Chapter Seven:
Staircase Echoes
I wound my way up the spiral staircase that lead to the room Xemnas had turned into his private office. It was at the top of one of the taller, more distant towers in the castle, and a bugger to find if you didn't have all the corridors memorized.
What was I going to say to him? I still wasn't quite sure. Should I express outrage, or approach with mild curiosity? I wanted to choose the route that would yield to me the most information.
An image of Tera, invalid and bed-ridden, unconscious and unable to respond to her friends and loved ones swam in front of my vision. I bit my lip. I had failed her once. Twice. Too many times to contemplate. Even as a Nobody, I could feel that I had to somehow make it right. I had to restore Tera—even at the cost of Raxet.
"Xemnas!" Speaking of… "Why does it matter?" She was being quite loud. I lounged against the top stair, listening in, because we all know that spying is extremely conducive to good health. "Why is it different because I went with Demyx?" Oh, so the kid had finally broken the ice. I made a face at the unintended mental pun, then rephrased it. So the kid had finally gotten around to speaking to her.
"Don't leave without an escort, from now on, darling. And check in with me, first."
"I'm not helpless!" She snapped at him. I felt a silent cheer rise up inside me. Stick it in his teeth, Raz.
"You're bleeding, darling," He was still calling her 'darling'? That made my stomach complain violently. Maybe I was more possessive than I'd known.
"Let me wrap it for you," He offered, calm, patient. I didn't hear her protest, so I was forced to envision him bandaging her. Don't let him touch you! I wanted to scream. But I didn't. I wouldn't matter if I had, and I knew it. That filth. I felt rage welling inside me. Yes. Definitely a hair more possessive than I'd realized.
"I'm not a child," She hissed at him.
"Please, darling. You're valuable to the Organization," Valuable how? As a ransom? I pondered while Xemnas continued, "We have to take good care of you," No. Not as a ransom. Xemnas wasn't that blunt. No, whatever her purpose here, it was more conniving, more subtle. More painful, for all involved.
"I can take care of myself," She was not one to be coddled, this Raxet. I chuckled under my breath, feeling rather proud of her.
She busted out of the door quickly, obviously enraged. I jumped aside, pretending to lounge on the rail, as if I had been casually listening, instead of raptly ensnared. She slammed the door behind her, emitting a sound that could be categorized somewhere between a sigh and a groan.
"Now, now, Raz," I reproached her gently, "You shouldn't slam the boss' door like that. Even if he does try to molest you."
"What are you doing here?" She snapped. "And he couldn't if he tried."
I didn't answer her question, but continued with my original thought. "Gotta suck, though. Not being allowed to leave without checking in with your Sugar Daddy, I mean, Razer. Bad enough being a Nobody…but being a prisoner, too?" She swung at me suddenly. I might not have caught it in time, but the motion of a black ribbon, which was wrapped around her knuckles and stained dark in places where she had bled through, attracted my attention to the corner of my eye.
I caught her fist, which threw her off balance. I caught her elbow before she fell down the stairs, and steadied her. She didn't appreciate it.
"Bastard," She hissed at me, jerking her arm away and standing on her own.
I didn't let that get too far under my skin. "I just call 'em like I see 'em, Raz. It's lame. He's an ass." I reached to open the door, turning my back to her as if I didn't care one way or the other about anything I had just said.
Then I half-turned, before fully twisting the knob. A thought had just occurred to me. "Oh, by the way. Naminé was looking for you." Then, before I lost my nerve, I opened the door and entered, closing it firmly behind me and forcing myself to take my hand from the knob. No turning back now.
"Axel? What do you want; I'm very busy." Xemnas looked up from his desk—papers were stacked so high I almost couldn't see him. I could, however, see the computer behind him, the main screen of which was displaying a picture of the bailey from Radiant Gardens. My chest throbbed to see it in such disrepair. It seemed to have gotten no better since I'd glanced it when searching for Tera.
"Yeah…" I grunted, "I can see that. I'll make it brief," I promised, taking a deep breath. Then I let it all lose.
"Why, you sorry son of a bitch? What is she doing here? What do you mean by this? And why now of all times?" I knew my voice was too loud, too demanding. You don't demand things of Xemnas. You fool, I berated myself, he's going to demote you to a dusk and then have Sora kill you (how's that for cruel irony?).
"Because of him,you fool. There is no place for a traitor among us!" He glared at me, standing and walked around his desk so that we were face to face, eye-ball to eye-ball. "With this stunt, my friend, I hope that perhaps I might ensure your loyalty. Your skills are essential to our victory, Axel." He continued to glare at me, but I knew the heat of my own gaze was causing him as much discomfort.
"Loyalty? You bastard. You knew, then! You turned her into a heartless, into a Nobody…just to get at me?"
"No. Not justto get at you." He was calm, quite suddenly, brushing down the front of his robes, straightening himself and seeming suddenly quite slick. I watched him carefully. Was he about to dusk me? Or was he simply assured of my cooperation, convinced that his declarations had set me so far off my guard that I had no resistance left? "To destroy you. She could have been mine, you know. Tera, I mean."
"She'll never love you, you bastard!" I lost my temper then, bringing my fist back to smash his nose. He dodged easily.
"I don't expect her to. She's a Nobody, after all. We don't have any feelings. Love is just a word, to us. But she doesn't have to love me to satisfy me, does she, Axel?"
I felt myself go slack, dropping my fist and my jaw as I stared at him. He laughed, evil oozing out of his every pore.
I proved to myself then that Nobodies can feel. At least, we can hate. I hated him so much in that moment that I'm surprised he didn't just keel over dead. I wish he had.
He continued to laugh. "And you realize, it's not just you it will break. That fool. Diz, he's calling himself these days. You know what it'll do to him."
"You sorry bastard!" I breathed, my mind awhirl with horror.
He had ruined Tera's life…had jeopardized the life of her child…an innocent toddler…just for sex? Well, no. Not just for the sex. Not for the sex at all, but for what that sex would do to me, would do to Diz.
I understood now. By taking Tera and possessing Raxet, he intended to break down the enemy's mental defenses. To weaken them in that manner. That, and he wanted to put me in my place, once and for all.
And I couldn't see anything that I could do about it. Telling Raxet to stay away from Xemnas might work, but then again, she was a contrary person. She might just go and lay him simply because I'd told her not to. Maybe…
"You need time alone with your thoughts, I can see." I heard a darkness door open behind me, and before I could turn to see, he had pushed me roughly though. "Do stay out of trouble, Axel." He laughed as I fell through, crashing painfully to the floor at the bottom of the staircase that descended from his doorway.
"GOD DAMN IT!" I exclaimed, slamming my fist into the marble tile.
I hoped that Naminé had something really, really good to tell Raxet.
Raxet hadn't seemed too keen on Xemnas. I felt hope bubbling in my chest. It burst when I realized that she was, however, keen on Demyx. A minute ago, that hadn't mattered. Now it was a thought of horror.
I had to get Raxet to become Tera again. If Diz went crazy with anger or grief or whatever it was…if Diz went crazy, then Sora was doomed. If Sora was doomed to failure, then that meant Xemnas was doomed to victory. I knew that I couldn't live with that.
I pulled myself to my feet stiffly, staring up hallway that led to Xemnas's chambers.
I blinked, noticing something odd. The stairs were all glittery from ice.
A ramp of ice?
…it didn't take much to figure out what it was from.
I felt that hope-bubble expand again. Raxet obviously had a decent and strong personality of her own.
What more could I expect from Tera's Nobody? Maybe things weren't as bleak as they had just seemed.
Author's note:
Wow I'm getting all addicted to these little 'author's note' thingies, (laugh out loud). Anyway, finally a chapter of decent length. I like them to be about fifteen hundred words. Lately most of them have been falling short. I'm all excited—we're finally getting into what I consider the real meat of the story.
Oh. Someone sent me an email saying that they really liked the flashbacks. And a friend of mine suggested that I include more of them even though I sort of considered myself past the memory lane stuff. Thoughts?