Alright, and now for the tragic ending1 I'm gonna try and not be so OOC on this chapter, and add as much description as I have in Verlorene Liebe, but of course I can't promise everything.
I really hope you enjoy! And if you're wondering why I'm so happy, I got my ears pierced today and I've been wanting to forever.
Vamos nos!
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Chapter Twelve: Goodbye Forever
Axel finally knew what to do. After sleeping on the question that was running through his mind a million miles per hour, he had finally come to a conclusion.
He would sacrifice himself for Roxas, or to put in more precise words: Sora. He hated the idea of sacrificing himself for Sora, of all people, but he knew that was the only way he would ever reach Roxas again in his lifetime. Now he had to find out how this was going to work, for he had no idea how Sora would ever need his help. Now was the time to think, and already he was running out of it.
He sat down on a dusty couch, sneezing once again, and began to think of ways this could work out.
He would need some kind of miracle.
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Saïx nearly tripped over Xemnas's humungous rug as he ran into his master's room. He hated being the bringer of bad news, especially when the person receiving it tended to shoot the messenger. Xemnas got up from his desk, immediately knowing that Saïx had brought some bad news. He saw the look on the young elf's face. His eyes were dark and puffy beneath the eyelids, his teeth and fingernails were in between fangs and claws, and his eyes were filled up with the glow of his neon orange eyes. He was nearly ready to go into Berserk Mode, but in this instance he looked more tired than anything. Xemnas rushed over to his side, but Saïx only shoved him away furiously and sat down in a chair.
Xemnas went over to where Saïx was sitting and put a hand on his shoulder gently. Saïx slapped it and ran over to the corner of the room. Xemnas was now confused and angry.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked, glaring daggers at Saïx, who was completely unmoved by this act.
"I hate you," he whispered, glaring Xemnas's daggers right back at him. "You used me only for your pleasure. You never even showed the slightest interest in me."
"What are you talking about?" asked Xemnas. "You're not acting like yourself."
"Really?" asked Saïx. "I had no idea. Let me ask you something: why are you letting everybody in this Organization die so you can live? I'll probably be next!"
Xemnas stopped for a moment and thought about this.
"Saïx, it's not my fault that everybody is dead. They all died because of the Keyblade Master. You must understand…"
"No!" Saïx interrupted. "I don't want to hear one of your extremely long explanations right now! It's YOUR fault that everyone is dead, and you know it!"
Xemnas couldn't believe this. Saïx, out of all people, was acting like THIS. Something really horrible was going on.
"Saïx," said Xemnas coolly. "What is it that you need to tell me?"
Saïx just seemed to get more infuriated when Xemnas asked this. He roared angrily and strode over to Xemnas, biting him with sharp fangs in the neck. Xemnas winced as the man's anger flowed into his body through his neck, and felt warm blood flowing out of his body. He pushed Saïx off of him in his defense and watched tiredly as his lover fell over and went out of Berserk Mode. His face turned from an angry red to its normal pale color, his eyes gathered back together, and his teeth turned flat. He licked the blood that was on his lips and got back up. It was now that Xemnas realized how much the wound that Saïx had given him really hurt, and he pressed two fingers against it in an attempt to stop the blood from leaking out of him.
"I'm so sorry, sir," said Saïx weakly. "I-I was just so mad at the time and…"
"It's alright, Saïx," said Xemnas calmly. "I know how you feel right now. Times are very stressful. So what's the news?"
Saïx seemed reluctant to share the bad news. He looked down at his graceful feet and finally spoke up.
"Xaldin is dead, sir," he muttered, almost quiet enough not to be heard.
Xemnas seemed to not comprehend what Saïx had just said because his face contorted with confusion.
"You can't be serious," he said, not believing what he had just been told.
"I am," said replied seriously. "Sora killed him in battle."
Xemnas walked over to his desk and slammed his fist down upon it in anger, leaving a small dent where it came down. This was just unbelievable.
"He was one of our best!" he shouted angrily. "How could a stupid kid slaughter him as if it was nothing in the world?!"
Saïx had expected this reaction and stood quietly in the darkest corner of Xemnas's room. He just knew this would all go wrong.
"Saïx!" screamed Xemnas. Saïx stood at full attention, waiting to hear what his master had to say. "Stay with me for a while," he continued. "I need someone to vent to."
"Yes, sir."
Obedient as a dog, Saïx walked over to Xemnas's desk and stood beside him. Xemnas was still angry, he could tell, and he could feel the heat radiating from his infuriated body. He felt Xemnas wrap his arms around his body tightly, and he returned the hug, not really knowing what to do.
It was like taking care of a child.
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How could Sora EVER need his help?
Axel paced back and forth across the rough cobblestone path underneath his thin feet. This question seemed unanswerable now, for he had been thinking about it for nearly a week, and time was close to being out.
"You've got to think harder, Axel," he muttered to himself. "You have to!"
But if only he could! His mind was totally frozen, like a giant block of ice. Not even his fire could melt it. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he never thought of a viable reason. Why was this so hard!
He saw a small old lady walk by him and stare at him like he was some kind of monster. In truth, he was, but he just didn't want to be one. The day was perfect in Twilight Town, and instead of thinking he could be doing better things like going to the beach or fetching a sea-salt ice cream bar or two.
But no, he had to stay on this stupid street and think about his own death. If only he had never made the horrible decision of making friends with Roxas! Why on Earth was he still alive!
And amidst all of this complaining, a brilliant idea came to his mind. It might not work because he wasn't in Organization XIII anymore, but it was worth a shot.
The main rule about Nobodies in Organization XIII was that you could summon as many as you needed, as long as they served for a good purpose. Axel hoped that Xemnas hadn't somehow broken his ties with summoning quite yet.
He concentrated on a picture of a Dusk and opened a small portal of darkness, just small enough for a single Dusk to pop out. He felt it open and he gazed expectantly in front of him. It had worked, and there was a zipper-faced Dusk standing blindly in front of him.
Now all he had to do was summon up a whole bunch of them and pretend like they weren't in his control, and he would be all set. He already knew where this was to take place, and he now wondered why he hadn't thought of this brilliant idea before.
His luck had just taken an unexpected turn. He killed off the Dusk he had just summoned and hurried down the street to spur his plans into action.
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Sora, Donald and Goofy were standing in the middle of the computer lab of the library in Twilight Town. Pence was sitting in front of the computer, ready to type the password. Sora looked at his three choices and finally decided on impulse.
"Type in Sea-Salt Ice Cream," he said to Pence, who obliged.
On some weird laser thing in the corner of the room, a large green beam had appeared. The three friends went over and examined it, with Pence observing from behind. It seemed to be some kind of portal. Sora looked back at Pence.
"What do you think this is?" he asked.
Pence just shrugged.
"Try touching it," said Goofy. "Maybe it gives you superpowers or something."
"You're crazy," said Sora, reluctant to touch the bright green beam. "Who knows what could happen if I touched this thing."
"Just touch it!" shouted Donald, who practically threw Sora at the beam. At first, Sora felt all warm and tingly inside, but then the scene before his eyes distorted. It felt like a hook had snagged his bellybutton and pulled his body through some kind of massive vortex. It only lasted a few seconds, but once he got back in the computer room again it felt like a lifetime had passed. He watched Donald and Goofy materialize beside him, noticing that they were feeling the same way as he was.
"That was a close one, Pence," said Sora with a sigh.
There was no answer. Sora turned around.
"Pence?" he whimpered.
"Gawrsh, I think we landed in another dimension, Sora!" said Goofy. "Maybe we should go back!"
"That's a good idea," replied the now worried Sora. He turned around and tried to touch the beam again, but to his dismay he found it gone.
"Well, I guess we're stuck here," said Donald.
"Yeah," said Sora very quietly.
"C'mon, let's go!" said Goofy, leading the way out into the Basement Hall.
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Axel stood before the chasm in front of him. All he could see were swirling colors of blue, purple, red, pink, and green for miles and miles. This place was Betwixt and Between. This was the place where he would lead Sora to the World That Never Was. This was the place where he could see Roxas once again and apologize to him. This was the place where he was going to die.
He looked at the large portal he had made that would eventually lead Sora to him. Even an idiot like Sora would see the portal. Axel knew that Sora and his two friends would be arriving soon, so he quickly teleported to a place where he could hide and watch. Looking out into the great chasm from behind the colored mist, he watched and waited for the Keyblade Master to walk in.
"Axel, you are crazy," said a voice that was not his own.
'What do you want, Demyx? You've already ruined my life once already,' Axel replied.
"What do you mean 'I've already ruined your life already'?" Demyx snapped back. "I believe it was you who ruined my life! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be dead right now!"
'You know what, Demyx? Shut up! I'm kind of busy now, and I don't need you harping about how I should pity you!'
Another voice appeared in his head.
"You are such a bastard, Axel!" shouted the voice of Marluxia. "Don't you understand that Demyx liked you before you yelled at him like that? You've really hurt his feelings, Axel, and I believe you should say sorry."
Axel sighed.
'I believe it is he that owes me an apology!' snapped Axel. 'Because of him, I'm going to have to kill myself to ever talk to Roxas again!'
"IT'S YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT THAT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO THIS, AXEL!" Demyx roared, making Axel's brain hurt with this sudden outburst. "If you had never become friends with Roxas, you would not be running away from Xemnas and the rest of the Organization, you wouldn't be killing yourself right now, and most importantly, YOU WOULD BE FRIENDS WITH ME!"
Axel didn't know what to say. For once in the very short time that he had known him, Demyx was making sense. Now he was really beginning to think about what his life would've been like without Roxas.
"See what Roxas has done to you, Axel?" said the one and only voice of Zexion. "We all think that you would've been better off without him."
'I thought you were on my side, Zexion!' Axel said.
"I am, just not about you being better off with Roxas," he answered. "Demyx is absolutely right. Think of the things that wouldn't have gone wrong if you had only turned down his invitation to become his friend."
This was getting out of hand. He nervously glanced out into the chasm, sighing with relief when he saw that Sora was not out there, looking around expectantly.
"You know we're only going to keep bothering you until you admit it," said Vexen in his icy voice. "Even if we have to keep you from your little guest."
'Why are you all doing this to me now?' asked Axel. 'In fact, why do you guys even care about me?'
"Because what you are about to do is stupid, that's why," answered Zexion. Axel heard a few grunts of agreement in the background.
'You people have no right to tell me what to do!' Axel yelled.
"YES WE DO!" all of them yelled. Axel swore he heard Demyx sobbing in the background.
This time Xaldin started trying to reason with him. "Axel, you're only going to throw your life away. You're going to end up like all of us, down here in this godforsaken place. You should preserve your life the best you can, at least until you get a heart."
"It must be great to have a heart," murmured the deep voice of Lexaeus.
"SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!"
There was no more noise in his head, not even the sound of breathing. They had all gone.
Axel looked out into the great chasm. Sora was still not there. He took a deep breath and sat down on the wispy ground.
"Maybe I really would have been better off without Roxas," he muttered to himself. "I feel so bad for yelling at them, especially Demyx. They were only trying to help…"
He could feel warm tears slide down his cheeks. He didn't even know that he had started crying until he felt their wetness and warmth. He took a gloved hand up to his face and wiped away a silver tear. He didn't even remember the last time he had cried. Taking his knees to his chest, he rested his spiky head across his legs. He really did feel sorry for yelling at Demyx…
All of a sudden he heard a duck yelling gibberish. Anxious, he got up and looked out into the chasm. Sora had arrived. Now was the time to choose between life and death. After a few minutes of thinking, he had decided.
Delving deep into his mind, he focused on the voice of Demyx.
'Demyx?' he asked.
There was a moment of silence until Demyx responded. He still sounded like he was crying. In a soft voice, he responded:
"…What do you want, Axel?"
'I just wanted to say sorry… for everything.'
"I-I'll forgive you…"
'Goodbye…'
Axel closed off his mind, but not quickly enough to hear Demyx start crying again.
Stepping out of the shadows, Axel used all of his strength and summoned up as many Dusks as he could.
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"Sora, look over there!" yelled Donald.
A Dusk appeared out of thin air. Sora ran over to it and killed it, but another one appeared after that one. Before he could even take a step over to the new one, an army of them had appeared.
"Draw your weapons!" yelled Sora to Donald and Goofy. He smiled as he saw that they had already done so.
"You're goin' down!" yelled Goofy, leaping into the sea of Dusks.
After ten minutes of fruitless effort, the three jumped into the middle of the army of Dusks and found themselves trapped inside.
"It's useless!" yelled Donald, stating the obvious.
"We're gonna die!" yelled Goofy.
Suddenly two flaming chakrams whizzed by and nailed a Dusk in the head, killing it. The three friends looked around until they found Axel fighting off Dusk after Dusk after Dusk. Sora smiled, but remained slightly suspicious.
"Don't stop moving, or the darkness will overtake you!" yelled Axel, nailing another Dusk. "Get going!"
"Why?" Sora asked.
"Don't ask, just do it!" Axel snapped.
Suddenly a Dusk jumped on him. Axel, trying to act like he was doing something good, pretended like he was hurt and watched Sora run over to him.
"You okay?" asked Sora, fighting off a few more Dusks.
Just jumping to the point of this whole thing and told Sora all about Kairi and Organization XIII. A Dusk suddenly jumped out of the air and tried to attack them, but Sora killed it with his Keyblade.
"Leave us alone!" he yelled, getting up. Axel got up also, pretending like he was weak. He could've easily just killed all of these Dusks, but he had a job to do and did not want to screw it up.
After more useless fighting, Sora and Axel met in the middle of the army of Dusks, just like Sora, Donald, and Goofy had done before. They both had their weapons ready and were poised to fight.
"You know, I think I liked it better when they were on my side," said Axel, just playing along with the game.
"Feeling a little regret?" Sora was totally falling for this.
"Nah, I can handle these punks!" he answered. He was really having fun with this.
He jumped forward, taking all of his remaining energy and pushing it through his body at rapid speed. His chakrams went absolutely crazy, circling around him and shrouded with flame. Before he knew it, his own fire had beaten him.
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The things he was saying to Sora came out in a blur. He couldn't see at all. He didn't even know what he was saying. His body felt numb…but comfortably numb.
All of a sudden, a bright white light flashed before his eyes. Roxas appeared, along with the rest of the Organization. Roxas had tears in his beautiful sapphire eyes, and as Axel looked back at the rest of his former comrades, he saw that their eyes were filled with tears, too. Why they were, he couldn't explain. He looked back at Roxas, who had knelt over his weak body, giving him a hug.
"I'm sorry," he whispered in Axel's ear.
Axel, who was now crying, whispered, "I'm sorry too, Roxas."
Both of them stood there embraced for a few more seconds, until Axel was taken away from him. He felt a jolt of pain shatter the numbness he had felt only seconds before, and found himself sinking into the dark depths of oblivion…dying…dead.
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YAY! Only one more chapter of this story and this fanfiction is complete! It will be the epilogue, and it will have a sad ending, sorry to say.
Meanwhile, please tell me what you think about this chapter, seeing as I've been working on it for almost and eternity now…
Thank you for reading! See you in the next (and final) chapter!