Epic 35: Parlez-vous français?

I didn't know how but after that, I just knew Arienn was somewhere close. Opening my eyes slowly I found ceiling to stare at for a while, before closing my eyes again with a sigh. "Arienn," I sat up staring at my feet. "Stay out of trouble idiot."

"Axel?" It didn't surprise me to find Naminé at my side. She didn't have to ask.

"She's close, I know that." I sighed running a hand through my hair.

She was quiet for a time. "Axel," She spoke quietly and in a way that made me dread her next words. "Do you, know them?" she asked with an absent gesture to indicate the people in the house.

I was afraid she'd ask that. I stood, going to the window. "Nami," I began after a moment of thought. "I've landed myself on a very delicate situation, on a very slippery slope."

"Axel, they keep calling you Lea." She said slowly. I could guess what she'd already thought of.

"That was my name, a very long time ago." I answered quietly keeping my eyes on the rain. "Like your name was once Kairi." I turned halfway to see her shocked face over my shoulder. "These people are the ones left behind when I was, 'born', for lack of a better word."

Naminé plopped down to the edge of the chair behind her. "Axel," I turned back to the window folding my arms over my chest. "What are you going to do?"

I rolled my shoulders. "Nothing. I'm not going to tell them anything. Just a stranger who happens to look like there dearly departed."

"But, Axel―"

"Naminé, I'm not the same person. That life is dead and gone, and trying to explain that to them?" I turned my eyes away from her. "My death wasn't a pleasant one. I don't want to remind them of it anymore then I have, and then to explain what I became?" I clenched my fists.

"Ah, les choses ne changent jamais, ils l'enfant?"

"Il vaut mieux pour tout le monde ..." I trailed off, given I was suddenly hit with, since when did Naminé speak French? Naminé wasn't even looking at me but rather at the old woman with a cane standing in the doorway, grinning.

I groaned pinching the bridge of my nose. "Not again." I sighed.

"Tu as toujours été le plus honnête quand tu as parlé français." She chuckled.

"Crafty vieille sorcière, pourquoi n'êtes-vous pas encore mort?" I asked glaring at her sidelong.

"Hey hey, ce n'est pas une façon de parler à vos aînés!" She scolded.

"Ouais, ouais, quelle que soit." I said waving her off.

She laughed again. "My, my you never do change do you Lea?" She tipped her head at me. "Though I understand you're calling yourself Axel now non?"

I shuffled uneasily. "Not, calling, it is my name, now…"

"Ah, I sense a story here." She said settling into a chair. "Different name, pretty little blonde and something called Arienn?" I looked over at Naminé wide eyed.

"You called her in your sleep." She explained quietly. I pinched the bridge of my nose again.

"Ah, a woman. Un roman aussi bien!"

I shook my head. "Ce n'est pas comme ça ..." I faltered.

Her eyes softened. "You can say it."

"Grandmother." I shook my head, instantly looking away. So much for denying it all and not getting involved.

"Parlez-moi des enfants." She said softly. I kept my arms folded over my chest, eyes out the window. This had been a mistake. I should have kept my mouth shut.

"Axel," Naminé gave me that puppy-dog-pleading-doe-eyed look of hers. "Sometimes there are things you can't avoid."

"Please," I shifted my eyes over, flinching at the arrival of my―his Mother. "We've spent so long not knowing."

I sighed leaning against the wall. "Do you know what a Nobody is?"

My, his, mother covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh God."

Naminé closed her eyes, folding her hands together in her lap. "That's what I am." I continued. "The empty shell of your child, revived by a fluke of human nature," Arienn flickered over my mind. "Okay two flukes of nature." I corrected waving it off slightly. "The point is, I'm not him. Not really. Not anymore. I'm just a...echo."

There was a cruel silence before my mother spoke. "No, no, I don't believe you." She choked. "This is one of your sick pranks! It's not funny Lea, not funny at all!"

"Sweetheart," My Grandmother chided softly.

"No, no No NO!" I winced. She was getting hysterical, something's really never change. "It's just one of his pranks to avoid getting in trouble for disappearing for years and showing up again with some girl!"

I looked over at Naminé who looked somewhere between embarrassed by the implication, and frightened. "Actually she's my best friend's girlfriend." I corrected, and poor Naminé blushed.

"Oh, Isa finally managed to find a girl with that aloof stoic act?" Gran asked.

"What?" Nami asked blinking in innocent confusion.

"No!" I cringed at the thought of Saïx even near Naminé.

"See! I told you! One of his Pranks! He remembers!" Mother shrieked. I groaned.

"Well of course he remembers. He did say he was an echo." Gran sighed exasperated.

"Mother! You're in on this too!" She gasped.

Gran sighed. "Meredith, you're being foolish."

Mother began to shout and scream even more, tears streaming down her face. I turned my head away as my―his mother left babbling something about disowning me, him.

Gran sighed again. "Poor faint hearted child. She certainly didn't get that from me." She scoffed standing. "Come along you two." I lifted a brow at her. "I can't leave you here and neither of you are in a condition to go traipsing around in the rain and dark. You can stay with me for a while," She motioned us to follow as she moved towards the door "Until you find your friends at the very least."

Simply Notes:

I feel there are a few things I need to put out here. One, please do not start ranting and raving about his history, we don't know much about Axel's history and this is merely my thoughts on it. You're free to disagree but don't make a fuse about it, everyone's entitled to their opinion and this is mine.

Two, I don't speak French. All the French in this [and later chapters] is Google translator, and tweaked by a friend who took 2 years of it in Highschool. So if any of you happen to be fluent in French so something please don't yell at me if I mangled it.

Three, I chose to have Axel/Lea have a second language mostly to drive Arienn up the wall. French, well you know what they say about French being the most romantic language and that will just serve to annoy her more.

Thanks for sticking with me 3