Flurry of Flames Second Chance: Part 5
When she left the room to follow her parents out for lunch Axel dozed for while, but strangely, considering the utter tiredness he felt, could not bring him self to find true sleep. Something was nagging him that didn't seem so much negative as it was annoying. When even his light rest ceased he grumbled to himself inarticulate words. He glared at the ceiling, but found it odd to do so. Never before had he glared at anything unless it stood in the way of his goal, and this ceiling had done nothing to him. What was he blaming it for? He shut his eyes, utterly baffled at himself and found that he suddenly didn't care about sleeping. Instead he busied his mind with questions about what he was going to do when he could leave this place without falling apart. There had to be someone who knew about traveling between worlds, or perhaps only a keyblade master could do it. Again he was annoyed.
As everything that crossed his mind annoyed him he found himself digging for things that wouldn't. Never had he been annoyed by anything but an enemy. This was a first for him. He lugged himself up from the bed; his eyes closed in the effort, and took in all the breath he could to support himself in making it up without having to rest in a sitting position. He was going to take Natasha's advice and walk around the house. Maybe it would help.
He made it up and exhaled a sigh of relief as his eyes opened. He looked around the room and realized his vision was completely clear. A satisfied smirk came over his face as he walked towards the door and grabbed the handle. As he walked out into the hall he observed the floor plan out of mere habit; he usually did so in case he'd end up fighting, and thus would have the upper hand by knowing the geography of the ground. The house was small, about double the width and length of a medium sized living room, but had two thin stories that almost obstructed him with his height. He remembered that Natasha's father had too bend over just slightly to make it out of his bedroom doorway. He supposed Natasha got her petite form from her mother. The top floor was basically the perimeter of the living room and didn't close over the bottom floor. It had railing all the way around and one side had no doors that lead to rooms. He assumed this was custom made by someone who either lived here or requested it because the whole house seemed like it would have made a good one story.
On the bottom floor on the side of the top floor that had no doors he could make out a counter that had two pillars on either side that no doubt held up the top floor and were custom made as well. It was a homely addition to the structure, which he now thought was not a home from its beginning, and was probably a kitchen. He assumed this because he could see a wooden block that held cutlery on the side of the counter he could see from upstairs. Because of the way there seemed to be no rooms over the kitchen he also assumed that there was just one big ledge on the outside above it. On the opposite side from the kitchen he saw one sturdy wall with a door that probably lead to a study or a type of guest room since both Natasha's room and her parent's room were upstairs. In the middle of the home there was a large living room that was open and airy, from what he could tell from leaning over the top floor's railing. There was one big couch in between a reclining chair and a love seat all with their backs to the kitchen all three resembled a semi-circle from the way they were all put together and in front of the couch was an oak table with different coasters, and, from what he could tell, a few decks of playing cards. He could almost see Natasha and her father playing them in this very familiar and homey atmosphere. Almost all the furniture were dark greens, blues, purples and blacks. There was no real brilliance in the colors, but it was radiant, to him, none-the-less.
He observed the area a little longer, walking about the perimeter of the upstairs railing to get a good look all the way around until he passed the stairs in front of Natasha's parents room twice. ((The perimeter resembled a rectangle, with two flights of stairs on either of the smaller sides. On the west side was her parent's room and the east was the wall with no doors. Both had stairs leading up to their sides. Natasha's room door faced north, and was on the south side of the house. On the north side, he observed upon looking inside of the door, was a closet full of things that weren't necessary for the outside.))
There were numerous pictures all over the walls, and after he got a feel for the shape of the structure he busied himself with looking at them. There were countless pictures of Natasha, he assumed, as a little girl no older than nine in most. On the inner sides of the picture frames there were usually stray pictures that were carefully inserted in the small slits of room between the glass and the wood of the frame. Not doubt there was lots of love in the family.
The reoccurring people in the pictures were mostly the three that lived here; Natasha, her father, and who he assumed to be her mother. They were all very pleasant looking, especially the mother who lacked the mischief that played in her husband's and daughter's eyes, but one thing the two females had in common was the definite sparkle of sharp intellect. He found himself smirking out of habit at them, and at the same time a feeling of jealousy encompassed him. To tell the truth he barely remembered his family from before he became a nobody. Usually they were his driving force that made him continue to help the rest of Organization XIII in their pursuit to find out how to obtain a heart. Yet, he remembered not really thinking of them much around the time Roxas joined the group as number XIII.
Roxas had made him feel like he was worth something, and that he didn't necessarily need to find a heart to be accepted. Perhaps Roxas knew that to be true and that in feeling like he had a heart the thirst for one diminished. Instead, when Roxas left with that realization and pursued Sora to reconnect with him, Axel devoted himself to finding him again, suddenly not caring about the rest of the Organization. He had realized what Roxas had done for him. Roxas made him feel like he had a heart. That was what he told Sora before he thought he was going to fade, right?
His mind traveled back to the pictures and as he gazed on a singular picture of Natasha he recognized that feeling he had around Roxas when they first got to know each other. Though it hasn't been long since he arrived here, he already felt a strong bond to his female savior. She already showed him a certain kindness and worry that almost rivaled his friendship with Roxas from the beginning. She asked him whether he was okay, if he needed things, offered him food, and even scolded him for doing something too hastily that could endanger his health further. Even around people who were just like him, the other Organization members, he never got so much as an, "Are you okay?" after a battle.
He glared at the cloak he wore and inwardly wished he had some regular clothing like Roxas and Naminé so he could disassociate himself like those two lovebirds. He snickered at the thought of them. His body slouched forward as he laughed and suddenly he heard something he was unaccustomed to on the inside of his head.
Something was making a shallow sound like that of a drum.
He stood stalk still. Where had he heard this before? It was so familiar and yet he never remembered ever hearing it coming from himself. He knew it was coming from him now, for as he concentrated he realized it got louder and he could almost feel it beating in his skull. As he heightened his senses he could feel it all over his body. Why was it so familiar? He found himself beginning to panic, but right as the feeling hit him he realized he never felt that, panic, before either. Then he felt fear, or was that really what it felt like? Was it what humans called excitement? He had learned many times how to fake emotions as a nobody, but around Roxas, and now, he wasn't in the presence of anyone who he needed to convince. This was genuine. He had a heart. He could feel the blood running through his veins and momentarily realized that he wanted to cut himself just so he could prove it. Just as he was about to call forth his Chakram he remembered that every time anyone bled they expressed pain. He had a feeling he wouldn't like pain, and decided he didn't want to inflict it on himself.
A genuine smile crossed his face, which was still crooked out of habit, with teeth and all bared. He had received the one thing he had been questing with Organization XIII for so long, and took a certain joy in the fact that they never got it for their selfish selves. Finally, after the long trial of being a nobody, he was human again.
His happiness, though it didn't not completely wear off, dimmed when he realized fatigue was taking his body again. He was thankful he didn't wander downstairs quite yet, even if Natasha said the living was the most comfortable room in the house. For some reason, he also felt like being in her room was calming to him. Probably because her presence was still manifested in there simply from her personal objects and scent. Even if it wasn't her that did it personally, he gave her partial credit for the presence of a heart. For the presence of his own, new heart. Who knows? If she hadn't been wandering in forbidden territory maybe he would have died before he knew he had a heart.
He wandered back to her room, rubbing his eyes as he went, and let himself fall back into her bed. Before he fell asleep be began to wonder why he was healing so fast. From the way he felt yesterday when he first woke up in Natasha's room, he decided that it wasn't like normal people to get better as quickly as he was. Maybe it was because his heart was new? All regular people were born with their hearts, and it wasn't like they were randomly replaced. Perhaps his was just stronger because it was new, and hadn't much strain on it because he hadn't used it for his entire seventeen and a half years of life. Maybe most of his fatigue was due to the tiring union of darkness and light to form his heart as well. He supposed it also had something to do with why babies slept so much. As his mind wandered he began to fall asleep to the rhythmic beating that coursed throughout his body until he was totally asleep.
((A/N: See, just like I promised there was a lot of Axel. This was also an experiment of mine with describing surroundings. Please tell me if I did okay in a review! ))