Hey there! Welcome to the seventh chappie of Cold Fire, by yours truly.

I'm going to try and make it move a bit faster, just because I think that it's been moving really slowly lately. And I know it'll make fatalfeline happy.

Warnings: The usual. Although I don't really know what the usual is, the usual.

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Chapter Seven: Back to the World That Never Was

Almost a week had passed since that night with Zexion. Larxene was dead now, although Axel didn't care because he thought she was a stupid whore who flirted way too much for her own good. Vexen was dead, thanks to him, Lexaeus was dead- he was useless anyway just because he had way too much brawn for his brain. The only people that were left were Marluxia, himself, and Zexion. Zexion had presented a major problem for him. After that night, he had really taken a liking of the lilac haired man and was still contemplating on whether or not he should kill him, like he asked. And Marluxia's feeble attempts of taking control of the Keyblade was getting in the way too. The man actually trusted him, and Axel wasn't even wondering why. There was too much on his mind that revolved around Roxas right now, and he was trying to get his own plans into action.

He was going to have to visit Marly in the meeting room today, seeing as how he called him there. Oh how he dreaded every second with that flower loving freak. But it might be for his own good, he thought. If he could get an idea of what Marluxia was going to do about overthrowing the Organization, he might be able to stop him and get it over with. But for some strange reason, after turning the corner and walking into the meeting room, he couldn't help but wonder what Zexion was doing now. He was probably sitting quietly in his room, as usual. He stepped into the white room and walked over to where Marluxia was standing.

"You rang?" he asked in his usual tone.

Marluxia turned around and actually looked happy to see him, for once.

"Hello there Axel," he said. "I hadn't expected you to arrive so early."

"But I'm right on time," said Axel.

Marluxia smirked.

"I meant for you," he said, taking a seat on the bench that was below the awning that looked out into the greenish-purple abyss of the outside. "Come have a seat."

The lord of Castle Oblivion patted the part of the cushion that was next to him. Axel slowly walked over to it and sat down, looking Marluxia straight in the eye.

"Why did you call me here?" he asked.

Marluxia broke their eye contact.

"I've been meaning to ask you about Zexion," said Marluxia with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

Axel didn't like the sound of this.

"What about him?"

Marluxia locked his eyes with Axel's once more, almost as if he were looking at the very fiber of his being.

"You're hiding something from me that you know about him," said Marluxia, almost disappointed. "I thought you said you'd tell me everything you found out that had any relevance in it. So does that mean you lied to me?"

Axel nervously looked downwards. Surprisingly, he felt Marluxia's hand lift his chin back up so he was looking back at Marluxia's eyes.

"Look at me," said Marluxia. "I want you to tell me whatever it is you're hiding, and I'll know if you're lying."

Axel didn't know what to think. The blue haired man had become his replacement friend for Roxas, kind of. For some reason they really started liking each other, despite their huge differences. He might tell Marluxia about what Zexion had asked him to do, but there was another thing that would make Marly unbelievably mad, and Axel didn't want to even think about it.

"Answer me," said Marluxia sternly, as if he was Axel's master, and Axel was the dog.

"I-I can't…"

Tears were pricking in the back of his eyes. Why? Did this just please Marluxia to see him in so much pain?

Marluxia's hand that was so softly placed on his chin went down to his neck, gripping him tighter there.

"Tell me," Marluxia said, hinting in his voice that he did not want a 'no' for an answer.

"O-okay," said Axel, wanting to put his head down and look away from those blue eyes that just stared into his skull. "Zexion asked me to kill him-and I said no."

Marluxia let go of him.

"And why exactly did you say no?"

Axel hated him so much.

"I can't tell you that."

Marluxia sunk his nails into Axel's neck. (A/N: I know they're in gloves, but they're so sharp they penetrate the material. Yeah.) Axel flinched. Ignore him…ignore him…ignore him…

"You know I don't like it when you lie to me," said Marluxia. "And I'd like you a whole lot better if you didn't. Now tell me before I get angry."

Axel didn't even know why he came to this meeting. They were always such a complete waste of time. But this one wasn't even close to a normal, boring meeting. And anyways, he had plans to meet with Zexion today. He felt Marluxia loosen his hand and move it to the back of his head, digging it in his hair as he did. Axel looked up at flowerboy, unsure of what the hell it was Marluxia was doing. Marluxia came forward and rubbed his cheek with the red haired man, feeling him stiffen as he did so.

"Tell me," he whispered into Axel's ear.

"No!"

Marluxia sank his teeth into Axel's neck, drawing out fresh blood. The large tendons in his neck strained as Marluxia's teeth grated against them. The poor red haired man was writhing in agony, whimpering at the feeling of his own warm blood dripping down his neck and soaking into his cloak.

"Let go of me!" he yelled.

Marluxia grabbed a hold of his zipper and started pulling it down, revealing Axel's pale white skin underneath. Axel couldn't escape Marluxia's grasp.

"I said let go!"

But Marluxia didn't. Instead, he took his gloves off and sank his sharp nails into Axel's skin. The pain was excruciating.

And then Axel woke up. His skin was sticking to the silk covers of his bed and he was breathing very heavily. He looked at his clock. It was only five. He sank his head back into his pillow, afraid to go back to sleep again. He didn't want to have any more nightmares. This had been happening lately, all because Zexion had given him that strange hallucination. He wanted to go into Zexion's room, but he already knew that the lilac haired man was dead asleep at this hour and he did not like to be woken up before he did himself. He pulled the covers back and got out of bed, going over to the bathroom.

The first thing he noticed was what his present lack of sleep was doing to his face. His eyes were way too bloodshot; around the edges they were red and puffy. The skin under them was sagging and around his lips it was a slight tint of blue due to poor circulation.

He needed a hug.

He figured since he didn't want to go back to sleep again, he took a steaming hot shower and got dressed. He needed some food so he went downstairs, surprised to find Zexion down there with a hot cup of coffee. The cloaked schemer looked up from his coffee and cocked his head at Axel.

"What are you doing up so early?" he asked.

"That's what I'd like to know," said Axel, pouring a cup of the caffeinated miracle drink for himself.

"I couldn't sleep. And you?"

"Ditto."

"Nightmares again?"

"Yes, sadly. You just woke up at a random time I presume?"

"No. I had a nightmare too."

Axel took a sip of his coffee.

"What was yours about?" he asked.

"Mmm…not really much of anything," answered Zexion. "Just about you, I guess. I mean, it had you in it."

"Really? What was so horrible about it?"

Zexion looked at Axel almost pleadingly.

"I dreamt that you didn't kill me and I spent the rest of my life in a living hell," he said.

"Mmmm………I'm not really listening to you. You may warp my mind all you want, but I shall never give in."

"You suck," said Zexion. "I will win this battle, and you know it. After all, I've seen it in some visions of mine."

"You're crazy. But that's why you're my friend."

Zexion looked away from Axel and took a sip of his coffee.

"You look like crap," said Zexion. "What happened to your face?"

"I'm not having any good sleep lately. It's having a really bad effect on me."

"You look like you need a hug."

"How did you know?"

Axel laughed for some reason.

"I can read your mind, doi."

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Yep."

There was a long moment of silence, until-

"Howdy y'all!" came a call from behind them.

They turned around and saw Marluxia walk in the room, with a big smile on his face. He always had to ruin everything. Axel turned back around and pretended to be doing something else. Marluxia strode over to them and flipped Axel back around. Zexion just stood there and stared at Marly for the weird intrusion.

"So how are you two doing?" asked Marly, grabbing a cup of coffee. "What exactly were you guys talking about?"

They didn't answer and Axel was continually trying to hide behind Zexion.

"Is there something on my face?" asked Marluxia, waiting for an answer.

Of course, nobody did answer him. They all just stood there saying absolutely nothing, staring at each other.

"So are you two dating?" asked Marluxia.

Axel and Zexion looked at each other with weird looks on their face. Of all the questions Marluxia could ask, that just had to be the one.

"Well, no, not really," said Axel, slightly pink.

"Not really?" asked flowerboy. "Does that mean you are but you're afraid to tell me?"

"No. We kissed once and that was it."

"But I thought you said that you would never kiss a guy."

"Well, I lied, okay?"

The room was silent again and Marluxia took a sip of his coffee, and was shortly followed by Axel.

"So does everyone know the plan?" asked Marluxia.

"You mean the one for overthrowing the Organization?" asked Zexion.

"Yes, I do mean that one."

"Yep," chorused Axel and Zexion.

"Good."

He chugged down the rest of his coffee and went to the door and pushed it open.

"Don't forget your positions," he stated as he walked out.

Axel and Zexion followed shortly thereafter.

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The next day went by so fast it was hard even to register what happened. Axel had finally given in to Zexion, due to much "mind warping" from the blue haired man, and Marluxia was brutally slaughtered by Sora, who had escaped the castle just this morning. Riku was still in the basement levels, but he didn't really have any relevance to the Organization's plans, so Axel just left him alone. Later on in the day, Demyx had stopped by to tell Axel some news.

Axel was sitting in his room, staring up at the ceiling, still regretting what he had done to Zexion. He could've just waited a little longer, he thought. Maybe he and Zexion could've been good friends. That would mean he could just completely forget about Roxas and have him as his best friend instead. And when it was his time to die, he would kill Zexion in the process, so they could be together in the afterlife. Axel always hated it when he had good ideas after he could do nothing about them.

Demyx had suddenly burst in out of nowhere, completely shattering his train of thought. Axel nearly fell out of his seat, and then continued to curse Demyx for an eternity.

"Hi Axel!" yelled the addicted-to-something blonde. "I have really great news for you!"

"What? Are you going to die in the next few minutes?"

"Of course not, silly! You're moving back to Deep Dive City!"

Axel would've jumped up right then if nobody was looking. He was going back to his favorite place in any world. He could actually get a good night's sleep there.

"When do I leave!" he asked with uber enthusiasm.

"Right this very second!" yelled Demyx.

"Yay!"

Before horsie890 could say "toast", Axel had unpacked everything of his-down to the very last piece of dental floss, and had packed them in a suitcase.

"Wow," said Demyx. "That was fast."

"Yep. NOW LET'S GO!"

"You're scaring me."

They both warped to Deep Dive City, where there was much rejoicing.

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Axel sat in Xemnas's dark room, waiting for him to reply.

"So who am I rooming with?" he asked impatiently.

He got no response. Apparently Xemnas was still thinking about his rooming assignment, because he heard a soft "Hmmmm" from Xemnas's direction. He thought he could've just stayed in his old room, but Demyx told him that they had moved everything out of it and were now using it for storage. And what was worse was that all of his stuff was moved into Saïx's room (whom he despised). He tapped his fingers on the armrest, obviously bored at Xemnas's lack of speed. Inside, he really hoped he was rooming with Demyx, just because he knew him a little bit better than anyone else that was here. Finally, Xemnas spoke.

"Because your stuff got moved into his room, you'll have to room with Saïx," he said. "I don't want you to give him any trouble."

It was always up to Xemnas to screw everything up. He now had to room with a total lunatic who had nothing better to do than stare at the fricken moon all the time. Axel tried his best to act sincere and said…

"Thank you, sir. When do I move in?"

"Right now," he answered. "Get your things and put them by his extra bed."

"Right away, sir."

Axel gladly walked out of the Superior's room and almost tripped over something on the way out (judging that he couldn't see anything because it was so dark).

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(Roxas's PoV)

He had been having these weird thoughts lately, like, was any of this for real or not? He had been thinking of Axel, of Namine, of DiZ, of his whole life in general. He was lost without a clue where he was going, and he wasn't going to find any kind of map soon. He didn't know why he was thinking of these people, but he just was. He didn't even know any of them.

He was lying in bed, staring up at the khaki colored ceiling. The past few days had flown by way too fast. He could barely even keep up with his own life. Right now he needed to relax and just forget about everything. However, it didn't work. It never worked. He was always doomed to be thinking. He was the local enigma, after all.

So he lay down and did nothing, thinking about anything that came to his mind. He was so lonely.

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(Axel's PoV)

Axel got his stuff from the front of the unknown's base and teleported to Saïx's room, where Saïx (of course) was meditating in front of the moon. Axel walked in very slowly, spotting his old bed. He tiptoed over to it and gently placed the suitcase there.

"Why are you in my room?" he asked, not even looking away from it.

"Uh….Xemnas told me that I was rooming with you, since Castle Oblivion…"

"…is destroyed. Okay. Just follow my rules and we'll get along fine."

"Alright. What are the rules?"

"Basically, you stay on your side and I stay on my side. And when you go to the bathroom, if it's yellow let it mellow and if it's brown flush it down. The plumbing sucks here, so that one's a biggie."

As if Saïx couldn't get any weirder.

"Sounds good."

He sat down on his bed and looked over at Saïx, who was in a perfect yoga posture, just sitting there and breathing. There was something seriously wrong with Saïx, Axel knew it. But for now, he would leave that alone and lie down and do absolutely nothing. After all, it was what he did best. He closed his eyes and sank into the bed, slowly drifting away to sleep.

He heard someone call his voice, at first it was soft, but then it sounded loud and demanding. He could see everyone that had died at Castle Oblivion. Larxene, Lexaeus, Marluxia, Vexen, and Zexion. They all looked so…sad. They were in the pitch black of nowhere, just talking. That seemed like the only thing they could do. They looked like they had emotions now. Maybe they had found their hearts. The voice came back again, and Axel suddenly realized that it was Zexion's. He looked at where Zexion was, and realized that he was trying to tell him something.

"Axel?" he asked.

"Yes?" he answered.

"I want to tell you something."

"Okay."

"Try to live the longest life you can, because we're all going to hell anyway. Got it memorized?"

"Of course," answered Axel with a laugh. Suddenly he felt something poke him, and he was back in Saïx's room, lying down on the bed. He looked up and saw Saïx leering over him, looking at him with those neon orange eyes.

"There's a meeting in Xemnas's room," said Saïx. "He wants you there."

"Okay," said Axel. "I'll be there in a minute."

Saïx summoned up a teleportation hole and stepped inside. Axel looked up at the ceiling, totally weirded out by that short dream. Had Zexion really talked to him? Or was that a dream? Whatever it was, there was one thing that was for sure. He liked the phrase "Got it memorized?" And he wanted to use it after every single sentence he could possibly fathom. He sat up and walked to the center of the room.

He then summoned a pillar of darkness and stepped into it.

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Xemnas just loved to monologue everything. It was always "bla bla bla…I'm the supreme ruler of darkness" or "look at me, I rule all of you pathetic mortals". Axel was sick of it. He wouldn't even call this a meeting. It was more like "the time when the gullible idiots that actually came to this stupid thing have to listen to Xemnas ramble on about useless crap that doesn't have any relevance whatsoever." But, in a convenient shortened word, it was called a meeting. The only person that actually listened to Xemnas was Saïx. Xigbar was nearly asleep, Demyx was asleep, Luxord was playing solitaire, Xaldin was pretending like he was listening but was really doing a bad job at it, and Axel was just sitting there staring into space.

"So that's the plan," said Xemnas. "Does anybody have any questions?"

"No," they all said.

"Good," said Xemnas. "Now let's go over this once more."

Axel could've sworn that Xemnas was doing this on purpose. He purposely wanted to ram his head into a wall. And the interesting thing was that Saïx just sat there and listened. He was the only one that ever asked questions, and he was constantly staring at Xemnas. He had proven that he needed to be in an insane asylum. Axel caught a few of the words that Xemnas had said, like "darkness" and "Kingdom Hearts" and "Heartless". He was going to betray the Organization anyway, so why should he listen?

"You're all dismissed now," said Xemnas. "But Saïx needs to stay here."

Everybody nearly ran out of the room, except for Demyx, who was fast asleep with his head on the table. Axel went over and shook him.

"Just…five…more…minutes…Saïx…,"he mumbled.

Axel picked him up and slung him over his shoulder. He walked out of the meeting room and before long Demyx had awoken.

"Am I dead?" he asked.

"No," answered Axel. "But you are heavy."

"Oh. You can let me down now."

Axel didn't "let him down". He threw him down.

"Owie," said Mullet Man. "What was that for?"

"For me having to carry you so you wouldn't get your ass kicked by a blue haired elf," answered Axel.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why were you carrying me?"

"Because we were in a meeting and you were asleep. So I picked you up and took you out of there before Xemnas got mad."

"Oh. I remember now. You know what?"

"What?"

"I think I left my sitar pick in there. I'd better go get it."

Axel grabbed his shoulder.

"Dude. Xemnas and Saïx are talking in there. You'd better not disturb them."

"Relax. All I'll have to is pop in, get the pick, and pop out. Easy peezy lemon squeezy."

"Whatever. It's your funeral."

Demyx jumped up for some retarded reason and teleported back into the meeting room. Axel heard some yelling and mumbling and Demyx reappeared in front of Axel, sitar pick in hand. He looked utterly terrified.

"I told you," said Axel. "I take it that that didn't go very well."

"They…weren't…talking!" yelled Demyx. "They were…yucky."

"What? They were yucky?"

"Yes. THEY WERE YUCKY!"

"Demyx, please tell me what that means in English."

Demyx whispered something in Axel's ear and Axel's cheeks turned a pinkish color.

"Oh," said Axel. "I get it."

"I would prefer to drop this subject," said Demyx. "Why don't we go into my room and have fun?"

"Uh…sure," said Axel.

They both teleported into Demyx's room.

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(Very much later)

After countless hours of playing Twister with Demyx, Axel returned to Saïx's room, sore and everything, and plopped down on his bed. Saïx was sitting on his bed, staring at the moon. It was the middle of the night and Saïx's huge French windows were opened up to let the pale light of the moon hit everything. There was no way Axel could sleep with this much light.

"Is that all you ever do?" asked Axel.

Saïx actually turned around and looked at him with those freaky orange eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"Stare at the moon. Every time I come in here you're staring at it."

"I can't help it. I'm drawn to it like a magnet."

"But how can you sleep with all of this light?"

"I don't sleep. It's as simple as that."

"You're joking, right?"

Saïx jumped off of his bed.

"Why would I be joking?" he asked.

"Because you need to sleep. Everybody sleeps," answered Axel.

"Well, not everybody does. Xemnas doesn't. And neither do I."

"So you're just going to leave those windows open all night long?"

"Yes. You don't mind, do you?"

Saïx was such a stupid prick. Of course Axel minded.

"No, of course not," answered Axel. "I'm gonna go to sleep now."

He took off his boots and gloves and crawled under the covers.

"You're not going to brush your teeth?" asked Saïx.

"I never brush my teeth," answered Axel.

"Then why are they so white?"

"Because they're naturally like that."

"Oh."

He heard Saïx walk over to the left side of his bed, pull up a chair and sit down.

"I hope you don't mind if I observe you while you sleep," he said.

This guy was mental.

"Of course not," answered Axel with a yawn. "Just don't touch me."

"I won't."

Axel fell asleep, despite the fact that he knew Saïx was going to stare at his sleeping body for the rest of the night. Axel wanted to kill Xemnas.

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Well, that's the seventh chapter. Please review, flame me if you want. I don't care.

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