Chapter XII: Words To Die By
Shine a light through an open door
Love and life Iwill divide
Turn away 'cause I need you more
Feel the heartbeat in my mind
It's the way I'm feeling I just can't deny
But I've gotta let it go
"Keep dreaming..." Rex uttered to Xirena.
"Oh ok, I can do that! It's in my title." Xirena said proudly.
Held in Xirena's hands was a piece of clothing, a cute little dress colored pale blue. She and Rex had ventured out into the commercial area of The World That Never Was where Dusks operated different shops and establishments. The particular place they were perusing at the time was Rex's hotspot for getting clubbing outfits and this time brought Xirena along under the guise that he would help her pick out clothes for herself, but it was all ego stroking for him and down putting for Zee. Why exactly did he tell her to 'keep dreaming?' Well, it had nothing to do with the fact that she was The Dancer of Dreams, but the fact that Rex deemed that Xirena 'couldn't pull off that dress.' This of course flew right over Xirena's head and she took Rex's literal words about dreaming while tossing the dress back onto the pile where she picked it from.
"Ugggh had such a crap day yesterday," Rex began, "I went on a mission stuck with XIGBAR of all people in Neverland. Spoiler alert hon: being in Neverland lets you fly, anyway, there's lots of water there and Xigbar thought it would be funny to overpower me so he could hold my head underwater and 'pretend' to drown me. I mean, what kind of sociopath would do that? He laughed and insisted he knew how long was safe to not breath but oh my GOD I swear he was going to kill me. I could faint just thinking about it..." Rex whined.
Rex's other motive for these kinds of trips were to complain complain complain about everything happening in his life and he often exaggerated... In fact, he greatly exaggerated the Xigbar incident. All Xigbar did was sneak up on Rex and shove him into the water a few times while he wasn't paying attention. Try to kill Rex, Xigbar did not, just get him pissy.
"Well that wasn't very nice of Uncle Xiggy..." Xirena lamented, head downcast, "He should work on being nicer to you."
"Chyeah that'll happen. When pigs fly." Replied a snide Rex.
"I'll take Sunny to Neverland then! That'll work!" Xirena perked up with that big smile of hers.
Rex groaned so loudly that it disturbed the Dusk who was working the counter far up front in the store. It glanced over and saw no problem, so it went back to idly minding it's own business as it 'wiggled' in place as they always do.
"Whatever. Let's just shut up about that loser now," Rex proposed, changing the subject to one that suited both of them, "SOOOO I thought Glee was really good this week."
"Yeah, it was nice."
"Zee all you ever say about Glee is 'it was nice,' get some new material hon," Rex went on, "But ohmygosh I just can't get over how hot Cory Monteith is, I'm IN LOVE with him."
Xirena's nose wrinkled up in confusion.
"In... love?" She asked, addled with curiosity.
"Uhh, yeah? You see how hot he is? Smokin' freakin sexy." Rex raved of his crush.
"Love..." Xirena murmured.
This word was very intriguing to Xirena, so much to the point that she had a gut feeling to avoid talking about it with Rex. She knew EXACTLY who to ask about it, and no surprise either: Axel.
Axel is smart. He'll know all about whatever this love stuff is! She thought.
Home again, to Rex's room they ventured. In and out of his bathroom did he come and go, each emergence he wore a new piece of clothing he had bought earlier. Rex wasn't very responsible with his money, you see, and spent it quite frivolously on his club clothes and make up. Truth be told, he didn't even get that many opportunities to go clubbing and use these items, which ended up being thrown out once he got tired of them, under the excuse of 'they're no longer fashionable' and that he needed to update his clothes and beauty products to match the most current trends.
"Well, that's everything." Rex spoke as he emerged from the bathroom, wearing his normal Organization attire, "Aaaaaaand my new make up kit just came in! You know what that means~"
"Don't rip off my eyebrows!" Xirena shouted, covering her face.
"Hon, I won't, but I will draw on them a little bit and maybe pluck." Rex assured her – this was perhaps the most honest and nice he'd been to Xirena... ever.
"Ok, if you promise..." She said, slowly lowering her hands down to her lap.
"Hon, I promise."
Rex produced his freshly opened box of make up and started pulling out products. He liked to start with the eyes, and given Xirena had such a difficult natural color palette to work with, it was never easy to start anywhere, but you always need a starting point for everything. However, he had purchased the most recent 'Naked' palette by Urban Decay, which promises to work with all skin tones, just like the other two 'Naked' palettes before that. Those palettes he was rather satisfied with, but ended up throwing them out once they quickly went out of style to him, or a new one was released. This was the third in the line of 'Naked.'
"Kay. So I'm thinking of using the colors Dust, Buzz and Darkheart first. Dust for the highlight, Buzz for the midtone and Darkheart for the dramatic shadow. Then, Perversion for mascara and a brow definer. The brow pencil is gonna be tricky since they don't exactly come in violet, so I'll go easy on them" Rex ranted. Xirena already zoned out, "THEN for the lips I got a nice Rough Cream Lipstick by Sephora to keep the natural look going. Hmm now where is that eye primer and blush..."
Xirena bounced her legs eagerly, she didn't mind this as long as it didn't involve any waxing. She hummed a Britney song to herself as Rex grabbed her face, squeezing her cheeks uncomfortably to keep his subject steady. Xirena closed her eyes and left herself at the mercy of Rexvir...
"Wow." Rex said to himself as he stepped back, "You look pretty good, hon. All thanks to me~"
In truth she was a little too done up, in standard Rex fashion, with her eyebrow color looking off due to the lack of properly colored brow pencils, but Rex managed to come up with a good match between the eye shadow and lipstick though. Xirena's already long and thick lashes were especially accentuated by the mascara and dark shadowed areas.
"Really?!" Xirena exclaimed.
Rex picked up his mirror and held it up in front of Zee.
"Cool!" She exclaimed yet again, "Am I done?"
Despite enjoying this time, Xirena did get impatient with how long the make overs took, so testing out full kits usually took a few days.
"Sure, hon." Rex said, "Now go ahead and do whatever it is you do when you're not with me. Unimportant things I assume."
Xirena hopped up from the edge of his bed and skipped out of his room, traveling in the same jovial manner as she proceeded down the hall. At her door she came to a stop and opened it on up, and there, waiting on the threshold waiting to greet her momma was Sunny. The pig let out a quiet oink of happiness, but then tilted her head in confusion over all the make up... a trait she'd picked up from Zee, but in a much more self aware fashion.
"Rex painted my face again, heehee." Xirena laughed. Sunny quietly snorted as her own form of laughter.
Xirena may not be bright but she knew how dangerous it was to leave Sunny exposed out of her room, and at this point the level of risk hit it's peak. Behind Xirena in the shadows stood what could be her undoing.
"What is that monstrosity?" A harsh voice said behind Xirena.
The girl spun around quickly and saw Saix glaring down at her, his height seeming even more towering given his frightening disposition. This guy was mad, really mad. His eyes glittered with a rage Xirena had yet to bear witness to, causing her to shiver in fear and lip to quiver.
"S-She's my pet... Sunn-"
"A pet is firmly against the rules!" Saix screamed before she could finish, "Especially a filthy animal like a PIG." He continued. Sunny wasn't pleased with that comment, for she was well aware of her excellent personal hygiene.
"No, no! She's very clean and well behaved! I promise! Please don't be mad Mr. Saix..." Xirena says, her voice began to waver and eyes to water.
Saix snarls and strides closer over to her menacingly, reaching out his hand to firmly grab her by the wrist and drag her off to be punished. Xirena closed hey eyes and tensed up in fear. But then...
"HEY!" A familiar voice shouted.
Saix's hand was halted by a larger one grabbing him by the bicep and forcing him to stop his attempt to grab Zee. Incredulous, Saix looked over and saw that it was none other than Axel who was giving him the 'goon hand,' as some would call the bicep grab. Axel yanked hard and pulled Saix away from Zee, who cautiously opened just one eye to observe the situation. Meanwhile, Sunny had run back to Zee's bed, blaming only herself for giving her presence away. Sunny thought Xirena or Axel would punish her in some way later, but anyone who knew Xirena was confident that would never happen. That little piggy was very well behaved indeed, as Xirena already told the skeptical Saix.
"Leave her alone." Axel said in a low tone tinged with danger while Saix looked flabbergasted and Zee stared up at Axel with starry eyes.
Saix was confused and still furious, for even more reasons now. Axel's stomach fell deep, making him feel nauseated. Saix tore away Axel and huffed as he walked away, silently raging. Axel sighed, and fully faced Xirena now, who was so grateful that she jumped right onto him in another one of those crazy hugs of hers.
"Thank you so much, Axel!" She wailed, "Saix was super scary and I didn't know what to do..."
She held onto her friend for dear life itself, who was swift in hugging her back this time. However, unlike that last embrace they shared, this one went on longer... longer than just friends should be hugging. Axel felt Xirena's body twitch as she sniffed loudly, trying to keep her almost-running nose controlled.
"Oh!" She suddenly exclaimed, "Axel I wanted to ask you something!"
"Eh?" He asked as they pulled apart.
"What is love?!" She near-screamed.
Axel blinked stupidly, and actually recalled how she asked that question once when they'd met for one of the first times, but the topic got derailed into 'what is emotion?' in general.
"I... uh... Zee I don't think now's the time for talking about... that." He said in a hushed voice, "How about tomorrow after work?"
"Oh ok." Xirena agreed, "I'm tired anyway... Rex took too long."
Took too long what?Axel wondered.
"Well in that case you better get some rest." He recommended.
"Oh ok!" Xirena smiled, "I'll see you tomorrow!"
She gave him a pleasant wave, which he kindly returned, before disappearing into her room to sleep. It was at that point that Axel heard snickering behind him, prompting him to look over his shoulder...
"What...?" He said, as he had not expected anyone to be there but lo and behold there stood Demyx and Luxord. How much of the exchange with her and Saix they'd seen was unknown to him.
"DUDE!" Demyx shouted, "You went HAM on that and handled it perfectly!"
"I must say I do agree." Luxord nodded.
"Yeesh, keep your voice down..." Axel scolded Demyx, but then considered the content of what they were saying, "You guys, uh, really think that? It was just a basic act of kindness so I dunno why you're giving me praise."
Demyx tried and actually succeeded in partially holding in his laughter, because he knew just how much Xirena meant to Axel, and Luxord grinned devilishly.
"Demyx here has told me all about you and her as a pair." Luxord explained, "You know I must say, I think she fancies you her King of Hearts from what Demyx has told me."
"I'm not in the mood for your puns right now, man." Axel said flatly, prompting a chuckle from the gambler.
"Soooooooo," Demyx began, an evil smile spread across his face, "She looked totally mega pretty tonight, huh?"
"Eh?" Axel questioned.
"You know! All the make up Rex put on her!" Demyx explained.
"Oh." Axel replied dreamily, "I didn't notice at all." This was an honest statement on his part, there were much more important things happening at that point anyway.
Demyx's grin grew more evil if one could believe it, and Luxord joined him in the grin-fest. Axel raised an eyebrow at the two.
"Well I mean she's always pretty." Demyx shrugged, "Not my type, but she's definitely yours, Axmaster."
I hate it when he calls me that so much Axel thought.
"She's not mine, I don't own her!" Axel yelled, completely missing what Demyx meant.
"Nah man I mean she's clearly your type," Demyx clarified, "You totally think she's cute no matter what and that part of it seems to be the least of your concerns with her. AKA, looks don't matter all that much for you two! It always helps I mean-"
"Shut up, shut up." Axel urged dangerously, getting in Demyx's face.
"Dude, Luxord, you totally get it too, right?" Demyx elbowed him as he asked.
"Well, you DID tell me that Axel himself said she was the most important thing." Luxord confirmed.
"Why can't you keep your damn mouth shut, Demyx?!" Axel shouted.
"Hey, hey! Luxord is good at secrets, they don't call him Tight-Lipped-Luxord for nothing!"
Axel's mouth gaped and he looked at Luxord, mentally asking 'is that true?' Luxord merely shrugged. All Axel could do at this point was trust in their word...
"Fine. But you two promise not to say anything to anyone else?" Axel pressed. The other two nodded, "Good. And I thought Rex was the only gossiper around here..."
"Welp, like you guys said before, it's pretty late." Demyx yawned and stretched, "We're hitting the hay too yo. Peace!"
Demyx and Luxord took their leave in separate directions and Axel sighed with great relief... something he didn't realize during their heated exchange, however, is that they were standing right outside of Zee's door the whole time. There was no way these rooms were soundproof either, as he heard Rex blasting music at all hours of the night sometimes. The ginger panicked and started to knock on her door and ask if she heard the 'fight' with Demyx and Luxord.
For some reason, it took her longer than usual to answer, and when the door opened it all became clear. Zee's face was dripping wet and make-up was messily flowing down her face – she held a cloth in her hand too. She was trying to wash it off in her bathroom, so between her further distant (though not by much) location and running water, there's no way she heard anything – and if she did, there was NO way she heard any details.
"What's up, Axel?" She asked, rubbing her face with the dry cloth.
"Well uh," He stammered. He didn't have anything to discuss with her at this point. Xirena was perceptive enough to know if she heard shouting that she'd ask about it. But then... it hit him, "Y'know, we forgot to make our wishes tonight."
"Oh!" Xirena exclaimed in shock, "You're right! Hurry, come in!"
Axel couldn't have been more relieved with how that situation concluded. His nerves relaxed, taking her hand and leading her back inside. The pair sat down on her bed before the large window, closed their eyes and put their wishes out into the universe...