Chapter Four:

Conversation Pieces

"You went to the Underworld?" Xemnas eyed her with a strange expression—concern?

"Demyx took me—" she began, defensively, but he interrupted her.

"That's different," He sighed, tension leaving him.

Raxet relaxed too, examining her surroundings. She had emerged through the darkness door right into Xemnas' office. He had been standing at a bookshelf when he'd caught her—a bookshelf that covered two entire walls! In the middle of the room was a large white desk, stacked high with notes and papers. The wall behind the desk was overpowered by a large computer screen—which at the moment was displaying footage from a world Raxet almost felt like she knew.

"Why does it matter?" She asked. Why was it 'different' because she'd gone with Demyx? She crossed her arms.

"Because you don't know anything about…well, frankly, darling, anything." He uncrossed her arms, holding her bloody knuckles up to his eyes. "You're bleeding, darling." One of the scabs must have popped off during the brief scuffle with Demyx.

"It's fine," She jerked her hand away, feeling uncomfortable. The way he kept saying 'darling' struck a chord somewhere deep inside her, caused a nerve to go off in her chest. It felt wrong.

Xemnas motioned to a chair, but she declined, waving him away with her bloody hand. He sighed, walking around behind his desk to open a drawer. He pulled out a long black sheet that could have been a ribbon.

"I don't have any bandages," He apologized, "But let me wrap that up before you get blood on my research." She curled her lip, but allowed him to bind her hand. As he wrapped, he told her, "Don't leave the castle without an escort. And check with me, first."

"I don't know…nothing!" She muttered in his general direction, slightly angry.

"You are learning," He allowed.

"Whatever!" She pulled away, her hand finished, turning to leave. He was back beside her in an instant, clutching back at her hand, pulling her back to him.

"Please, darling. You're valuable to m-….to the Organization. We have to take good care of you." His smile was sickly, though. He was trying to appear endearing, but his actions were making her head throb.

"I can take care of myself." She hissed after a moment, jerking her hand away again and storming out. This time he did not stop her. She could feel his eyes boring holes in her back as she slammed his door, shuddering.

"Now, now, Raz…" Axel's melodramatic drawl alerted her to his presence. Hew as leaning against the stairwell right outside the door; she had almost rammed into him. "You shouldn't slam the boss's door like that—even if he does try to molest you."

"He couldn't if he tried," She snapped, annoyed.

"Gotta suck, Razer," Axel continued, as if he hadn't heard, "Not leaving without checking in with your sugar daddy, I mean. And taking an armed escort. Bad enough being a Nobody…but a prisoner? Woah!" he caught her fist as she swung at his face, steadied her so she didn't fall down the stairs.

"Bastard," she hissed at him, jerking away.

"Just call 'em like I see 'em, Raz." He shrugged, "It's lame. He's an ass." He snapped his fingers in front of her nose, a small flame birthed from the motion. "Watch yourself around him." He turned to open the door, then looked back at her over his shoulder, "By the way, Naminé was looking for you." Axel pulled open the door to the office, entering and then closing it firmly behind him.

Raxet stood there a moment, flabbergasted. Glancing down the stairs, she groaned aloud. There were at least two hundred, and the staircase wound tightly. She began her grumbling descent, sticking close to the wall in case she'd slip and need to grab the handrail.

About one-fourth of the way down, she heard a loud crash above her. She looked back up the stairs, curiously. Snippets of loud, angry conversation drifted down to her.

"Why? Here…this…now!" Axel's yells were like roaring flames, whipping around her so fast she could only understand a few words, and then she had to listen closely.

"Him…fool! Traitor…friend…loyalty!" Xemnas' yells were just as incoherent. What were they talking about? These words didn't piece together.

"Bastard…you knew…heartless…Nobody…She'll…love….you!"

Love? What did love have to do with anything? With Kingdom Hearts and recovering the ability to be whole? Raxet didn't care to hear anymore of this; her ears were ringing and her chest was throbbing almost as painfully as it had the day before. She bit her lip to distract her, and began trying to think of a quicker way down the stairs than walking.

There had to be a faster—of course. She knelt, pressing her palms to the stairs. A sheet of ice rendered the steps a ramp of ice, all the way up and down in both directions. She grinned and got a running start, sliding down the ramp like a surfer, her hair flying wildly behind her.

It was an excellent mood-booster, and by the time she stopped, most of her anger had dissipated into loud laughter. Raxet skidded to a stop at the bottom, running a hand through her hair in a useless effort to tame it. Axel had mentioned Naminé had wanted to see her. That was fine. She'd just go find Naminé—not like she had anything better to do.

As she started down the hallway that would lead her to another set of stairs—this time leading up—she heard another crash from the stairwell behind her. She didn't turn to look, simply kept walking down the dark hall.

"God DAMN it!" A loud, obnoxious voice intoned.

"Oopsies…" She muttered, allowing an innocent smile to play across her face.