A/N: So I wasn't going to update this week in favor of posting something else that I'd completed recently...but my beta hasn't returned the other story to me yet. D: So I suppose I'll just have to make do with this one for now instead. I'm sure you're all pleased with this decision. (P.S. The chocobos were a last-minute addition, so, uh, don't mind if it came out a little awkward. I was too lazy to send it to le beta.)
Warnings: OH GOD IS THAT A PLOT? RUN. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES.
Disclaimer: At this point, I'm pretty sure that I don't even own the plot, let alone any of the characters.
Summary: AU. Axel/Roxas. He wanted an ending. He got Axel instead.
Chapter Fourteen: Down With the Sun
"We're going to have to go through the forest," Celes said in greeting as Axel and Roxas walked up to her, both still yawning. She pointed in the distance where they could see an area of trees in between some mountains. "Around the edge of the smaller chain of mountains is a cave filled with some strange, shadowy creatures. Locke's in there right now, looking for something he's been after for years."
"He went into that by himself?" Axel asked disbelievingly. "Why the heck would he do that?"
"Well, he's going to wait for me to fight whatever's at the bottom, and getting down shouldn't be too bad." Celes shrugged. "He's been adventuring for a long while now. He knows which battles to fight, and how many Potions and Ethers he needs to carry. But we had to start out early because Locke will have spent the night in a tent down there and we need to catch up to him. It'll take almost half the day just to get to the mouth of the cave as it is."
"Then what're we waiting here for?" Axel asked excitedly, and started walking in the direction the woman had pointed in. "Let's get going!"
Not far outside of the town, Celes stopped short suddenly, digging through her bag in search of something. Axel and Roxas shared a bemused look, and then turned to her just in time to watch her come out with a handful of some kind of plant.
"Uh, Celes?" Roxas asked uncertainly as the woman turned and shoved part of it into his hand, and then some in Axel's. When she didn't answer, he turned to Axel to look for some sort of clarification, but received nothing but a shrug. He turned back to Celes moments later, just in time to see her tuck a small whistle back into a pocket of her pants.
"What are we doing?" Axel asked slowly, raising the plant up to his face and wrinkling his nose at the smell. "Ugh, this is disgusting."
"We're getting wild chocobos to travel with," Celes said, raising her eyebrows at him. "It's kind of old-fashioned, I know, and you hardly ever see chocobos any more, but I figured we might as well make use of them if a family's nearby. There's tracks all over the ground, if you know what you're looking for—and I do."
As she was talking, said family of creatures had started running in their direction. Roxas stared at the huge birds with no small amount of curiosity, and couldn't stifle a smile as he saw a couple smaller birds run out from behind the three bigger ones, snapping at each other.
"We're going to ride those?" Axel asked, sounding faintly nervous as one of the chocobos came up to him and started tugging at the plant in his hand with its beak. Roxas snickered at him, then reached out to pet one of the smaller ones that had nearly run into him as he calmly let another of the bigger ones eat out of his hand. Celes, he noticed, was rubbing the last large one's beak and talking softly to it. "No offense, but I really prefer cars."
"Well, there aren't any roads to where we're going, so you'll either have to make do or walk." Celes responded as the bird bent its knees so Celes could comfortably climb onto her back. The other two followed the first one's lead, and Roxas clambered on awkwardly, trying not to tug out any of the feathers.
"This is awkward," Axel said as he settled himself on his bird's back and shifted his own pack. Roxas just nodded his agreement before turning to Celes and waiting for further direction. "How do you control them?"
"They'll just follow mine, so you don't have to worry about that," Celes said softly, patting at the bird's neck as it let out an interesting noise and fluttered its wings. Seconds later, the three of them were off at a breakneck speed, the two smaller chocobos running around the adults' feet. Roxas couldn't help but laugh a little, delighted by this new form of traveling, and turned slightly to see how Axel was doing. The redhead still looked a little uncertain, but he gave Roxas a calm smile—only to let out a startled yelp as the bird jumped over a large rock in its way, and fling his arms around its neck. Roxas smirked at him, and turned forward again, peering around the bird's neck to watch as the forest loomed ever closer to them.
---
"When we get to the middle of the forest, it's going to be so dark we won't be able to see," Celes said casually as she swung her sword at a random beast that had jumped out of the trees at her.
"That shouldn't be too much of a problem," Axel responded smugly, reaching out to ruffle Roxas' hair. "We've got ourselves a nice strong flashlight."
Celes gave Roxas a sharp look at that, and said in a surprised voice: "You're a light element?" Roxas just nodded, not feeling the need to say anything else. "That's...unsettling," she proceeded to murmur to herself.
"What's wrong with it?" Roxas asked a bit defensively, spinning Oathkeeper in his hand.
"Oh, nothing," Celes assured him with a warmer smile than she'd given either of them since they met her. "I was just sort of surprised is all. Neither of you struck me as having any spectacular magic. Usually I can feel it."
"How can you feel magic?" Roxas asked curiously, moving a step closer to her so he could hear her better. "I'm new to even having magic, honestly, and from what I've read, that's supposed to be impossible."
"It's kind of a long story," Celes sighed, flicking a stray strand of hair away from her eyes. "A few years ago, I was one of the leaders of Kefka's army, as I had been raised by a man very close to Kefka before he went insane. Some of the soldiers in that army were infused with the blood of Summons, and I was the first of them that was given the supposedly updated version of it. It gave me a few extra powers that I'm quite fond of."
"That's really interesting," Roxas said softly. "How many other soldiers got the infusion?"
"Only a handful," Celes replied. "Kefka was the first."
"Hey, you two lovebirds going to actually help out?" Axel called over to them suddenly, and Roxas looked up to find Axel surrounded by a group of beasts. "I mean, not that I can't take care of this myself or anything, but sometimes I feel like being lazy!"
Roxas moved to run toward them, but Celes shook her head and gestured for him to stay put. Curious, he did as she wanted, and eyed her uncertainly as she seemed to gather energy, her cape waving in a strange wind that surrounded her. When she threw out her arms a few moments later, ice seemed to form in midair, rushing toward Axel, and it easily killed four of the creatures. A few more were left, and Axel made short work of them, then walked over with a grin.
"Fire, light, and ice," he said, sounding unusually thoughtful. "We make a really interesting combination. If you don't mind me asking, what's Locke's element?"
"He says he doesn't really have one," Celes replied, "but I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with the dark. He's stunningly good at sneaking around—he's the one that saved me from being executed, actually, after I defected. I don't think he would have gotten past all those guards without a little magical help, no matter what he says."
"It's kind of interesting how we're all opposites," Roxas said slowly, thinking back to the times he'd spent scouring the library for information. "Like usually attracts like, when it comes to magic."
"Well, sometimes opposites work just as well together," Celes assured him, spinning away from him and walking off again. "I'm pretty sure Locke's old girlfriend was a healer of some sort, and Terra's a fire elemental, but she's my best friend. A lot of the so-called laws of magic aren't the truth. You shouldn't believe everything you read."
"Well, what crawled up her ass and died?" Axel asked flippantly.
"I'm pretty sure you're her problem right now," Roxas said pointedly, "as she was perfectly fine until you came waltzing over. I think the two of you are textbook examples of opposites clashing instead of getting along."
"She's just intimidated by how gorgeous I am."
"Yeah, right," Roxas scoffed. "Have you even bothered to look at her?"
"Uh oh, do I have competition?" Axel snickered, snagging an arm around Roxas' waist and slowing down. "You do know that I have to take out anyone else that catches your eye until you finally admit you're madly in love with me, right?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm a hundred percent gay—that's something I figured out a long time ago. But I also realized that it doesn't keep me from noticing when women are attractive. I've got eyes, you know, and they work perfectly fine."
"Oh, good," Axel sighed in mock relief, giving Roxas' waist a gentle squeeze. "Because I didn't think I could wait until we found the magicite if that weren't the case."
"What was that you were saying about lovebirds before, Axel?" Celes snapped suddenly, standing with her arms on her hips and glaring at them. She was a fair distance in front of them still. "Get your feet moving! You notice how it's getting darker? We don't want to dawdle in this darkness!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Axel said cheerfully, giving the woman a terrible salute and releasing Roxas as they put on speed.
A few moments later, they were indeed doused in darkness, and Roxas nearly tripped over a root as it overtook his senses. He heard a swear nearby, and knew it was Axel without having to check, so he took a few uncertain moves forward before holding out his hand and concentrating on having a little ball of light form in it. He smiled in triumph as it lit up enough to perfectly show off the area immediately around them—Axel, on the very edges of his light, was fighting with a vine that had gotten wrapped around his ankle, and Celes was standing a foot in front of him with her sword ready for an attack.
"You okay, Axel?" Roxas called over to his boyfriend. His voice sounded oddly muffled, as if he was talking from the inside of a heavy cloth bag.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Axel snarled, sending a tiny fireball at the vine and freeing his leg. "Celes? You're looking a little tense over there."
"We need to hurry up," Celes responded, sounding surprisingly tense, and Roxas was immediately on guard. "I don't know exactly what's going on, but this darkness feels strange. I always knew it was magical, but it feels more powerful right now, and I really don't feel like facing whatever's casting this spell. Stick close to me, okay? I don't want us to get separated."
Axel and Roxas did as she requested, though they made sure not to get so close that they wouldn't be able to fight if they were attacked, and Celes slowly began leading the way through the dark. Unfortunately for them, there was no warning that the beast was attacking until the ground suddenly moved beneath them, lifting them straight into the air. A sick-smelling wind started up around them as they flew up. Roxas felt his knees begin to buckle, his vision blackening around the edges, and fought desperately against passing out as he pulled his keyblades out.
"What the hell?" he gasped as his vision suddenly became whole and he realized both Axel and Celes had disappeared. He was still moving upwards on the ground, until finally he was high above the trees and he could see the sun in the distance, but distorted with the light oddly diluted. Seconds later, the ground was moving again, this time turning him around and moving horizontally until he found himself staring into a pair of intelligent yellow eyes.
"Little light," it said without moving its mouth, "you have strayed too far."
"...What?" Roxas asked, utterly lost, and tilted his head to the side.
"Little light," it said again, "you are too far from your disconnected heart. Kingdom Hearts hungers for you, your flesh and blood, the soul it has been denied for long, long years. The further away you are, the faster the darkness will get to you, until all the light is gone."
"What are you?" Roxas asked, and realized for the first time that he was completely unafraid, completely emotionless, completely blank to what was happening.
"We are nothing, little light," the voice whispered, growing distant, and the blackness was returning to Roxas' vision. "We are the souls that have been destroyed. We are all that will be left if the Kingdom returns. Little light, you must return to your heart."
"My...heart?" Roxas asked softly, and then the blackness was complete and the next thing he heard was his name being called in a half-familiar voice that he couldn't quite place. "Is that you, S..."
"Roxas!" the voice called again, and it was clearer this time, clear enough that he knew who it was for sure. "Roxas, get up!"
"Stop yellin'," Roxas murmured hazily, slowly opening his eyes and staring at Axel. "Feel sick."
"Here's a Potion," Celes musical voice came from out of his view, and he just barely turned his head to see her hand moving an open bottle closer to his mouth. Axel's hand reached out and snatched it from her, before tilting the bottle up against his lips until he could feel the cold liquid splashing against them. His lips parted, and Axel helped him drink. "That thing hit you first, and tried to suck out all of your energy. You were almost dead by the time we managed to get it off."
"How are you feeling?" Axel asked tensely as he pulled the bottle away. "Do you need another?"
"I'm okay for now," Roxas replied, stretching as he felt the energy starting to return to him. The backs of his hands scraped against a tree trunk, and he could just barely feel the scratching. "Help me up?"
Axel dutifully grabbed his hand and started pulling him up, smiling shakily as Roxas slipped on the fallen leaves before finally regaining his feet and leaning back against the tree again. "Sooooo. How did it feel to have your energy being sucked out?"
"Axel!" Celes snapped, sounding surprised, but Roxas just laughed, and she turned a glare on him. "You two are always like this, aren't you?"
"Only on bad days!" Axel replied cheerfully, eyeing Roxas as the blond took one of his own potions and started sipping slowly at it.
"And every day is a bad day when you're in our line of business," Roxas added dryly, prompting a curious look from Celes, but he didn't bother to clarify what he meant by that, and she just shrugged it off. "So, disaster's averted and the forest is safe again. More or less. Can we get this thing over with?"
"Of course," Celes said briskly, turning and pointing in a direction that looked the same as any other direction to Roxas—trees, trees, trees, and a little bit of moss. "We'll go that way for another, oh, hour at the most, and then another hour or so to the mountains. We might make it about halfway through before we have to rest for the night."
"When are we going to meet up with Locke?" Axel asked curiously, setting out in the direction Celes had pointed in. Roxas followed him, still sipping quietly at the potion.
"He'll probably be wandering around near the end of the cave waiting for us," she replied, not sounding entirely confident about that fact, "so he'll join us when we get down there. And then we can explain what's going on to him, and we'll be heading off for our next destination."
"Next destination?" Roxas muttered unhappily, tucking his empty bottle back where he'd gotten it. "What are we wasting our time here for, then?"
"Well, we need a bargaining tool," Celes informed him quietly, and there was something off about her smile. "We need to get on an airship, and Setzer doesn't do anything for free."
A/N: I...have pretty much nothing to say so um. REVIEW, BITCHES. :D