening he must look.

The heat simmered down.

"We need to get out of here," Roxas was screaming. "Get us out of here!" Axel's blurry vision made it over to Belle, who was clutching her unconscious father. Somewhere in the chaos, she must have found him. Man, kids these days. They got shit done. Despite being the one with supernatural powers, Axel was feeling aggressively useless.

"I can't do anything about them unless you wish for it."

"I wish-" Axel interrupted him in a hurry.

"Be careful when you say it," he said. "Something like 'I wish you would take me, Belle, and Belle's father to a safe place within Twilight Town.' It has to be specific." Axel's fire was dying down, and he could see Roxas staring at him. Blood was dripping out of a wound on his shoulder. Axel hadn't made it in time.

"Axel," Roxas began slowly. "I wish you would take me, Belle, and Belle's father back to Belle's house, and thoroughly heal all of our wounds."

Belle's house? Axel thought. Well, he's the boss.

"Granted. Hold on tight." Again, his power surged up inside of him, pushing Axel out of his own mind. The forest began to fade out of view, shimmering and replacing itself with Belle's familiar cottage, the trees a comfortable distance away.

He went to Belle and her father first, since they couldn't see him. Belle was unhurt. Her father was unconscious, but didn't have any injuries worse than a few ordinary cuts and scrapes. Roxas, however, was losing blood, and fast. The beast had connected a split second before Axel had been able to react, and really, they were lucky it hadn't taken Roxas's arm completely off.

Not that Axel wasn't awesome enough to be able to fix that, of course.

The wish continued, without Axel doing much to move things along, and his hands pushed Roxas down onto the ground, as if they were moving on their own. He deftly removed Roxas's torn up shirt and jacket. Roxas blushed a rosy pink color. Apparently, he was somewhat less than used to having men undress him in the woods.

Axel chose to ignore their rather compromising position, and attribute Roxas's flushed face to nervousness.

"Don't worry," he assured him. "It won't hurt." As he spoke, Axel's body moved of its own volition, pressing a hand against the open wound. Roxas flinched away instinctively.

"Relax, dude." The blood on Roxas's shoulder was drying up, and the gashes were closing, but it was all happening slowly, painfully slowly. Roxas was squeezing his eyes to stop from puking.

He was a sturdy little guy. Axel had to hand him that. He almost had his arm taken off, and he didn't even cry. Now, Axel was pumping raw energy into his system, and Roxas was forcing himself not to react at all.

He was tough.

"Almost done." The beast wound was already closed, but Roxas had said 'thoroughly.' His whole body would have to be cleaned up before the wish would stop. Axel's hands moved, automatically, from the shoulder to some mosquito bites on Roxas's arms. From there, with no prompting by Axel himself, mind you, his hands traveled to a faint scar on Roxas's lower stomach.

"How'd you get this?" he asked gently, as his fingers erased it.

"Sk-skateboarding accident," Roxas stammered. A violent blush had taken over his cheeks. Apparently, he wasn't used to dudes rubbing his belly.

Well, whatever. Axel grinned wickedly.

"Just be grateful you don't have diaper rash." Roxas's face turned an even darker shade of crimson, and he made an awkward sputtery noise in protest. Axel finished removing the scar, and used one finger to disappear a cut that a tree branch had left on Roxas's cheek.

"There. All better." In spite of himself, he smiled at the sight of a properly restored Roxas. As he did so, the last of his magical powers drained out of his body. Clouds of exhaustion fogged up his brain. He'd been pushed to the absolute limit.

"God, Roxas," he sighed. "You're so stupid."

Axel passed out.

Uh oh! Roxas only has one wish left! Let's all cross our fingers and hope nothing tremendously bad happens to him.

Sorry that this chapter is kind of short. Originally this chapter was supposed to be part of the last chapter, but it got too long, and I didn't like this half of it, so I kept rewriting it and rewriting it and now here we are. Sorry if things got a little melodramatic- I've been watching Naruto. (And... and... I kind of want to write Naruto fanfiction. It's come to that. IT'S COME TO THAT)

Q OF THE DAY: What do you think Roxas is going to use his last wish for? (One of us knows the answer, and it's not you. ;) ) Also- which genie do you think we'll be meeting next?