Flurry of Flames Second Chance: Part 2

Natasha sat out in their living room awaiting her parent's arrival home. What was she going to say? She had brought home a complete stranger from outside the city walls, which was a place she wasn't supposed to visit anyway, and now she found that there was no way she would be able to turn him out before they arrived given his condition. The tall red head could barely move from the pillows on her bed! How could she make him, this Axel, leave?

Her thoughts ceased when she heard the latch on her door unlock and the high-pitched welcoming of her mother. She calmed herself before standing, smoothing out her simple red dress and light brown hair, and walked towards the kitchen door where her parents entered. She gave them both kisses on the cheeks and they talked about their days before she was finally asked about hers.

"So, Natasha," her father addressed her, "what did you do today? I bet it's interesting since it's one of your last days before lessons start again."

She stiffened slightly as they both turned their eyes on her. Their happy, smiling faces made her rethink telling them about Axel quite yet. They never went into her room anyway. What could it hurt if she got him out before school started?

"Nothing much really. Mostly just cleaning up here and there, and...uhh...waiting for you to come home." She smiled widely when she finished. Her parents rose their eyebrows and looked at each other, her mother's long, dark brown hair falling over her shoulders when she looked back at her daughter.

"Did you break something?"

Natasha sighed.

"No, mom, I didn't break anything."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, dad."

They looked at each other again, then looked back at her with little smiles on their faces. Her father pushed some of his semi-long, dirty blonde hair back behind his ear.

"Okay. We believe you for now," he said.

Natasha exhaled as discretely as she could, and a real yawn overtook her.

"Aw, honey. You need to go to sleep. You didn't need to wait up," her mother said as she gave her daughter a hug. "Do you need anything? Water? A snack?"

Natasha perked up at the mention of both.

"Both?" She asked hopefully, and her mother nodded in response.

After saying goodnight to her parents, and receiving a large glass of milk and some cookies, she rushed as fast as she could, without looking suspicious, up to her room. There she found Axel still sleeping with barely a snore from him under the dim light of her lamp. She could scarcely discern the blue diamonds under his eyes due to how low the light was. He was unmoved from the spot she had left him in hours earlier, and the only hint to him still being alive was the slight rise and fall of his chest from underneath his black cloak.

After setting the milk and cookies down on her beside table, next to her clock that read '1:34 AM', she sat herself in a chair to Axel's left to wait for him to wake up so he would eat the cookies she acquired from her mother. Natasha took a few sips of the milk to give herself something to do, and afterward took an interest in the red-head's clothing. She tucked her long, light-brown hair behind her ear as she leaned over him to examine the clothing closely.

It seemed simple in appearance, but the intricate weave of the fabric she could see under the light was criss-crossed like nothing she had seen before. The boy's lithe body was covered completely, save for his head, in black. The different style was obviously foreign to these parts, as well as the surrounding countries she visited. The cloak had a chain that connected the two sides of a hood together, as well as one long zipper down the front. When she squinted her eyes and leaned dangerously close to see something, she found the roman-numeral 'VIII' inscribed just under the chain.

"You know...you shouldn't get that...close to...someone you don't know."

Natasha jumped when she heard the raspy voice. She held a fist to her heart to calm her surprise when she saw his face smirking up at her.

"What were you looking at?" Axel's voice was slowly turning back to what she thought was normal, but it still sounded rough around the edges with dryness.

"At the number VIII on your cloak."

Without moving his head Axel lowered his eyes distastefully towards the cloak he wore, and then rolled them with a slight sigh, closing them afterward. She watched as he squirmed on the covers of her bed to lift himself onto his elbows only to fall back with an annoyed sigh.

"How did I get here?" He rasped as he looked around.

"I found you in the desert outside of our city walls. You were face down in the dirt and practically sizzling in the heat and that cloak." She pointed to his clothing for extra emphasis.

What she thought was a chuckle emitted from his throat.

"Gees. I have no idea how I got there," he said with disinterest.

A silence passed between them and she turned her head towards her window over the bedside table so she wasn't staring at Axel. How had he gotten there? His bright red hair was like nothing she had ever seen before, and the strange green of his eyes both intrigued her, and made her ask questions. Most of the people of her world, in fact everyone she had ever met personally, had deep, violet eyes. Her mother told her a long time ago when she had seen a picture of a princess in a storybook that only royalty had green eyes in this world, and that the only other color present was dark brown that was almost black. However, that did not explain his hair. Everyone she had even read about, or met, had the same mundane dark colors where the brightest was never beyond the tone of her father's dirty blonde hair. Axel's fire-red hair was the most exotic thing she had ever seen in her life.

Natasha's eyes traveled towards the milk and cookies on her beside table and her face colored when she realized she had completely forgotten about her guests hunger. She cleared her throat to make sure he was awake. He obviously got the picture when he cracked one of his green eyes open.

"Do you want these cookies and milk? My mother makes them herself."

He closed his eye and let out a raspy chuckle.

"The milk too?"

She let out a little laugh of her own and shook her head when he opened his eyes again.

"Can you get up any better than before, Axel?"

Axel responded by laboring to prop himself up on his elbows, and offered a crooked smile when he did so, only for his arms to give a little shake and fall from under him. She tried not to giggle, but his next comment made her laugh pretty hard.

"Well...this is going to suck once I have to go to the bathroom." He joined in her laughter as well, though not whole-heartedly.

She fed him the cookies, and he told her that the milk was even softer on his throat than water when she asked. He was rather quiet, only saying anything when she asked him how he felt or if he needed anything.

As time progressed to 2:00 AM Natasha started to feel the thrall of sleepiness take her over. Axel started to notice this and laid back on the pillows; he had scooted his way up into a sitting position to help her out a little bit. He was rather glad she was getting sleepy. It wasn't that he minded the company, but he was tired as well, and he really wanted to try and figure out what exactly happened to him when he faded away from Sora and Roxas. The sooner he regained his strength, the sooner he could find his answers.

"Well, my savior, I am getting tired. Do you think we could talk about yesterday later today?"

Natasha blinked as she figured out what he meant. It was, after all, the early morning hours.

"Sure. If you need me, I'll be over on the couch." She gave an amiable smile as she lugged herself up from the chair and made her way over to the couch after switching off the lamp. Axel stared after her and his eyebrows wrinkled together. Didn't girls her age have their own rooms? It hadn't occurred to him that she would give him her bed.

"What's your name?" He asked out of curiosity.

As she laid down on the couch she spoke.

"Natasha."

He pondered it for a second, nodding in the dark when he decided it fit her well.

"Goodnight, Natasha," he said with another nod and closed his eyes.

((A/N: Yay! The real introduction of my original character! I promise that I am really trying not to turn her into a Mary Sue, and I haven't decided yet if I should let there be romance later on between her and Axel. If a lot of the people who review think I should I think it might do the red-head good to have a little romance in his life. For now, I just want to build a close friendship. Something like what Riku and Kairi had.

A-Z-a-z-0-9SharpayCat: Roxas will be in here at some point, though it will only be in dreams and such. I'm going by the game, so Roxas and Sora will be one as well as Kairi and Naminé. And I'm afraid that I cannot put you in my story. I will be using my own characters for this. Actually, Natasha is going to be the only main character for this. She's there solely to help Axel along and, if reviewers wish me to do so in the future, perhaps love him in a very special way. ; I'm sorry for rambling.

Please Review!))