Summary: Why was Axel so hell-bent on getting Roxas back after he left the Organization? Where did those ink-drops beneath his eyes come from? Axel's journal might shed some light on the subject... The original Number XIII...

Disclaimer: I don't own Square Enix or Disney. If I did, I would be a very, very rich woman, even richer if I lent out men like Axel, Leon, and Sephiroth to people willing to pay the price for a period of time with them. I do, however, own all rights to the OC in here.

Queen's Quornor: Sorry it took so long for this chapter to get up. I've been a bit too depressed to write from Axel's POV lately. Just some problems with the Devil May Cry fandom. I'm soldering on, however. This fic WILL get finished sooner or later. I've got to have SOMWHERE that is relatively flame-free, after all. Anyway, read, review, and enjoy.

Rekindling the Flame

I don't know how long I just slouched through my days. I had no one to laugh with, no one to tease and sleep with. Not even bugging Demyx or Luxord was fun anymore. I went out on missions, did what I was told, but I was just completely numb. What's the point of going through the trouble of living if there's no one to share it with you? A friend, a lover, or anything?

I was this close to just letting myself fade and rejoin Onyx when Organization XII gained another new member, getting renamed as Organization XIII again.

Marluxia and I had been sent out to Neverland to try and turn Captain Hook into a Heartless, and thus a Nobody, when Xemnas called us back to the World that Never Was. Of course we obeyed, being at his beck and call as we were, and found out from Zexion that there was a newbie getting his number tonight. That would be the point when my non-existent heart sank. Xemnas had said that he was going to dissolve Onyx's throne back into the stone from which it was raised, but he had kept putting off getting Lexaus to do the job. So every time we were all called together, I had to stare at her empty throne across from mine, envisioning her sitting there with that knowing smirk on her lips, mirth dancing in those purple eyes of hers while I fidgeted, eager to get out of there and back in the field. She was just as eager as I was to get the hell out of there, but she was far more controlled than I was.

Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of some newbie taking her place and number.

Even less so when I found out that the newbie was a kid. He was even younger than Demyx, for crying out loud!

Xemnas introduced him as Roxas, told us that Zexion had found him fighting some Heartless in Hollow Bastion while he was spying on Maleficent's army. Upon seeing what he was using to defeat the damned living shadows, he had immediately recruited him. Fearless Leader said that he had forgiven this breach of command when he was told of the boy's significance.

Xigbar spoke up, asking what was so special about this kid that Xemnas would let VI off the hook so easily. Roxas just glared at him, and held out his hands. Two weapons, a white one and a black one, appeared in his hands then, and there was a loud thunk! as the jaws of everyone except Xemnas and Zexion hit the floor.

Kiddo was using Keyblades.

And not just any Keyblades. He was using Oblivion and Oathkeeper, two of the most powerful ones there were, second only to the Ultima Keyblade. I think it was Demyx who asked Xemnas why the hell Roxas was using those. Xemnas responded by saying that the Keyblade Kid who had been running around making a total mess of Maleficent's plans had apparently lost his heart for a brief time, before one of the Princesses of Heart restored it to his Heartless. Roxas, his Nobody, had been left behind. Alone.

Xemnas, of course, would forgive anything to have someone with such power on our side.

There was no demonstration-fight this time. Quite frankly, none of us wanted to face this kid in battle. Keyblades can destroy us, after all. So we were dismissed as soon as Roxas was named Number XIII, the Key of Destiny.

After the meeting, Xemnas approached me with Roxas in tow. He said that he wanted XIII to have some experience outside the World that Never Was, and since I was out in the field more than anyone else, he was trusting the boy to my care. I had a really hard time controlling my temper then. I mean, Onyx wasn't even a year in her 'grave' and here he was giving this newbie her number, her throne, her partner, and hell, even her rooms! I was so far beyond mad it wasn't even funny.

But I just couldn't hate Roxas. He wouldn't let me. Kid was really grim and quiet at first, but after we had a few missions together he started to open up. We became friends, and suddenly I had a reason to live again. Roxas was indeed necessary to the Organization, but he wasn't exactly close to any of the others. He sometimes palled around with Demyx, but that was it. He hated most of them. I was the only one he could talk to, and I just felt like I had to be there for him.

No, not like that. I told you before, after Onyx was destroyed I became celibate. Roxas got a single session of "me master, you slave" with Xemnas and Sa'ix, but that's it. He didn't sleep around with any of the others, like some people did (Luxord... Zexion... Larxene...), but I think if I had been willing to take it to the next level, he wouldn't have told me 'no.' But I kept things to a level of friendship, nothing more than that.

But as much as Roxas mattered to me, I never really forgot Onyx. I did everything in my power to protect Kiddo from the machinations of the other Organization members, but what I couldn't help him with, he managed by himself. Still, once he started thinking about the implications of his being able to use the Keyblade, I couldn't help him anymore. Especially after that Riku kid challenged him. He beat him, but when he saw that Riku had a Keyblade too, he decided he had to find out the truth. Xemnas, you see, had decided that nobody was going to tell Roxas anything. I tried to convince him to stay with the Organization, but Kiddo just didn't care anymore. He had to know the truth, no matter what the ultimate cost to himself.

So I let him go, even if it felt like I was losing her all over again.

When I found him in that stupid digital Twilight Town, I wanted so badly for him to come back with me. I was getting a second chance to save my friend from himself and the others, something I never got with Onyx. But he didn't remember me! To this day, I still don't know why he forgot all about me and the Organization.

But I know that it hurt. I wasn't worth remembering?

Bullshit.

I eventually convinced myself that this wasn't my friend. This Roxas was just a pretender, someone masquerading as the kid I had known and fought beside. An abomination.

And just like the Dusk, the abomination, that my Onyx had been turned into, this Roxas-thing had to be destroyed.

But when I fought him below the mansion, I realized that he was indeed the same Roxas. Niether of us quite knew what had happened to his head, but he remembered me. And I knew what was going to happen to him. While I was waiting for him, I had done some snooping. I had seen Sora in his tank.

No matter how that fight would have ended, I would have lost my best friend.

We agreed to meet in the next life.

But I didn't want it to end there.

When I heard that the Keyblade Kid, Sora, was back in business and running around killing Heartless and Nobodies, I got this really crazy idea. I knew that Namine, the girl that Marluxia and the others were studying in Castle Oblivion (may they all rest in flaming pieces), was really the Nobody of Kairi, a close friend of Sora. Namine had this ability to manipulate Sora's memories, and so I thought "maybe she can influence Roxas too." But Namine had disappeared.

So I decided to get the next best thing.

Kairi. Forgotten Princess of Hollow Bastion, formerly known as Radiant Garden.

My idea was that she had a similar connection to Sora, and so if I kept her long enough, he was bound to come running. And with him would come Roxas. Maybe, when she and Sora were together again, I would have a window of time where I could talk to my friend, just one more time.

But it didn't work out that way. Sneaky little girl gave me the slip, and that blue-haired son of a bitch and a sick crocodile, Sa'ix, managed to capture her. Now she's locked up in the castle dungeon, and I can't risk sneaking back in there. The few remaining members of Organization XIII (or should I say Organization III?) are all on high alert; Sora isn't the only person they're looking for.

If I even show my face around there, I'm dead meat.

'Course, I was a hunted Nobody the minute I decided to go after Kairi. Funny, the things you go through for the people you care about...

Guess it doesn't matter. Sora and his two partners, the dog-thing-guy and the duck nobody can understand, will be entering the World of Darkness soon. If what I think's gonna happen happens, they're going to need my help. Hell, they're going to need it anyway. Unless I, or someone else with control over the dark paths, help them out by opening a door, they're stuck there fighting a crap-load of Nobodies that Sa'ix sent to guard the path. Hundreds of Dusks and Assassins.

It'll be tough to take 'em all out.

But it's not like my life's worth much anymore, anyway. And I do owe him, for what I did to Kairi.

Plus, Roxas is in there somewhere. This may be my last chance to see him again.

I don't think I'm gonna come out of this alive.

Onyx... Just a little longer, babe.

I'll see you soon.

Queen: We finally have some third person POV in the next chapter! Stay tuned, for this is not the end!