Stepping out of her portal Exsor quickly sealed it closed and looked around her. She was standing in a sparsely wooded area, the grass under her boots thick and green. Catching movement to her left Exsor turned around to see Axel headed through the woods. She quickly ran to catch up with him.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
Axel pointed in front of him. Looking that way Exsor could just make out the wrought iron gates of some kind of house. As they neared it Exsor could see a huge brick mansion behind the gates.
"It's been deserted for some time now, I believe the other one was destroyed by Roxas…" Axel pushed open the gates, closing and locking them back after Exsor had entered.
"Is Roxas the reason you're in such a bad mood?" Exsor asked as they walked up the path to the front door.
Axel didn't answer for a moment, Exsor was about to speak again when he finally answered her.
"I haven't seen him for a long time. I know it's not going to be the real Roxas, but still…"
Exsor nodded in understanding. They were now standing in a huge room with a stairway that wrapped around the walls to the second floor. Exsor looked around her and had to agree with Axel, this place had to have been deserted for a while now. There was debree everywhere, ripped books, broken vases, light fixtures, paintings, and things Exsor couldn't identify, they were torn up so bad.
"We'll be staying here when we're not following Roxas around." Axel started up one of the flights of stairs to the left, walking slowly, his gloved hand leaving a trail in the dust of the wood railing.
Following close behind Exsor walked with her head down, watching what she could only guess used to be a rich red rug, pass away under her feet. "You miss your best friend…" Exsor muttered.
When she ran into the back of Axel Exsor stopped and took a stumbling step backwards. At first she thought Axel had stopped because of what she has said, but she saw that he was in front of a wooden door, messing with the lock until the door squeaked open. Inside the room was a bright white blue, reminding Exsor of Castle Oblivion. Axel walked in and took a seat at a large white table in the center of the room. There were sketches pinned to the wall. Exsor did a circuit around the room, looking closely at every sketch.
"These look like Naminee's." Exsor said, stopping to look closer at a picture of two Organization members, one with spiky blond hair and the other with spiky red, it was obvious who they were.
"Yeah, Naminee used to stay here." Axel leaned back in his chair and put his booted feet up onto the table, his chair balancing on two legs.
Exsor sat down on the other end of the table, pulling her feet up under her. They sat in silence for a long moment, the only sound heard was the far off twitting of birds. Sighing softly Exsor put her head down onto the table, letting the cold of the table touch her warm forehead.
"Axel." She muttered, her voice barely heard because of her position.
"Hmm?" Axel was looking out of the huge window of the room, watching the curtains blow slightly from an unknown draft.
"Are we evil?"
Axel turned from his window watching and put his chair back down on all fours. "What?" He asked, he wasn't sure if he had heard right.
Exsor looked up, her forehead slightly red from the pressure of the table. "Are we evil?"
"Why do you ask that?" Axel put his feet back onto the floor, stretching them under the table.
Exsor shrugged. "It's just, Roxas is good, right? And Maleficent is evil… she controls the Heartless. We control the Nobodies, does that make us evil?"
Axel thought for a moment then spoke slowly, as if thinking of the right words to say. "A tornado kills lots of people, it destroys many homes, reeks havoc everywhere it goes… but would you call it evil?"
"No, it's a force of nature…"
"Then what would you call it?"
Exsor thought. "I don't know, it just…. Is…"
"Exactly, it's neither good nor evil." He was silent for a moment more. "It's like us… we just… are."
Exsor thought about what Axel said for a long moment, mulling it over in her mind. It made sense, but it seemed so…. depressing, to just be. But with a pang of quilt Exsor remembered that that was exactly what Axel and she were. They weren't supposed to truly exist, they weren't… natural.
"Where did that come from anyway?" Axel asked, looking closely at Exsor.
She shrugged. "I've just always heard people talk about how there was always good and evil, that there had to be both in the worlds for everything to be balanced. And I was just wondering where we fell into it all."
"We don't really fall into it…" Axel was talking more to himself then to Exsor. "We aren't meant to be…"
"How can that be? How is it that you and I don't exist? We're right here, talking to each other!" Exsor felt like the she had been betrayed, by what, she wasn't sure. She just couldn't grasp it all, it was a cruel trick of nature, for her to exist with out truly living at all.
Axel shook his head sadly. "I don't know Exsor, I just don't know."
Exsor stood up and walked over to the window, pushing the curtains back roughly so that she could see through them. She heard Axel stand up, saw his reflection in the window, as he walked over to her. His hand fell onto her shoulder as he stood beside her, looking out over the mansion grounds. Without really thinking Exsor put her hand over his.
"We do exist… at least I believe so. We just lack a heart, that's what we need to make us whole." Axel looked down at Exsor, even though he had gloves on he could feel the soft touch of her hand. Looking closely at her face Axel saw a shimmering tear streak down her pale face. On impulse he turned her around and held her close to him, his arms wrapped around her tightly. He stroked her hair slowly, fully conscious of her head on his chest.
"Exsor, what's wrong?" He murmured.
She shook her head back and forth. "Maybe… we don't need hearts to be whole. What if we already have hearts? What if this all just a lie?"
Axel rested his chin on Exsor's head. He was actually contemplating what she said. If he didn't have a heart, then why did he feel such a strong urge to comfort her, to hold her close, never to let her go again? It was true, he didn't know if he had a heart or not, he had just believed Xemnas when he had said he didn't have a heart. Was it all a lie?
"I don't know…" Axel trailed off when he caught movement out of the corner of his eyes. Cursing softly in his head he turned to see clearly. "We have company Exsor, it looks like Roxas is finally here."
Exsor took her head off of Axel's chest and turned to look the way he was. Sure enough, there were six people walking toward the mansion gates, one practically the spiting image of Roxas. She sighed.
"I guess it's time to carry out our orders…"
"Yeah…" Axel reluctantly let go of Exsor, his arms dropping to his side pitifully.
"There's no time like the present to figure things out." Exsor said, opening a dark portal.
Axel nodded in understanding and followed her through the portal.
