A/N: Woo! Hi everyone! Good to be updating again. I have to say, the pure hype for MGSV is definitely steering me back to the total remake of Shadow Runner, but for right now I'll be sparsely working on the outline while mainly continuing to focus on this story. It will be quite a departure from the original and some decisions I've made may not be popular among MGS fans, but I like to take risks. Some "spoilers" about the changes have been posted on my fanpage (link in profile) if anyone wanted some sneak peeks into the ideas going into Shadow Runner. I already got a solid intro for Chapter XI of re:AS too. Anyway, as usual, I hope everyone enjoys!
Chapter X: Sky Under My Skin
Meet me under shining lights,
I've been waiting right here all my life
Feelings you can't deny that you're living, open up your eyes
And I just wanna sink into your crazy laughter
Come on make me feel until the pain don't matter
Every second here makes my heart beat faster
Finally think I found what I'm chasing after.
A morning it was yet again, but a morning like seldom others in the dreary Nobody homestead. Axel's eyelids hung heavily over his emerald eyes, not closed, but refusing to open to their fullest yet. Noise could be heard outside his door, just a bit away, down towards the Gray Area (which wasn't too much of a shock since it was the common area). This strange new sound kept Axel bed bound – he didn't want to deal with whatever it could be, not yet... but at the same time the noise of the waking world beckoned him.
"Wow! I love your hair!"
"I don't."
Xirena and Rex stood in front of a casual looking boy with dirty blonde hair that was cut into a strange amalgamation of styles. A mullet mixed with a pompadour mixed with shaved sides? Something like that.
"Thanks little lady!" He responded enthusiastically.
"You're welcome!" Xirena responded with equal enthuse.
Xirena and this new fella seemed to be getting along great, what with both of them being a little bit more manic than the rest of the members. One would wonder if the two forces of energy would cancel each other out, or if they would just compound on top of one another for a whole 'nother level of ALL THE TIME EXCITEMENT. Rex watched on as his gal pal and the new guy kept on conversing, almost as if Rex wasn't even there anymore. Like the catty bitch he was, he began tapping his foot and threw out some loud AHEMS here and there, trying to catch the attention back to him in a "subtle" fashion.
No dice for Rexvir.
It was already bad enough that the ginger was stealing away valuable time with his life-sized dress up doll, but now Rex had to compete with someone else too. Someone with a name he deemed stupid before he even met the new recruit: Demyx.
"You like music?" Demyx asked a bouncy Xirena.
"I do! A lot!"
"NICE! HIGH FIVE!"
The entirety of Demyx and Zee's excited chatter were little snippets like that – short, simple and to the point. And every single sentence fragment was punctuated with an exclamation point.
In the midst of Demyx raising his arm for the high five and Xirena staring at him with her confused titled head, Axel wandered out into the Gray Area to finally see what the brouhaha was about. All the others, save for Xemnas and Saix, were dotted around the lounge.
Oh. New guy huh? A basic thought.
Being the semi-decent Nobody he was, he strode over to where Demyx, Rex and Zee were with a single, welcoming wave of his arm.
"Yo." He said, "Name's Axel, number VIII."
"Yo man, I'm Demyx! Big numbah X!" Demyx responded, "Soooo YOU'RE the guy The Zeester told me about!"
Axel shot a curious glance at Xirena, who was nodding and smiling at him. His gaze quickly returned to Demyx.
"...Zeester?" Was all Axel managed to say.
"The Zeester! Zee-mama! Zee-licious! BritZee Spears!" Demyx rattled off.
"He's really good at nicknames." Xirena assured Axel, who's stomach suddenly fell. It took him how long to come up with a name as simple as Zee? And this chump was throwing out dumb names like he's a... a... bad nickname generator or something? Put in a penny and receive stupid sounding nickname! The worst part of it being that all the names Demyx threw out there were based on "Zee."
"Chyeah! So hmm, Axel ey? How about AXMASTER!?" Demyx exclaimed and immediately waited for approval.
Axel then looked over at Rex, who was predictably having the worst time of them all there. It was like he was trying to figure out which of his fashion scarves of his he wanted to hang himself with, or perhaps mentally drafting his sure to be over dramatized suicide note.
"Okay so Axmaster it is then!"
Demyx needed no approval but his own it seemed... Axel wanted to steer this away from nicknames. Fast.
"So uh, why is everyone still just hanging out here?" He asked, slowly turning back to Demyx.
"Xemnas gave us the day off to celebrate the coming of a new member. Generous, right?" Rex snidely remarked.
Xirena's nose wrinkled up and her lips pursed. No day off was given when she joined, not that she remembered at least. Rex confirmed this with a catty glance at Zee, looking her up and down and wishing her advent brought the same cushy experience. Bitter, jealous, possessive and resentful Rex as always.
The best theory anyone could come up with over the day off dilemma was that Xemnas had no idea how to treat women, given there were none in the Organization for a long time. When he thought about it, Axel remembered a trip to the Castle library where he found a book titled "How To Treat Women: A Man's Guide To The Mysteries Of The Female Gender" just laying around. The cover had very '50s styled art on it and looked like it was deteriorating from being so old (if the artwork was any indication of it's age). On the back of this book "PROPERTY OF XEMNAS" was stamped onto it in red ink. Yikes.
"So what does everyone wanna do on their day off?" Demyx asked, still so eager to get to know his new pals, and digging into their personal hobbies seemed a good probe.
"Hitting the club. Gonna spend some time with my make up kit now so BYE." Rex announced, turning on his heel and leaving with his arms across his chest. He really wanted Xirena to be his novelty wingman, but was so arrogant that he expected her to follow without even asking her about it.
"Ehhh more sleeping sounds good to me." Axel spoke next.
"Axel!" Xirena exclaimed, grabbing and tugging on his sleeve. Her tone was tinged with a lighthearted disapproval, "That's no fun! Come dance with me!"
Axel's eyebrow shot up in confusion. Despite the blatantly obvious clue in her title as "The Dancer of Dreams" he never thought to put it together. He had "dancing" in his name and he was never one to run around town and cut a rug.
"Zee-mama here tells me she loves to dance." Demyx confirmed with a proud nod.
An unfamiliar fire boiled in Axel's stomach with that comment, and blazed harder when he saw Zee smile and laugh in a kittenish manner, prompting Demyx to laugh along with her. There was no way Axel could deny he felt a pang of jealousy that this newcomer knew something about Xirena he had yet to discover...
"That's how I gave her the BritZee Spears nickname, she loves BritBrit!" Demyx continued.
Axel's mind flashbacked to Zee showing off the Baby One More Time CD from Rex's trash heap that she was so thankful to receive. Very vague "clues," but clues that made sense now that he knew the outcome. With Demyx explaining what seemed like every aspect of Xirena's life at this point, the girl herself nodded along happily.
"Rex showed me the TV show Glee and it was super cool. I liked copying the dance routines to practice." Zee explained, finally stepping up to explain her own existence.
Then, as if on cue, Zee stepped back and daintily spun on her toes, the hem of her coat floating slightly. It was not the type of dancing Axel expected, dancing in this day and age had become more aligned with the overtly sexual booty bouncing. The way Xirena danced, however, it was full of grace. Her limbs moved with the expertise of a Russian prima ballerina, and then sharply as she moved effortlessly between different dance styles. Faster, slower, faster, slower. Simple to acrobatic.
"I used dancing to beat a big Heartless in Wonderland." Xirena spoke as she moved through the air like a feather, "It just kinda came natural. Then I would practice super hard too whenever you weren't around, Axel."
Her mind revisited one of her many nights spent with Rex: Wearing her tank top and shorts she borrowed from Rex (which lead to them being rather short and tight given her thicker frame than Rex's). She sported legwarmers and a sweatband on her head as she ferociously practiced, improvising to whatever song came on during Glee.
Axel was captivated. Demyx smirked. Xirena stopped, oddly red in the face.
"It's a little weird without music." She giggled.
A look of sheepish pride crept onto her face. Let's be honest, Xirena is not good at a lot of things, so her general ineptitude shoved all her greatness into dancing. When her movement stopped, silence fell. Axel was, for lack of a better word, speechless.
"Hmm, well if Axmaster here won't join ya, I'd be jazzed to come to your dance party Zee-mama!" Demyx interjected.
"WHAT?" Axel squawked. He didn't know he could make such a desperate sound.
Demyx laughed and gave Axel a slap on the shoulder, way too hard at that, like Demyx couldn't control himself in any way.
"I'm just razzin' you man. That's what buddies do!" He continued laughing.
Presumptuous little...Axel thought.
The man who Axel already had defined as "annoying" then leaned in a little closer to whisper in his ear.
"Best buds help each other get the girl!" He uttered with a sly grin. Axel chewed on that same spot on his cheek, trying not to audibly growl at this newbie.
But Axel could at least take solace in the fact that Demyx was joking about dancing with her himself. Axel's thoughts on Demyx flip flopped from "presumptuous" to "annoying" to "eh he's not that bad" at a dizzying rate.
"Come on, come on!" Xirena urged, tugging on Axel's sleeve again, albeit harder and more urgently this time. As if time was slipping away more quickly than it truly was.
Perhaps it was.
The red and purple pair didn't return to her room, no, instead Xirena lead Axel deep into the Castle. Down some stairs, through narrow halls, until they stood before large and tall double doors. Xirena raised her right hand up to the door, where it began to glow purple. The crack that separated each door glowed the same color and opened up. The two entered a huge, mostly empty room with a hard wooden glossy floor. Not only was it expansive in width, but the ceiling was high too. Just. BIG. Large speakers were present, and what you might call a 'station' for setting up music stood against a distant wall. Axel could only assume the largeness of the room was to make sure the acoustics were good, as well as to have a safe enough space to flail around in. Xirena skipped over to the music station and Axel followed.
Axel hovered behind Xirena as she fiddled around with her music. He heard her hum unfamiliar tunes to herself, as if she was shuffling through a mental playlist. Xirena let out a satisfied squeak and straightened up her back, and with CD in hand she excitedly placed it in the disc reader. Her hands were shaking with such frenzy that she nearly dropped the disc. A few button pushes later, ambient beats started to flow from the speakers that dotted the room. Xirena slowly turned around, much different than the fervor she usually moved with. Her smile was shy, as if she were nervous, despite her having spoken of her talent and how she briefly showed it off.
Eyes met: red and green – and suddenly the room was golden.
I had a way then, losing it all on my own...
Both stepped forward in unison with the beats guiding them. Xirena extended her hand to her dance partner, whom gently grasped it. The touch of his hand enveloping hers sent a shock wave through her body, causing her to visibly shiver. With the lead up to the chorus, she took a few small steps sideways, and then started to pull backwards...
You show the lights that stop me
Quick as a whip on the bumpin' bass beat, Xirena twirled and spun up against Axel by her own lead.
Turn to stone, you shine it when I'm alone
With equal speed she spun herself away from him. Semi-stunned, Axel just stood and watched her. Xirena wasn't just listening to a song and dancing along, she was feeling the song. Deep in her soul not just the words, but the beats and all sorts of rhythm resonated and produced something that was an ascension from just a regular dance. The emotion her face and body were expressing was something Axel never had seen before.
'cause they're calling...
More beats kicked in, heavier than the ambient ones that laid under it. Her hips popped from side to side on each one with such amazing precision and she ran her hands through her hair, and then dragged them down her face and torso. Her knees started to bend and she slowly moved towards the floor. The chorus was about to end.
You shine it when I'm alone
The strong emotion broke when the next verse kicked in, and Zee hopped up and over to Axel and pulled on his hand.
"Come on!" She urged, "Just let yourself go."
To just 'let go' was easier said than done for the ever stressed Axel, but if there was ever a time and place, it had to be now.
Xirena's eyes lit up when he followed her lead without hesitation. Now that was Axel with her, her eyes closed and rolled back as she melted back into the song. Axel was of course nowhere near a professional dancer, so all he could do was try to imitate her when he could and just throw himself around, he was best able to move with the least awkwardness when they were close together, hand in hand... In these moments, Zee was 'present,' but as soon as they would part, the music took her back over. Grand battements, pirouettes, feet tapping, floor slapping, hair toss, rolling... it was all so intense, varied and raw.
Axel soon found himself pursuing her. He'd playfully chase her as she would twirl just out of his reach, and they'd both laugh like idiots. He'd eventually catch her every time though, because she let him.
"Gotcha!" He exclaimed as he came up behind her and grabbed her by the waist with both arms. His adrenaline pumping lead him to lift Xirena into the air dramatically.
The current song ended, with neither of them too sure about how many songs they'd danced to, but their limbs were tired, their brows covered in sweat as they breathed heavily. Axel felt himself stumbling backwards as his adrenaline started to fall, and before he could issue a warning, he fell backwards onto the floor and brought Zee down with him leaving them sprawled in a clumsy heap.
"Next time... maybe we should... take our coats off..." Axel heaved. He heard Xirena let out an unintelligible noise of agreement.
After taking a moment to catch their breath, the two sat up and nodded at each other.
"I'm betting you really kicked that Heartless' ass if that's how you fought him." Axel noted with a grin.
"I had Zexion's help and all too." She corrected, giving credit where credit is due.
"Haha... Aw come on now, Zee. Seems like you helped him more than he helped you."
"T-Thanks, Axel..." Xirena replied, drawing her knees to her chest tightly, rocking back and forth. Another song had come on, but Axel and Xirena were too tired and lost in their own world to really notice it.
Cause you always want what you're running from
And you know this is more than you can take