A/N- I do not own Kingdom Hearts. You know who does.
Gaku- i decided just to post this chapter, since im going on vacation tomorrow, and will most liekyl not have access to a compy. Ja.
-----------------------
Chapter 3- "Claws"
Axel was walking away at a medium pace. As his young companion caught up with him, he turned his head to look down at Roxas. "Soooo," Axel began with a hint of sarcasm, "Did you like her much?"
Roxas answered with a smile. "She was nice. I liked her."
Axel scoffed incredulously. "You say you liked her?"
"Yeah, she was friendly even though I was a stranger." replied Roxas, "Though she's not really my type; she was too girly…" He looked back at Axel, hoping that he did not say something wrong
Axel stopped in his tracks, bringing the full glare of his emerald green eyes upon his partner. "Kid, lemme give you some advice…" he said coldly, planting his arm on a wall directly in Roxas' path. "Quit pretending while you can, you'll do everyone a favor."
Roxas stared back at the fiery man in disbelief, shocked and hurt by his companion's reaction. "What do you mean, 'quit pretending'?"
Axel leaned in closer, seemingly causing the air around them to swell with heat. "Quit acting like you've got a heart" he growled "It's bugging me. Got it memorized?" He slowly withdrew his hand from the wall, pulled the hood over his face, and continued walking.
The rest of the tour was as silent and empty as a graveyard, with the exception of Axel cutting the silence with brief remarks about the locations. He never removed his hood, never glanced down at Roxas for a few seconds, and never gave any impression that he cared about the young boy. All the while, Roxas followed him as mute as stone, asking himself again and again why his friend had been so upset.
After nearly an hour of touring, the duo came at last to the Twilight Tunnel, a small access way that ran throughout the core of Twilight Town. From the network of pipes anchored to the ceiling hung a chain of fluorescent light bulbs, dangling like the bats that shied away in the corner. In in the center of the walkway a tiny stream of water trickled slowly on to pavement outside, while several varieties of fungi grew on the sides of the walls.
"This is where our tour ends" stated Axel, "and where I'll take you to meet with the others." Unsurprisingly, he did not seem sad that they had to leave. Without any further words, he entered the tunnel, shortly followed by Roxas, who gave a last glance at the sunlight that descended on Twilight Town.
When they reached the end of the tunnel, Roxas peered about the empty chamber, still cluttered with pipes that were anchored to the ceiling noting how it seemed almost designed to hold a large amount of people. More importantly, his gaze was averted to the swirling portal that glowed a far corner of the room. It gleamed with a ghostly mix of emerald, azure, and white.
Roxas was curious, to say the least. "What is that?" he asked.
"It's a portal back to our world" replied Axel, leaning back against a damp wall, " and since you haven't developed any powers yet, it should be one of the few that are safe for you. Got it memorized?"
Right as he said this, the portal began to throb and waver like a sick creature. Axel jumped to his feet from his lean. "Something's wrong" said Axel edgily, "get behind me now." From the darkness, a pair of spinning, flaming, spiked chakram materialized into his hands.
Without warning, a blast of dark energy surged forth from the portal and struck Axel straight in the chest. He flew backwards and landed against the wall with a loud thud, leaving cracks in the fading paint. His weapons fell to his side, fading back to the darkness from whence they came. He flopped to the floor, stunned.
A gigantic set of dark, deformed, clawed hands reached through the portal, gripping a pipe to hoist the rest of its massive bulk through. Through the darkness came a monstrous creature that bore the closest resemblance to a giant chimpanzee: it bore huge arms that could easily smash through concrete and buckle iron; from its torso dangled tiny legs that seemed vestigial and unused; and it boasted its hardened chest, branded with the Heartless emblem, ripped with muscle and tempered by the scars from the slain. In place of fur was the sheen of black muscle; instead of a face it had a gaping maw with a lower jaw that hung loose and hungry, eager to tear flesh from bone and sinew from muscle. And the eyes, those pale yellow eyes that shone with an dull, bottomless hunger driven by instinct and fueled by pain stared right down at the dwarfed form of a certain small Nobody.
Roxas took a step back. His entire body shook against his will. "Stop it…" he told himself, griping his stuttering arm in an attempt to bring it under control. With a flash, he summoned the Keyblade to his hands. He charged forward with a yell, weapon raised high above his head. The creature brushed Roxas aside as easily as if he were a gnat, slamming him into the wall next to Axel, leaving him crumpled at the bottom of the wall. Blood streaming from the back of his head, Roxas struggled to get to his feet. "Get up" he strained, trying to lean on the Keyblade for support. "Get up, get up, get up!" The beast loomed in for a swift kill.