Part One
Before the Heartless could slash at him again, it was dissipated by a spinning chakram that struck it head on, returning to Axel's hand and transforming back into a Keyblade.
"Alright, come on, Roxas! We're heading back in!" he yelled, grabbing Roxas by the collar and dragging him back into the shelter on his good leg, pointing his Keyblade back out and casting fire spells to hit any approaching Heartless.
The Heartless made a hiss as they were burned to black ash, releasing a few of the hearts they had taken. Roxas cringed as he was dragged along the icy ground before they reached the inside of the shelter.
"A-Axel.."
Roxas winced as he tried to get up, crying out as his back felt like it was on fire. He turned to see the other Heartless started trying to follow them inside and with what strength he had left, Roxas used his Keyblade to send out a blast of magic. As the small horde of Heartless was destroyed, Roxas collapsed to the floor as his vision blurred, his eyes drifting shut.
Axel sighed, leaning Roxas back against the wall as he prepared to defend the both of them.
"Alright, you freaks! If you want our hearts, come and get 'em!" he yelled, his keyblade prepped for battle.
The smaller Heartless managed to funnel into the shelter, many of them jumping at Axel and others beginning to try and swarm Roxas.
Axel hacked and slashed as the Heartless approached, occasionally summoning rings of fire around them whenever they attempted a swarming technique. The Heartless were soon destroyed, the rest retreating into the ground, to possibly try and regroup.
Roxas let out a weak groan as he started to stir. As he looked up he was horrified to see a lone Heartless had risen up behind Axel and leapt in an attack. Acting quickly, Roxas got up and slashed the Shadow Heartless in half before falling to his knees, the Oblivion Keyblade clanking loudly as the tip dug into the icy floor as he tried to steady himself.
"Easy, Roxas, easy." Axel said, helping support him as best he could with shaky legs. "Let's get you over to wall so you can sit back and relax. You deserve it after dealing with those things."
Roxas looked up at him. Breathing heavily, he spoke.
"I.. I got.. I got through.. To.. To Ienzo." he gasped.
Roxas cringed as pain surged through the slashes in his back.
"But, now.. T-the phone's battery is dead.. I.. I Can't.."
He coughed suddenly and shivered.
"Hey, don't sweat it. You did good." Axel said with a smile, grabbing a potion from his jacket and passing it to Roxas. "Last potion I've got on me. Drink up."
Roxas looked up at him, deeply concerned.
"But y-you hadn't taken any potions for yourself." he frowned. "What about your leg?"
"You've set the bone, it'll be fine for now. We'll just need to get into the ship's stock tomorrow once this storm's died down." Axel insisted, handing him the bottle and implying that this wasn't up for debate.
Roxas bit his lip nervously before turning back to the potion in his hand. Tears filled his eyes as he felt another searing pain in his back and reluctantly uncorked the bottle, slowly drinking the contents until the bottle was empty. Roxas then pulled his legs up to his chest, hugging his knees as he as he rested his head on his arms.
"I wish I could've been a bit more help.."
"The Heartless are gone. You did great." Axel complimented, starting to unzip his jacket. "Anyway, I think we need something better to lie on than just this snow if we're gonna make it through the night. Don't think the snow'll leak through this leather, so I'll break the zippers and spread it on the ground for us."
Roxas looked up in surprise and almost flinched as he heard the zippers of Axle's jacket snapping from their delicate tracks, making them completely useless. As the jacket was spread out, it was then Roxas saw it was just enough for two people. However, if they were to lay perpendicular, they could fit their upper bodies while their legs would lay on the icy floor. Roxas could feel the exhaustion of the day taking over as his eyes grew heavy and his breathing began to slow.
"Already starting to droop, huh?". Axel noted, taking his place on the makeshift bedlay.
"Yeah, I think we've had enough action for one day. We'll sort this mess out tomorrow once the snow storm's passed."
Roxas tiredly lifted his head and smiled a little.
"Y..yeah.. Okay.."
Roxas then went to lie down, wincing as he could only lie on his left side, due to his injuries.
"Hey Axel? Do think this would count as our mission? I mean.. We killed a bunch of Heartless but they weren't from the world we had been assigned to.. Do you think it matters?"
"Every world matters, I think. Besides, that was a new Heartless ship that we were blindsided by, so I doubt the brass'll be too hard on us for crashing here. Worst case scenario, someone else'll pick up where we left off while they pull the rescue operation for us." Axel said, his own eyes starting to droop.
Roxas let out sigh.
"After all of this is over, I'm going to get us all the ice cream we can eat.."
With those words, Roxas closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
"Yeah...sounds nice." Axel mumbled, drifting off to sleep himself.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
It was early in the morning when the sounds of roaring engines began to grow louder as a ship or rocket was soaring high above them. Though the sound was loud enough to wake the dead, Roxas didn't even seem to stir, having been too exhausted to hear it.
"Hmmm...mneh?" Axel incoherently asked, his brain catching up to the noise of a nearby engine roaring off into the air, his eyes immediately popping open as he realized what it was.
"Woah!" He exclaimed, propping himself up and immediately regretting it as his leg flared with pain. Fighting through it, he hobbled outside, waving his arms as he yelled, "HEY! WE'RE DOWN HERE! HEYYYY!"
The rescue Gummi Ship had begun shining a beam of light all around the area. The light illuminated where Axel and Roxas's Ship had crashed.. Only to reveal it completely covered by the snow that had fallen all throughout the night. The snow was still falling, almost to the point where there seemed to be a wall of white. The Ship continued to hover through the air before banking left and taking off over the horizon of trees in the distance.
"Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot...!" Axel frantically exclaimed, summoning his chakrams to generate a huge flare the ship could see...only for it to fly off.
"Well...fret." He cursed under his breath, limping back into his makeshift bunker to get some more sleep. He and Roxas had a lot of work to do in the days ahead.
As the dawn of the morning creeped in through the mouth of the icy shelter, Roxas let out a groan as his head ached, and despite however long he had been asleep, Roxas was still drowsy. He painfully turned over to look at Axel lying near the wall.
"Axel..?"
He painfully got up and inched closer, a sense of worry beginning to form. Roxas was surprised to see Axel's clothes were drenched from the snow and ice. He wanted to wake him but hesitated for a moment. When Roxas turned to look outside, he could see most of the entrance to the shelter had become blocked with densely packed snow, making any way to for them leave impossible. In an instant, he was suddenly overtaken by a new feeling.. Roxas began to hyperventilate as he imagined the small shelter walls beginning to close in on him, giving him a sense of Claustrophobia. He closed his eyes tight, tears filling them as he fought against the thoughts of being buried alive.
"Hrm, wha...?" Axel said as he stirred awake, immediately noticing Roxas's panic and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Whoa, whoa! Where's the fire?!"
Roxas snapped his head up as he heard Axel's voice as tears of genuine fear threatened to fall.
"W-we're trapped..! T-the snow is gonna bury us!"
He gestured to the tunnel leading outside, only.. There didn't seem to be much of a tunnel anymore due to the still deepening snow outside.
"W-we can't get out.." Roxas whimpered. "I.. I-I…."
His body shuddered as he clenched his eyes shut, his mind racing as he imagined the snow and ice completely burying them both alive.
"Roxas. Roxas." Axel said, gripping both of his shoulders and looking him straight in the eye. "Breathe with me. Breathe."
With that, he took a deep inhale and exhale, waving his hand in such a way that he wanted Roxas to do the same. Roxas was shaking horribly but soon followed Axel's lead. He took in a slowly and shaky breath before letting it out slowly, fighting hard not to start hyperventilating. He clenched his eyes shut as he continued trying to slow his breathing. After nearly a minute, Roxas's breathing finally began to slow and he looked up at Axel before turning his gaze toward the icy ground in shame.
"I.. I'm s-sorry.."
"Don't be. It's a stressful situation in general. It's okay to be a little upset." Axel said in a reassured manner, patting Roxas on the shoulder.
Roxas swallowed thickly as he hugged his knees.
"W-when I was still a part of Sora.. We were on the beach and there was a hole that j-just opened up in the ground.. T-the sand.. It.. It started covering me and I.. I-I couldn't MOVE.."
Roxas's mind went back to that moment of when the sand from the sinkhole reached past his chin. He began doing the breathing exercise until his breathing went calm again before he continued speaking.
"R-Riku and Kairi were able to dig me out before it completely covered my head b-but since then.. I.. It's been with me since then.."
"Oi...no wonder you freaked out the way you did." Axel noted. "I just need you to stay strong for as long as you can 'til we get through this. Can you do that for me?"
Roxas looked up at Axel, seeing the comfort and concern on his face. Roxas let Axel's words sink in and swallowed down the anxiety he felt, before nodding slowly.
"Now, first order of business is getting out of here and making our way to the ship. Now, two ways we could go about this is tunneling our way outside or just keeping level and tunneling to the ship. What do you wanna do?"
Roxas bit his lip, he could already feel the anxiety building again but was soon able to calm himself down again.
"W-we should dig our way out." he suggested. "T-the sooner we get out, the sooner we can get our supplies."
He tried his best to sound confident, though it was easy to see he was still fighting against the thoughts and memories of his past.
"Alright, sounds like a plan." Axel said, picking his coat up off the ground and draping it back over his body before summoning his chakram, pointing it towards the wall and summoning fire to carve the way out.
Roxas began to relax a bit as he saw the ice and snow melt away to reveal the outside world. As the two made their way outside, they took in their surroundings for the first time. To one side, was a large, dense forest and on the other, was flat emptiness as far as the eye could see. He followed behind Axel close to the border of the forest, his thoughts going back to what they could do to get through this. While, he had been given multiple potions, Axel hadn't had any. He hoped Axel would be alright. There was a low growling that caught Roxas's attention. He looked up and was shocked by what he saw.
He could tell it wasn't a Heartless for it lacked any likeness to them. It was large and cat-like, covered in tan fur and looked to be nearly the same size as him or Axel. It was then he realized what it was. Roxas summoned his Keyblade and stood protectively in front of Axel, keeping his gaze on the large wildcat as it crept closer toward them.
"Get BACK!" he warned, holding the Keyblade in front of him.
The cougar let out an earsplitting yowl as it leapt toward them! Acting quickly, Roxas swung his Keyblade to knock the beast away, striking it in the side, just avoiding its massive claws as they rushed past his face.
A trickle of blood spilled from the wound in its side, painting the snow red as it rose to its feet again. It let out a snarling hiss as it bared its fangs at Roxas. Roxas however, stood his ground as it slunk toward him. It began circling them, searching for an opening.
A/N: I'll get more soon.. And just so you know, I actually have a legitimate fear of being buried alive with no way to escape and being unable to move at all.. And who's to say Roxas didn't have the same fear? Just thought I'd add it to the story.. I will try to get more up soon..
