A flute solo heralded the arrival of morning.

DOO… DOO-doodooDOO… Doodoo-DOO… DOO-doodooDOO… Doodoo-DOO-DOO-DOO… Doodoo-DAH…

My eyes opened to fluffy white clouds and a sapphire blue sky, the sun still only peeking from the horizon. I could feel the grass beneath my skin. It was surprisingly gentle, not the usual coarse stuff one expects. It caressed my head and my feet, my neck and my calves, my shoulders and back and — wait a minute.

Am I…?

I got up to find myself almost naked, save for the underwear serving as the only barrier between nature and me.

By this point, the other woodwinds and the horns joined, followed very closely by a harp twinkling away. I took in the sight before me: a meadow dotted with patches of flowers of all kinds, birds and bees and butterflies flitting and flying about. The sun had now taken a more prominent position in the sky, and it nearly blinded me. As I looked away, putting my hand up to guard my eyes, I noticed someone else. A boy lay next to me. By the looks of it, he was almost the same size as me. He wore medium-length blue hair…

I-Isa?

I cleared my throat awkwardly. Did… did we do something together? Why are we in our underwear?

"Good morning, Axel," he greeted. His voice… It wasn't his voice — someone else's.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

"I said, 'Wake up, Axel!'" I stumbled and fell out of my bed, all tied up in my blanket, Saïx staring at me gravely.

"Oh, it's you," I reassured myself aloud.

"Who else would it be? Get up and get out of bed. We have an important meeting in the Round Room today. Everyone must attend." That's odd…

"Again?"

"Yes," Six answered tersely. "Oh, and… put some clothes on." He turned and walked into a Corridor of Darkness.

Great. Another meeting. What I would do for a day full of sleep.

Everything changed on the seventh day of Roxas joining the Organization.

Two things happened: First, Xemnas announced that starting tomorrow, I wasn't going to supervise Roxas for an entire week. I wasn't going to let that blow to my ego slide.

"Oh, and what for? I, for one, think I've been a stellar babysitter."

"Hey!" Roxas grumbled.

"Relax, kiddo, I'm only joking."

"There is no reason for you to worry, Flurry of Dancing Flames," Xemnas calmly reassured me. "It is my belief that you have served Roxas well as his supervisor, and it is time for him to interact with the other members of the Organization. Surely, you do not dispute this."

"Well, no, not necessarily, but—"

"Then, it is settled," he interrupted me. "Besides, Axel" — rarely did he ever refer to me by name — "a week is not forever."

Xemnas went on to argue that Roxas should have the broadest skill set of all of us so that he could deal with the Heartless as effectively as possible. I begrudgingly conceded to the Superior, but I had a feeling that this scheme of his wouldn't work.

The next announcement made was much more surprising.

"Good tidings," Xemnas began. "Today is a momentous day. I am pleased to announce that a new comrade has been chosen to wear the coat."

In walked a petite, feminine figure — even shorter than our lone female member Larxene. Her face was obscured by the hood she wore, but I could still make out the shape of her chin, which ended in a point.

"Number XIV," the Superior continued. "Let us all welcome one of the Keyblade's chosen." Another Keyblade wielder? Now, things were getting super weird.

Her name Xion, and the was the extent of my knowledge about her. For ten years, we had obsessed over finding a thirteenth member to fill out once-empty chair, but now we had a fourteenth? And she could wield a Keyblade too? What do you have in store for us, old man?

Anyway, we all had to head out on reconnaissance missions. Since this was going to be my last day with Roxas until the end of next week, Saïx assigned us the both to survey Beast's Castle, a breeze considering I'd just paid it a visit and cleaned it up. Was Saïx feeling generous today? Sympathy for a devil like me? He wouldn't care enough to make sure Roxas and I were together otherwise, I don't think.

Perhaps I was too hard on Saïx after all these years. Perhaps… No. Lea and Isa are asleep now.

Forever.

We arrived at our assigned location without a hitch. Only there were two things different from the last I've been here: The ballroom was lit, and there was a carpet covering the area I singed. Looks like someone else—

"What's this room for?" Roxas asked, ever the inquisitive one. "It's so… fancy?" I thought of something quickly.

"Parties, I expect. Rich people parties with hoity-toity talking and dancing."

"'Hoity-toity'?" Roxas snickered. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh… pretentious? No, you don't know that means, either. Affected. No. Ah — fancy for the sake of being fancy." Roxas tilted his head. Such an innocent look on his face, his eyes like little sapphires — get ahold of yourself, Axel!

"Some people only dress to impress," I went on to say. "And some extend that to the way they talk. Got it memorized?"

"Kind of like you and Zexion?" Roxas smirked.

"Zexion, maybe, but I honestly think that's just how he talks to everyone he knows. Definitely not me, though."

"I don't know about that." Cheeky little bastard. I gave him a wink, and his face suddenly turned down, as if in self-consciousness. When Roxas looked up again, his eyes were off to the side, still looking self-conscious.

"I don't really know much about dancing…" he finally said.

"What are you talking about? I once compared fighting to dancing."

"No, I mean — what kind of dancing would they do here?"

"Ah. Fancy ballroom dances. Waltzes, stuff like that?"

"What's a waltz like?"

"You're just full of questions today, aren't you?"

"Hey!"

"Waltzes are kind of stiff, proper dances. Supposed to be really romantic and stuff." What did I know about romance?

"Stiff and romantic? How does that work?" Suddenly, I had an idea.

"You know what? How about I show you what waltzes are like?"

"Show me? How?" I took his right hand with my left and place his other on my shoulder. I towered over him, as he had to look up for his eyes to meet mine. Sapphires and emeralds.

"Now, just watch my feet and do what I do. Let's see if I can remember how the music goes…"

DUH-duh, dahdahDUH, duh-DUH, duh-DUH, DUH-duh, dahdahDUH, duh-DUH, duh-DUH, DAH-duh, duhduhDAH, duh-DAH… duh-DUH, duhduhdahduhduhduhdahduh…

We both limped along to the music in my head, as this was, in fact, another one of Tchaikvosky's "wrong" waltzes. He sure loved writing them this way, didn't he? Never sure why, though. But Roxas didn't seem to mind. If anything, he was having fun.

"This is kinda funny," he remarked, gently smiling up at me.

"Shh…" I hushed him. "Can you hear the music?" We continued dancing along to the tune of this "limping" waltz.

"What music?" Roxas looked at me quizzically before he smiled again.

"Does that mean… it really is all in my head?" I muttered quietly, more to myself than to him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Eh, nothing important," I lied. So easy, yet the pinch is there.

"Weirdo!" Roxas teased. That made us both laugh. Mine felt a bit forced, but his was so natural.

"Anyway, I said as we wound down, let's get back to work so that we can get out of here." Roxas nodded his head.

We never did find any Heartless in Beast's Castle. Looks like I really took care of that problem.

Dear Roxas,

If you're reading this, congratulations. You've been an Organization member for a whole week. Must have been the longest week of your life, huh? Or was it existence? Non-existence? Ah, who cares? Nobodies are confusing anyway.

What can I say? I'm proud of you, buddy. The first week is always the slowest, but every new day will tick by faster than the one before it, so make the most of each one. If I had the heart for it, I'd tell you that I'll miss you next week. We can still see each other for ice cream on the Clock Tower, but other than that, you'll have to deal with the rest of us.

Take care, Roxas.

— Axel.