C16
LOCATION: Gymnasium of Organization XIII headquarters, The World That Never Was
DATE: Monday, December 10th 2X60
TIME: 1045 hours
Just as Sora's finishing his treadmill run, he notices someone hovering nearby.
At first he thinks it's Naminé. But just from his peripheral vision, he can tell this person is a lot taller than she is. Is someone waiting for the machine? The one next to him is free.
Finally slowing down enough to catch his breath, he looks over his shoulder at his unexpected visitor.
"Oh hey...Aaron?"
The red-haired guy from LOD looks unimpressed, but he offers a polite smile. "Axel. Hey."
"That was my first guess," Sora insists, hitting the STOP button on the machine. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah, actually. I'm free the rest of the day so I was wondering if you wanna practice together."
Sora raises a brow. "Us? Practice what?"
"Sparring. Gotta stay sharp, especially with no missions nowadays."
Sora looks around curiously. "Where are your tagalongs? Twiddledee and Twiddledum?"
Axel raises an amused brow. "Roxas and Xion are taking a nap cause we had to wake up early this morning. And I'm trying to stay awake so I don't ruin my sleep schedule."
"You sound like you're 80."
"And you sound like the kiddos." Axel smirks. "So, you down?"
Sora looks around. He is getting a little bored of his routine of workout, meditate, simulation room, lunch, rinse and repeat. And like Axel said, he is definitely getting a little rusty. Usually he spars regularly with Riku or Kairi, or other HBRC members, but it's been awhile.
"Sure. Lemme grab my stuff, and I just gotta let Naminé know."
"Okay, sounds good. There's a free room over there, I think we can use it." Axel jabs his thumb down the hall. "I'll meet you there?"
"Yeah okay, sounds good. Give me five minutes."
"Yup, got it memorized. See you in a bit."
Sora watches curiously as the LODer—Axel, he really needs to practice names—casually walks off in that direction. The entire encounter has him a little thrown off, since he's said maybe three words to all the other students from Land of Departure so far. Now they're sparring? Maybe this is just how Axel rolls.
Grabbing his belongings, Sora peers around the gym and finds Naminé practicing summoning her Keyblade ad nauseam. It's truly a miracle that she hasn't gone insane with the amount of repetitions she does everyday. At this point, Sora isn't sure if he should be impressed or concerned. She's gotten decently good at it, but there's still sufficient lag that she'll definitely be in trouble if Heartless get the jump on her.
Speaking of…
Naminé had just made her Keyblade disappear and is probably taking a brief break. Sneaking up behind her, Sora makes the effort to conceal his presence as he tiptoes towards her. Raising his hands, he's about to yell 'BOO!' in her ear when she suddenly turns around.
Naminé stares at him with an unimpressed expression. Sora grins, realizing how stupid he looks with his hands raised and slowly lowers them.
"Hi?" he offers with a small wave.
"What're you doing?" Naminé asks, shallow breaths giving away her fatigue.
"Definitely not trying to scare you," he admits with a grin. "But you turned around and ruined it!"
"I could tell you were coming over."
"What? I literally snuck over like a ninja!" Sora exclaims. "There's no way you could've heard me."
Naminé opens her mouth to respond but then pauses, as if unsure what she wants to say. Her face morphs into a puzzled expression.
"I...didn't hear you." She pauses again, and who knows what thoughts are churning in her mind? She lives in her head way too much. She then clears her throat. "Anyways. What's up?"
"Oh. I'm gonna be in one of the free rooms over there for a bit." He points in the general direction of the rooms.
"Okay, sure. What're you doing?"
"Just sparring."
"With who?"
Sora watches Naminé's expression carefully. "Uh. Your friend. Axel?"
Watching Naminé's face slowly shift into one of utter confusion is really entertaining. He almost bursts out laughing but holds it back as Naminé speaks.
"Uh. Axel, from Land of Departure? My classmate? Tall, lanky red-haired guy?"
"Yeah. You know more than one Axel?"
"No, I just—" Naminé makes another confused expression. "You guys...how do you know each other?"
"I mean, we talked briefly that day we got our mission assignments."
"Right...and now you're sparring?"
"Yeah. Gotta maintain my god-tier fighting skills."
"...okay, sure. Uh, how long are you guys gonna spar?"
"I don't know, probably till we're tired. Usually I can go for 30 minutes or so with Riku or Kairi, so probably something like that."
"Okay, I just have to practice summoning my Keyblade for another 10 minutes or so. I'll go check out what you guys are doing afterwards...if that's okay."
"Yeah, sure. Maybe you could even learn a thing or two."
"From Axel, right?" Naminé grins cheekily.
Sora rolls his eyes with feigned exasperation. "Of course, never from wimpy ole me!"
"You said it, not me."
"I'm leaving."
Sora turns on his heel, vaguely registering Naminé's laugh from behind him.
Thinking about sparring with Axel, Sora starts getting a little apprehensive. It's been awhile since he's sparred with another person. Though he knows there's absolutely no stakes, he can't help growing a little competitive and wanting to one up his opponent. He also has no idea how skilled Axel is, so this will be interesting.
He spies Axel's bright red hair as he's passing by a room and ducks in. It's a little cramped for his liking, but it'll do. Axel's seated on the floor, back against the wall as he looks at something on his phone. He hops to his feet when he notices Sora.
"Hey. You ready?"
"Yeah." Sora drops his belongings on the floor and steps forward. "So, how do you usually do this?"
"Sparring?" Axel smirks. "I mean, how else do you spar?"
CLASH
In a split second, Axel has his materialized Keyblade in hand and swinging down at him. Sora had reacted purely on instinct, summoning his Keyblade to parry the attack. Despite his scrawny limbs, Axel is definitely an agent and stronger than he appears.
After having his attack deflected, Axel takes a step back. Sora eyes him cautiously, hypervigilant of his every action given the sudden attack.
A beat passes. Sora realizes Axel has assumed a more comfortable, nonconfrontational stance. His easygoing grin reminds Sora that despite Axel's aggressive first attack, this is truly a friendly spar.
"You're fast," Sora comments.
"Thanks. I try—"
Without waiting for Axel to finish his sentence, Sora lunges forward with another attack. Because Axel's right: how else do you spar?
Sparring is supposed to mimic real fights, and in real fights there are no rules.
Axel deftly dodges the attack and jabs at him in return. Sora jumps towards the side, Axel's Keyblade barely grazing the edge of his shirt. Dropping to the floor, Sora tries to throw his opponent off balance by aiming at his feet but Axel is more nimble than he's given him credit for.
Damn. Axel's actually kinda good.
That just makes Sora want to win even more.
Axel then launches a flurry of attacks that leaves Sora on the defensive. All his attacks are weaker than expected, but his speed more than makes up for it. Axel's explosive actions are a little hard to keep up with, leaving Sora with not a lot of time to figure out a strategy.
"You come here often?"
Axel's question throws him off just enough that he gets whacked in the flank by a Keyblade. Falling back and wheezing through the pain, he rises to full length and shoots Axel an amused expression.
"Why'd you ask?"
Axel shrugs, almost effortlessly tossing his Keyblade between his hands. Has he even broken a sweat? "Was just wondering how hard you guys usually train."
Okay, there's no way this guy isn't messing with him. From his tone of voice to his obvious goading, Axel wants to win. More than win, he probably wants to crush Sora.
And there's nothing better than defeating an overconfident opponent.
Sora flexes his hand, mumbling a familiar incantation under his breath. Static leaps between his fingers, and he cries out, "Thunder!" as lightning bolts fly from his fingertips.
Axel's eyes widen enough to give away his surprise. Sure he's fast, but he isn't faster than a sudden magic spell. The Thunder attack leaves him temporarily immobilized, and Sora quickly closes the distance. Up close, Axel is even taller than he remembers.
Well, he's paralyzed anyways. Sora swings his Keyblade at him, knocking him to the ground.
It takes Axel a moment to shake off the Thunder spell and crawl back onto his feet. There's a certain frenzied look in his eye, which gets Sora excited too. A challenge has never been more intimidating than an obstacle he is determined to overcome.
Axel launches at him with his Keyblade, but this time, the attacks are more focused on strength than speed. Axel is also a lot more flexible than he appears. As Sora blocks each of Axel's blows, he realizes that the redhead's motions aren't your typical Keyblade offensive tactics. The way he attacks resembles familiarity with another weapon…
"HYAH!" Axel hollers, pressing down against Sora with his Keyblade. Sora steadies his stance, digging his feet into the ground to fend off the blow. He eventually gains enough strength to push Axel back and quickly launches into the offense while his opponent is stumbling on his feet.
"Whoa!"
Before he can take more than a few steps, he ducks just in time to avoid a Fire spell. He hadn't noticed Axel say or motion anything related to the spell, which means Axel is really skilled at magic. Hopefully just Fire and not all the spells, cause that'd just be unfair.
Now that he takes a second, Sora realizes that he's definitely sweating way more than he'd expected, and someone has definitely cranked the thermostat up. Cause the humidity in this tiny room is getting a little suffocating. Meanwhile, Axel doesn't appear affected by this apparent environmental change, juggling his Keyblade with one hand.
"You doing okay over there?" Axel asks.
Sora smirks, wiping off the sweat on his forehead. "Just peachy. What about you?"
"I could go all day. Got it memorized?"
Instead of responding, Sora charges at him with a battle cry.
They fight for what feels like mere minutes but Sora later finds out they'd been going at it for 30 minutes. Towards the end, he recalls his stamina failing him as he struggles to even grasp his Keyblade. At least Axel looks equally fatigued, hunched over and taking deep breaths.
"Last round?" Sora offers, knowing he's definitely pushing at his limits.
Axel smirks in response, raising his Keyblade and charging at him.
At this point, Sora's too tired to strategize much. He relies on his instinct as always to guide him, dodging and then swinging his Keyblade to counterattack. Axel readily blocks it, forcing Sora to retreat a few steps. Before Sora can summon another magic spell, Axel throws another Fire in his direction that narrowly misses. However, the burnt scent of the hem of his sleeve distracts him just enough for Axel to push him over and pin him down on the ground. When Sora reorients himself, his back is on the floor and Axel's Keyblade hovers just over his body.
Sora grins helplessly, his Keyblade dissipating as he raises his hands in surrender. "Well done."
For a moment, Axel's stony expression of determination remains unmoved. Sora's about to ask him to get off so he can properly breathe when a familiar laidback smirk surfaces on Axel's face and he rises to his feet.
"Not bad for a few weeks of no practice. Guess I'm not that old yet."
"You're like two years older than me, aren't you?" Sora asks, standing up and wiping the dust off his pants.
"Eh, something like that." Axel shrugs. "As long as you know I'm older than you."
"That really doesn't mean much to me," Sora points out. "I know Land of Departure's pretty big on the seniority thing, but everyone in Hollow Bastion's pretty informal."
"Aren't you guys super proud of your meritocracy?" Axel says, the sarcasm evident in his tone. "You should respect me for my skills then."
"You beat a kid two years younger than you who's only trained for three years," Sora points out.
"I thought we weren't bringing up the age thing."
Sora grimaces. "Touché." Verbal arguments have never been his forte. "How long have you trained for?"
Axel narrows his eyes as if trying to recall. "Well, it officially started when I was 16, 17? So about six years of actual training."
"Guess I have a long way to go."
"You're young, you have time." Axel winces. "See what the kiddos have me saying? I'm not old but they have me convinced I am!"
Sora laughs at the self-deprecatory joke. Axel is definitely his favorite LODer right now (shh don't tell Naminé).
Axel then regards Sora carefully. "You know, you're not as bad as I thought."
Sora raises a brow. "What's that mean?"
"You know, you hear a lot of things about other worlds and what the people are like. I'm glad you're not as irresponsible as some stories may say."
"Okay, just because we don't have Land of Departure's crazy work ethic doesn't mean we're lazy!" Sora protests. "If anything, we're able to fight well because we know when to take a break. Rest is important!"
"Sure," Axel says dismissively, glancing over Sora's shoulder. "You and Naminé getting a lot of rest on this mission?"
Sora makes a face. "I'm trying, but she's not letting me. Seriously, she gives 200% on everything, even the most meaningless assignments we have. I mean, it's just teambuilding exercises!"
"Yeah, Naminé is definitely a stickler for rules and deadlines. I've worked with her as our OATS operator on a few missions, and she's a real hardass about stuff."
The way Axel phrases things irks Sora more than a little. "Hardass about what?" he asks.
"Oh, you know, detailed things that don't really matter. Like if we're on-call in the middle of the night, she'll sometimes do check-in calls to make sure we're not all asleep. Or taking an alternative route to get back. She hates it when things don't go according to plan."
"I mean, Naminé's plans are usually pretty well thought-out," Sora says, thinking back to her natural intuition that led them through the Organization XIII building during the Heartless invasion. "There's probably a reason for everything she does—we just don't know it."
Axel pauses a moment to digest his answer. He then cracks a grin.
"Ah dang, I thought I could get you to badtalk Naminé right in front of her. That would've been hilarious!"
"Huh? In front of—wha—"
Whirling around, he realizes that Naminé is a few feet away from them by the entrance of the room. When did she sneak in—during their fight? Oh, that's right, she did say she'd drop in after her practice. Did she hear their entire conversation? Why would Axel badmouth her in front of her? Why would he try to get Sora to badmouth her?
Naminé approaches with an obviously forced smile. "Sora, Axel," she greets them with a stern tone of voice. "You guys done sparring?"
"Yeah! When'd you get here?" Sora asks.
"Oh, maybe 10, 15 minutes ago. Definitely before Axel started throwing me under the bus." She props her hands on her hips, shooting the taller redhead a glare. "You know, we give each other peer-to-peer feedback for a reason. If you have a problem with my OATS style, you should let me know. Or you could switch me out—your team's senior enough to have your pick of operators."
Axel sticks his tongue out. "Nah, it'd break Roxas' widdle heart if you weren't our OATS operator."
Roxas? Naminé? Sora pays closer attention to the conversation, always keen on picking up gossip.
Naminé exhales frustratedly. "Roxas would be leaping with joy if I wasn't WINNER's OATS operator. You know he's probably the only one out of the three of you to consistently give me feedback. And it's only ever 'constructive' feedback. My ass," she hisses under her breath.
Ooh, even spicier than a romantic interest—someone Naminé dislikes? The drama!
"The fact that he gives you feedback and tells you when he disagrees with something means he's comfortable enough with you to voice these things," Axel insists. "You and I both know he's always been a little emotionally constipated."
Sora can't help snorting at the expression. Roxas, emotionally constipated? Again, he's said maybe three words to the blond-haired guy from Land of Departure, but now he kinda wants to get to know him better.
Naminé seems minimally satisfied with Axel's explanation. "Whatever. I'll try better next time, I guess."
"That's the spirit!" Axel slaps her on the back—hard, judging from Naminé's barely concealed wince. "Plus, you know what they say! It's a thin line between love and hate."
Naminé shoots him a quizzical look. "Where's this going?"
Axel grins widely at both of them. "Wherever you think it is! Okay, I'm dead tired and could really use a nice long shower. Enjoy lunch, you two!"
Axel walks out of the room, leaving just Sora and Naminé. He glances at her, mind blank from fatigue.
Naminé stares back. "What?"
"What?" he repeats defensively.
"You look like you have something to say."
"No I don't."
"Really?"
"Really. Do you?"
"No," Naminé says, averting her gaze.
A silence settles, somewhat uncomfortably. Sora isn't used to having uncomfortably silences with Naminé, and he quickly clears his throat.
"So. Lunch?"
Naminé nods. "Yeah. Well, maybe you want to shower first. You guys were going at it pretty hard."
Sora thinks back to their sparring. Yeah, they definitely went a little harder than he usually would. Using magic is probably something they should've discussed beforehand, but it was a well-fought spar.
Sora grins cheekily, jabbing his thumb at himself. "Didja learn something?"
Naminé can't hide the amused upward jerk of her lips. "Maybe. That you two have a lot of pent up frustration?"
"C'mon, it was all fun and games! Actually though, did you take away anything useful for yourself? You probably haven't observed a lot of people with different Keyblade styles."
Naminé shrugs. "I'm familiar with WINNER's fighting strategies. Axel's style is far too different from my own for me to learn anything. Yours is a little more standardized like Keyblade wielding we're taught in class...but you also just go off with your own thing."
"That's my style!" Sora exclaims happily. "So, what'd you learn?"
"That you take a lot of risks when fighting." That's probably meant as a critique, judging by her tone of voice. Naminé's expression then softens a little. "I guess I could be a little more flexible with my attacks."
"..."
"What?" Naminé stares at him curiously.
"...holy crap you said you actually learned something from me?" Sora exclaims gleefully, leaping up and down with excitement. "Mark the day and time, everyone! Naminé from Land of Departure has admitted that even she can learn something from good ole Sora from Hollow Bastion! What an astounding admission! A once-in-a-lifetime event! Truly, a—hey, wait for me, Naminé!"
Naminé had wordlessly turned on her heel to head out of the room. Sora knows her mock tantrum is just for show, because when she turns around to look at him, she really can't hide the wide grin stretched across her face. Why does she even bother with maintaining her faux-calm, cool, collected facade when it's just him?
What a dork.
A/N: Almost 99% unedited, but since this is already late, I wanted to post this chapter ASAP! Hope you get to enjoy my attempt to exercise my action-writing muscles (they are very rusty, as you can tell). And also Axel, our favorite WINNER member of the chapter (don't worry, the others will get their turn to shine)! And I have to say, I think I'm getting a hang of writing Sora's POV! Basically: less think, more talk/action. What a simple guy.
School and life's been busy (in a good way so far), so I'm sorry I'm lagging on my self-imposed schedule. Next chapter will probably be out in 1.5 weeks hopefully! As always, if you've enjoyed the story so far, please leave a review! I would love to hear what you think about this chapter, the characters, the world-building—always down to talk more about this fun little story my brain randomly thought up one day.
Hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!
