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Chapter XI: In the Hardest of Hearts
Let's make this fleeting moment last forever
So, tell me what you're waiting for?
I'm gonna keep it frozen here forever,
There's no regretting anymore.
It's worth the wait, even so far away.
I'm making the night mine until the day I die
No lights to brake when you're hanging by fate
You know what it feels like when you're dancing blind
The pair of exhausted Nobodies dragged their feet back to the residential hall, with Axel looking visibly more beat than Xirena. She was actual dancer of the pair after all and maintained more endurance than even The Flurry of Dancing Flames. Despite their weariness, however, they both were rather happy with how their evening had gone.
"I had..." Axel panted, "A lotta fun."
"Me too." Xirena breathed.
Xirena stopped at her door with Axel behind her, opening it up for the two to enter. They had wishing to do after all! Axel turned and closed her door, but once he came to face Xirena again he was hit with one of the most unexpected things of his life.
Xirena had thrust herself forward with her arms out, knocking whatever wind was left in him out of Axel, which wasn't much. When she collided with him, her arms instantly clung around him and held tightly. Her face nuzzled into his chest. Axel's body and mind froze up, as if he was a computer that encountered a critical error and suddenly shut down...
THIS IS WHERE YOU HUG BACK, Axel's mind screamed at him, THIS IS WHERE YOU HUG BACK.
He was short circuiting so hard that instead of doing that, his hand moved up to her head and gave her a pat as he thought those very words.
THERE'S STILL TIME TO HUG BACK
Just as he was about to morph into a proper hug, the speedy Zee had pulled away just as suddenly as she dove in, smiling bright as ever. He had his arms spread away from him slightly as he prepared his delayed hug, feeling dumb, but he managed to smoothly move into a casual shrug, hoping to convey that he had a good time with their evening with that gesture. Now that all their frantic moving had stopped and he had a close look at her face, he noticed something... different...
"Heeeeeey..." He said slowly, leaning in for a closer look, "I can't figure it out but something on your face is... different."
"Oh..." Xirena breathed somberly, "Rex ripped part of my eyebrows off the other night."
"Christ!" Axel shouted, his ever-spazzing arms flying into the air, "I can't believe him sometimes, well, I can't believe him most of the time actually..."
"He said I gotta lose weight too and be 'high fashion.' I don't know what that means but Rex wouldn't do any bad things to me, right? I'm never letting him rip my eyebrows off again though... well, unless he has a good reason to!"
Axel was left speechless. Talking about Rex was just the worst.
"Oh! Axel!" Xirena exclaimed. Axel hoped she was done talking about the abysmal being known as Rex, "We almost forgot, we gotta go make our wishes!"
Peace and quiet was what filled their wish time, almost like a prayer. It may be brief, but the hyper activity that can come with Xirena made these moments extra special. As with many sweet things, the time of wishing was always short, with both of the Nobodies looking to rest after a night of party time fun dancing. Axel yawned widely and stretched his arms as he stood up, ready to leave Xirena's room and hit the hay.
"You gave me quite the work out, eh?" He joked as his arms fell back limply, "I'll need to do that more often and catch up to ya."
"Hmmhee..." Xirena giggled, "Maybe that's what I wished for!"
"Hey!" Axel scolded playfully, "Now it won't come true!"
"No! I only said 'maybe!' So it doesn't count, right? And it doesn't count as a lie either! Rex taught me that the word 'maybe' can be really helpful."
She punctuated this 'profound' statement with an affirming nod. At this point all Axel could do was laugh, a tired yet sincere one.
"Right then, right." He agreed with a smile and a head pat, "Well... I best be on my way. G'night."
"Night!" Xirena called as her friend turned and began to walk towards her door, watching him all the way.
Oddly, each step Axel took further and further away from Xirena got heavier than the last, and with each heavy step came a downward tug in his chest. He took a swift nibble at that spot on his cheek again once his hand touched the knob of the door, hesitating.
"Zee?" He half turns.
"Huh?" She responds softly.
Axel had something to say and was desperate to get it out there. He watched as her head tilted slowly and his thoughts fought a futile war against one another. Axel had strong feelings burning up inside himself, too strong to deny anymore and as much as he wanted to shout what he thought to the high heavens right now, the divide between his passion and the frailty of Xirena was a tough thing to reconcile. How would she react? Or overreact rather... They both had something, Axel could feel it, but Xirena was still far out of touch with such heavy emotions that ultimately, he remained silent. But exit, he did not.
Axel quickly strode back over to Xirena and pulled her into a tight hug, one so tight she had the wind forced out from her a bit from it, just like she squeezed all the breath from him moments ago. Like Axel, she was surprised, but unlike Axel, she was in-tune enough to react appropriately. Xirena put her arms around her friend with care and gave a squeeze and Axel did the same. Axel now is the first to pull away, but keeping his hands on her shoulders and eyes locked tighter than any precious treasure chest could be. He swallowed hard and was getting ready to double back on his internal conflict before, but resisted once more.
"...Good night, Xirena." He finished quickly, turning on his heel and shuffling out the door like a nerd.
Xirena blinked several times, as now she was the one who was shocked with a hug.
"He was acting kinda... I dunno." She said to herself, "Axel, he's... he's just so nice to me."
A smile spread across her face like a butterfly spreading it's wings when she thought of him, and her chest fluttered like a monarch in flight. Xirena skipped to her bed, where Sunny had been impatiently waiting for her to FINALLY come to bed. Sunny was mock-gagging the whole time during that whole mushy gushy Axel nonsense, but it was behind Xirena's back and Axel was far too preoccupied to notice the damn pig making fun of him.
"Isn't he nice, Sunny?" Xirena asked as she laid down next to her pig, "He really is, isn't he? I like him the best out of everyone here... The best..."
Friends lost, friends gained, some transient, some for the long run... that's how the world goes, doesn't it? Some friends feel like forever yet end on a foul note, others come in and out without nearly as much pain involved. Axel already had experience with losing a long term friend for what seemed like petty reasons in retrospect now, but gained someone new. What was it that stopped Axel from telling Xirena what was on his mind last night? Was there a lingering fear that she could be an in-and-out transient? They had dangerous jobs and all, she or he could very well die on any given field mission they went on... and it's not like they were together for every mission to look out for each other.
And today was one of those days.
"Gosh Axmaster! I didn't think you were sucha quiet dude!"
Long run friends, transient friends and then the ones you're not sure about yet... that one being Demyx.
"Not much to say." Axel answered simply, "Just showing you the basics of it all isn't too hard, eh?"
"Well I guess you're right! But I hoped maybe we could get all buddy-buddy and be buds! You seemed like a pretty chill dude so far, but now I've gotya here alone and you're like a boring old man or something." Demyx responded.
"Hey!" Axel snapped, turning to Demyx, "I am not a boring old man."
"Heh, struck a nerve?" Demyx teased. Axel's eyebrow noticeably twitched, "Hey! Hey! I'm just joshin' ya brah!"
"Ok whatever." Axel said shortly.
Twilight Town was almost always the go-to place for basic training. It was easy to tell which areas Heartless spawned in and which were generally "safe" zones where they'd choose not to attack. In fact there was a musty old alley with a couch in it where they never appeared. Axel and Xigbar would know, they've taken naps there on that couch on more than one separate occasion. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable experience but it was something if they needed a break...
Axel lead Demyx to a sandlot that never saw too much human activity and waited for a Heartless to pop up, which never took too long. A little group of 3 Shadows appeared in front of them and Axel apathetically pointed at them with a grunt, a signal for Demyx to summon his weapon... a blue sitar that evoked a sense of watery qualities. With a few bashes and strums of the strings, the Heartless were taken care of.
"Welp, guess we got a natural talent here." Axel said dryly.
"Think we can get home early?!" Demyx exclaimed.
Axel liked that idea. He loved in in fact.
"Hell yeah we can! I already went over what we do in the Organization and all that, plus Zexion or Vexen will end up telling you more details anyway. They're the 'smart' ones and all." He spat out with speed.
"Mad cool!" Demyx yells with a bit of a hop.
"Alright, alright let's get outta here." Axel says, immediately summoning a corridor.
"Man you're peppy all of a sudden..." Demyx observed, "Happy as all heck to get home... Compared to being antisocial like you were earlier... I mean, when your girl was around you were in a bit of a better mood than this!"
Axel had what felt like a full-on brain spasm.
This kid I swear...
"Hah! I knew it!" Demyx screamed, then rapidly poked at Axel's chest with both hands, "It's The Zeester, isn't it? You wanna get home and see her!"
"What?" Axel barked, "I'm just a lazy jerk is all, I don't have any..." He lied, well, partially. He was pretty lazy after all.
"You two are practically glued to each other!" Demyx said with devilish glee, "When she's with you, she's a total puppy."
"Oh come the hell on, you're reading too deep into... into nothing!" Axel insisted.
This was an unnecessary argument waiting to happen. Or, it was kind of already happening, wasn't it?
"Then what IS the deal then?" Demyx spoke forwardly, leaning in like an obnoxious douche, which wasn't too effective since he was shorter than Axel like many Organization members were. But did Demyx care? Nope.
"THERE IS NO DEAL." Axel shouted.
"Pfft sure." Demyx dismissed Axel's anger, "I notice how you look at her too... She's not the only puppy around."
Axel's face was turning red from embarrassment at this point. He only could have hoped that his attraction wasn't so blatant, but Demyx shot that delusion down. Did everyone figure it out already? Is it just Demyx? Rex probably has an idea of it too since he spends the second most amount of time with Zee and one can only imagine what they talk about together...
Or did Xirena herself already know to a greater extent than expected? He was sure she had feelings for him, but did she know it was mutual? Like he had thought earlier, these feelings were ones she wasn't fully in touch with consciously yet so it was a difficult situation to approach at all.
"And when she was walking away the other day, you watched her leave like it was the worst thing in the world for you." Demyx continued, now more calm... but not for long as his next statement was preceded by giggles, "Unless you were just staring at her butt, heh."
"I WAS NOT STARING AT HER BUTT. You don't have any idea what you're yappin' about..." Axel kept insisting, but it was a losing battle, "...I was watching her though, in her entirety. There, I admitted it, you happy?"
"Heh. For now." Demyx smirked.
"Let's ditch this dust town then." Axel said, motioning to the corridor he carelessly left open during their spat. Seriously, some random dumb kid could have ran into it without them even realizing it, but fortunately that didn't happen.
"No prob with me there!" Demyx agreed, strolling on in with Axel following him.
Hmm... thought Axel as they traversed the dark. There was a simple equation forming in his head. Having more friends = more resources, more resources multiplied by (x) friends maximizes resources important to him, thus = more friends, more help.
"Say, Demyx." He began.
"Sup, brah?" Demyx asked., looking over his shoulder.
"You happen to know any places with nice starry skies...?"
Demyx faced forward again as he walked, humming loudly. Axel waited in anticipation, feeling like it was taking far too long. If Demyx knew a place, surely he'd have the answer right ready to go, but with each moment of silent pondering Axel grew less hopeful.
"Nahh... not really..." Demyx responded with a shrug, "I haven't seen enough of the different worlds to tell."
"Hmph. Bummer." Said Axel.
"Hey wait a minute!" Demyx shouted, stopping and hopping to face Axel, "It's for Zee! You wanna show her the stars!"
"Urgh..." There was no longer a point in trying to dodge it, Demyx was figuring this stuff out at the speed of light, "Yes, you're right. She's never seen a star-filled sky and I made a promise I'd show her the best one there is to see."
"Shouldn't make a promise you can't follow through on~~" Demyx teased in a sing-song voice. Axel was ready to punch this nuisance in the stomach with that remark, "Nah dude, that's sweet of you. She must be real important to you, huh?"
"Yeah. She is." Axel responded, calm again after being taunted. Then he said something he never expected to say to anyone but her "She's the most important thing to me now."