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Namine giggled as she saw Xion's sleeping face. She stroked her cheek. "It's alright Xion...you'll be safe now," she said, her blue eyes twinkling. She stopped and stared at her peaceful face. "We can create a world of our own. A world where we don't hurt anymore." She looked to her blank page, it was her favorite one. Where Sora should have been...
She shook her head and smiled widely, things were better this way.
She stroke Xion's hair one last time before she heard a knock. She stopped again and stood up. "That's my cue. I wonder who could be at the mansion now...I'd best get going. Cross-dimensions take up a lot of energy after all. Goodbye Xion."
She didn't dream...at least it started that way. Exhausted and drowsy, she managed a peaceful slumber, at first in pitch darkness then of creatures called 'cows' munching on pasture in an open field of grass. She walked past the grass onto soft sand, the sound of waves roared into her ears. The scent of the sea, the wind in her face. It was peaceful and she felt herself drift.
She was sleeping. It was warm and peaceful here. She felt happy curled up in the warmth around her. She felt happy. And suddenly, she was no longer there. She was pulled away. It was cold here. Not safe here. She did not want to be here. She did not stir.
When she opened her eyes, the beach was no longer there. She was tied onto a table, legs, neck, ankles, arms, wrists all bound. She tried to pull free, call for help, but her voice wouldn't reach her throat. She looked around and saw what looked to be a laboratory that looked eerily familiar.
Her vision was cloudy.
She heard voices and froze when she saw Larxene enter the room with Marluxia.
Everything was foggy.
...as if being in a dream.
Larxene looked at her and rolled her eyes. Xion whimpered and tried to break free, sadly her effort was fruitless. "I swear, I don't see why Vexen is wasting his time with his little 'puppets' they are all failures. Look at this thing! Creepy doesn't. Doesn't even have a face," Larxene said with disgust as she looked over to Xion. Marluxia merely hummed in response. "Larxene, you're forgetting that the superior thinks that if this works, we'll have a keyblade wielder on our side." Larxene snorted. "We already have a keyblade wielder on our side." "Number XIII, Roxas," Marluxia nodded. "If you can even call him a 'keyblade wielder', the twerp barely talks and just stares all the time. Barely lift his arm. Stupid. Axel doesn't seem to be doing a good job training him. Does he?" Larxene snickered. Marluxia smirked. "Do you think you would fare any better, Larxene?" Marluxia said mockingly. Larxene whirled around with a frown, then raised an eyebrow at him. She then started laughing. "I know I could do alot better than that idiot." Marluxia smiled. "Why don't you prove it then? If Vexen's experiment becomes a success, you train the puppet. See if your apprentice can beat Axel's, sounds like a fun bet. This could work to our advantage," Marluxia grinned. Larxene looked amused, but was about to object when Axel slauntered in with a grin. "Sounds like a plan. You up for it Larxene? Or are you...afraid?" Axel mocked as Larxene snorted. "You're on Axel. Just don't cry when you lose," she said sweetly.
She then looked behind Axel. "Ugh. Your kid is creepy."
"What? Really?" Axel said looking amused. "Luckily we don't have the heart to be afraid."
He turned to Roxas. "Hey, Roxas. Lighten up." He said lightly shoving Roxas. Larxene rolled her eyes, exiting the room. "I'm leaving. This is getting too weird."
"Aw we haven't discussed the terms yet Larxene! Running away?" Axel teased, walking after them.
Roxas and Marluxia however didn't leave.
"What is it Roxas?" Marluxia asked, but as usual, Roxas provided no answer. He merely started at her. Then he approached. Xion held back a gasp and winced as he touched her cool cheek with his warm hand.
She finally stirred. The warmth leaving her cheek, she sought it again. Drowsily, she rubbed her eye blankly. Staring ahead, not getting up but finally noticing her new form. She was no longer what she was. She was different. She was new. She was the same, yet at the same time she no longer was.
She dared to open her eyes and was shocked at what she saw.
He was staring.
Just staring at her.
She felt the warmth again, and reached out to it, finally getting up.
Then he smiled.
He removed his hand and was led away, but not before giving Xion one last glance.
Xion was shocked. She remembered...
She received something...precious. She held onto it, as it kept her warm. It gave her hope. She could 'be' here.
She felt her home calling for her, far away. She missed it. It missed her. The place she had once been in, the warmth, was far away. And she was no longer who she was. She was different. She looked at the small ball of light floating in her hand that burst with warmth and held it to her chest.
Yes...she would find the warmth from before someday and repay it but now this was her home. She wanted to feel more of this warmth if she could so...
She opened her eyes.
And her first week in the organization began.
"This is the lasts you'll ever see of these walls, Xion."
The walls here were all blank, white and empty.
She felt...relieved in a way.
Even without a heart, she knew being here inside these endless empty walls was something she did not want.
Her name was Xion.
No.i
XIV.
That's it.
"Let us all welcome one of the keyblade's chosen," Xemnas, her superior, she remembered, had said.
She lifted her gaze to the people around her.
The people around her, what they wanted, what they were trying to do...she had no idea.
She turned and saw the one with blonde hair, and seemed to be her age. And for some reason...smiled.
Roxas..., she remembered from she didn't know where.
Roxas was his name.
Everyone here didn't really care much for her. That was expected since no one here had hearts. She wondered why that made her feel strangely empty.
Larxene had smirked at her when she first met her.
This had made her experience something new...uneasiness.
Larxene was her mentor and she took no time in toughening her up. She cringed when she felt the static sting her body and a knife stab her shoulder. Even after all her training it still wasn't enough. She couldn't force herself to ignore the pain. It hurt. Larxene looked over to her with a look of disgust. "You're pathetic." The static stung harsher. Xion couldn't contain her screams when Larxene electrocuted her with her lightening.
On afternoons, and when she wasn't with Larxene, Vexen would examen her to check if anything was 'broken' so he could fix it. He taught her ice magic in his spare time. He seemed proud when she got it right, this made her smile a little.
Whenever she walked in the hallways near the other members they would look at her with pity. Once she even heard Marluxia say 'she's probably weaker than Demyx. Somehow that made her tense and made her want to bury herself in her hood and at the same time case a fire spell at Marluxia and burn his hair. She could feel a burning sensation on her eyes, and blinked in surprise wondering what it was but felt the sensation slip away as she calmed herself down.
Larxene had glared at Marluxia but then looked to her with a cold smile sending shivers down her spine. She felt the sudden urge to escape.
She wasn't able to.
Battered and bruised she laid down in bed tired. Her arms ached, and legs felt like lead. She was drifting off into blissful sleep, when she heard a knock on her door. Pulling up her hood, she walked to the door to answer.
"Tomorrow you have your first solo mission. Be ready." And then Saix left.
A small huff found its way to her lips and slowly formed into a smile.
Finally she was able to go out on her own, without Larxene or Vexen (they had gone somewhere...to 'Castle Oblivion').
On her first mission without her mentors and a chance to prove herself.
Then she met Roxas.
Xion woke up startled by her first memories. In her time in the organization, she barely remember her first days there. She wondered why they were appearing now and now she felt even more curious about where she came from but then shook her head from those thoughts. There was no use in dwelling on those thoughts, she had left. What did make her frown was the word 'puppet', they had always called her that. She sighed and noticed that it was still night. She then realized she was still in the place she had fallen asleep in. She hadn't been dragged back. She was quite relieved by this fact but was afraid of the motives behind it.
She wondered how long she had been sleeping before she let out a sneeze. It was chilly. She looked down at her clothes with an odd expression. 'I didn't go to sleep with this...,' Xion thought looking at the short sleeved pink knee-length nightgown. The material was soft, and warm, it seemed to be made for winter, despite the short sleeves. Despite the dress being made for the chill, she was still cold. Her stomach growled.
...and hungry.
'I'm starving,' she thought crawling out of bed. 'I'll see if there's food nearby...then I'll pay them back in the morning,' she thought tiptoeing quietly out the door. She stumbled forward in her search for the kitchen. The lights were off. She had to be careful not to trip over anything. Luckily, the house was well kept. Her stomach growled again and she saw a light glowing. Someone was awake!
She ran forward. "Excuse-." She froze when she saw who it was.
Roxas was sitting on the table with a lamp on reading a book. He looked up and his eyes widened in surprise before displaying a familiar smirk. "Well. It's a little late to be out it isn't it?"
Xion frowned and turned to go back. "Hey!" she heard Roxas call before her stomach growled yet again. He looked surprised when she froze in embarrassment as the sound emerged from her stomach again. She continued to walk back. Roxas grabbed her wrist. "H-Hey! Wait." He said. "Let go of me," she said pulling her arm back. Roxas blinked in surprise, he didn't expect her to be that strong. Then again...she did kill those creatures.
"Look...I'm sorry. I went too far earlier." He said with a sigh pushing his hands into his pockets. "I shouldn't have done that. Forgive me?"
He was surprised that she paused. She turned to face him. Her blue eyes glimmered, wide with genuine surprise.
'She's pretty,' Roxas thought briefly. The moonlight made her light skin glow, emphasizing her short black hair framing her face. He shook himself away from his thoughts. She stared at him confused before looking into the floor curling her fingers in a fist she soon placed over her heart.
"Why?" she whispered as Roxas stared at her in shock. She was trembling. He reached for her. "Hey," he said uneasily, then noticed her stumble. "Woah!" His eyes widened as the girl fell to her knees, he carried her weight by the shoulders. "What's wrong-?" Roxas asked as she slapped his hands away. He was about to shout at her till he noticed her expression. It was a mixture of hurt and sadness and anger. "Enough! I hate liars! Liars...that's all any of you were...," she said her voice breaking. "Why couldn't you just leave me be?!" She said as tears gathered up in her eyes. She hated crying. Hated letting him see her tears. She had promised she wouldn't cry anymore, so she held them in and glared at the floor. "I don't know what you want but I have had enough...," she said clenching her fingers tightly. "I'm not going back, and if you want me to go then you'll have to fight me," she met his eyes with a determined stare, ready to summon her key if need be. He raised his hands in surrender, approaching her calmly. "Hey...calm down...I'm not going to hurt you. Believe me I don't think I could," he then winced remembering the gun incident. "I won't. But I have no idea what's going on but you have the wrong guy. My name is Roxas...although I don't know how you knew that. Point is: Listen, we are not going to take you anywhere okay?" he said quickly. She seemed to drop her stance in confusion. "You're... not making any sense," she finally said. Roxas grinned. "Neither are you." Somehow, this fluttered a chuckle from both their throats, they looked at each other surprise. "You're...not Roxas," Xion gasped in realization. Roxas looked sheepish. "Er-I am-," he was abruptly cut off. "It all makes sense know! The-why-keyblades!" She growled in frustration. "It all makes sense! Why you look older, why your keyblades weren't summoned, Namine, the new world," she thought aloud pondering, suddenly pacing finger on her chin. "But why do you look like Roxas? You both look the same, act the same but aren't the same...," her eyes suddenly shined in awe, she turned to him. "Are...are you Roxas's Somebody?"
Roxas blinked in surprise.
"You kinda lost me...I am Roxas, if that's what you're asking...," he said awkwardly. She looked frighteningly lost. Roxas felt an urge of sympathy. "Hey, you're clearly as lost as I am. Why don't you sit down? I'll make you something to eat and give you some hot chocolate and then we can talk about it. How does that sound?" he said soothingly, gently leading her to a chair. She tensed slightly before relaxing and staring at Roxas with an odd expression.
All the signs were there, this was not the Roxas she knew. This was an entirely different person. Still...this person looked so much like the one that she knew. The one that caused her so much pain. She did not know what to think.
He placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of her, and held one in front of himself.
"Okay. Let's start, how...old are you?" Roxas asked. She raised the cup to her lips blowing on it so it could cool before answering. "I don't know...I haven't been counting the days...about 100 maybe?" she said before sipping her cup. He looked at her confused before he laughed. "You are not 100!" She looked at him with a frown. "Fine. How old are you?" she huffed. "17," he smirks. "That makes me older than you," she says triumphantly before blowing on her cup and sipping from it again. Roxas snorts. "Trust me, you are not older than me." "You said you were 17 Days old. I'm 100. So there," she said in a clipped tone. Roxas shot up in surprise. "Days? I'm not 17 Days old. I'm 17 years," Roxas said incredulously. Xion looked at him in shock. "You're old."
She then looked at him with a thoughtful expression. "I wonder how many days that is. But then I guess Somebodies age differently than Nobodies."
Roxas didn't know what to say so he stayed silent, and they were back to square one.
"What's your name?"
Xion looked up.
"Huh?"
"What's your name?" Roxas repeated. "You know my name but you haven't said yours..."
She sipped her hot chocolate again before putting it down and looking at him again.
"It's Xion."
Roxas then sipped from his own cup.
"Xion...," he said then smiled. "I'm Roxas, as you already know," he said sheepishly extending his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Xion."
She was quiet before finally replying with a tiny smile.
"Likewise, Roxas."
She took his hand and gave it a little shake.
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