Chapter IX: Gravity

XxX

Axel leaned back, staring blankly out into space. It went on forever, but it was just an empty vacuum. It was everything but nothing at the same time. He sighed and wondered if it was anything like what a nobody was, all empty and hollow. Maybe empty space was the nobody of Kingdom Hearts…

…yeah, and maybe fire taste like bacon.

He snorted and shifted around in his seat. Luxord was sitting calmly in his seat, eyes closed, breathing steady. He'd drifted off a while ago, not long after Demyx had fallen asleep in the back of the ship. That left Axel with nothing to do to occupy his time aside from think and stargaze.

A message popped up on the screen before him, startling him a bit. " Approaching Destination" flashed on the screen in big bold letters. Axel looked out the window, looking at the world that lie ahead. It wasn't as stunning as the Colosseum, but it was a much vaster world. Large snow capped mountains, and deep bamboo filled forests covered a great deal of the world. As they drew nearer Axel saw there was a huge city as well.

"Destination Found: Land of Dragons " The computer screen informed Axel.

"Hey, get up. We're there," Axel said, elbowing Luxord in the side.

Luxord stirred, looking out the window. He yawned and stood up, looking at the computer screen. "Land of Dragons?"

"Yeah, must be where Xigbar's hiding out," Axel said, landing the ship. He got up and walked toward the door, pulling it open. He glanced over his shoulder at Demyx, who was curled up on the floor, still contently asleep. " Should we wake the kid?"

"We shouldn't be long, he'll be fine," Luxord said, motioning at the blond boy.

"If you say so," Axel said, stepping out of the ship. Once outside he was instantly hit with a blast of cold air. He rubbed his hands together, trying to retain warmth in them. "It's freezing out here," Axel muttered, shivering.

"Yes Axel, snow typically is," Luxord said, stepping out of the ship, closing the door behind him. Axel glared at the gambler, snorting at him. Luxord didn't so much as wince as a gust of cold air suddenly smacked the both of them.

Axel started marching bitterly though the snow, looking for the Free Shooter. Of all places he had to pick the top of a remote mountain covered in snow. Axel was going to choke him when they found him.

Axel closed his eyes, feeling the wind cutting into him like a knife. The feeling was familiar, he'd been to a place like this before. As he walked he slowly let the memory return to him.

The Northern Crater, it was a monster. So was the weather surrounding it. Reno sat by the fire, staring into the crackling embers, lost in though. A voice finally roused him from his thoughts.

"Reno." It was Elena.

"What," He answered sleepily. They'd been hiking around all day, searching for the blond guy and his friends. They knew that they were coming this way, that they were going to the North Crater too. They had to intercept and stop them. And it was rough work. Not to mention that the 'heroes' had beaten them senseless more than a few times now.

"I was just seeing if you were awake," she said timidly. Being a neophyte, she was always very withdrawn around Reno and Rude. Their seniority was a bit intimidating to her. She wanted to be a good Turk though, and thats why she came with them.

"Not for much longer," Reno said with a grin. "Hey Rude, you already paid for the room right," Reno called over to the other Turk, who was leaning against the wall. He nodded, being the one of little words he was. "Then I think I'll go on down. Night," Reno said, getting up from his seat and heading to their room at the Icicle Inn.

He didn't know what was on Elena's mind as she watched him leave the room...

"Axel...Axel... are you still with me?"

Axel opened his eyes and glanced over at Luxord, who was looking at him concerned.

"Sorry, just spacing out," Axel said with a shrug. "This place, just reminds me of a place I've been before," he said, grinning.

"I see," Luxord said, retreating into silence. It was a touchy subject among the nobodies. Their memories, the only things that made them different from the lowly Dusks.

The two continued along in silence, the wind getting progressively worse as they pressed onward. The snow whipped around wildly, blinding them. They had started into the snow storm with out knowing where they were heading, but now they were really lost. They rounded another turn on the mountain path, happening across a small village.

"Salvation," Axel groaned, wondering towards the nearest building.

"Axel, wait," Luxord started, but Axel was already banging on the door, demanding to be let in.

"Open, open, open," Axel demanded, pounding his fists against the door. "Let me in or else, got it memorized?"

"As if," a voice said from behind the door.

Axel looked to Luxord and grinned. Luxord rolled his eyes as the door swung open.

"You been a good boy," Xigbar asked, grinning at Axel.

"Not exactly, now let us in," Axel said, pushing past Xigbar into the house. Xigbar stepped aside, letting Luxord in as well. "What happened to the people who lived here," Axel asked randomly, looking around.

Xigbar held out a hand and motioned vaguely, summoning two Shadows. "That. So what brings you here," Xigbar asked, leaning against the wall, watching Axel flop down in front of the fireplace. " I didn't think anyone knew I was here."

"We didn't, computer told us," Axel said, leaning into the fire. Then he looked over at Xigbar curiously. " Why? Are you on some sort of secret mission?"

"Naw, nothing like that. Just a bit of Heartless hunting," He said with a laugh.

Axel and Luxord exchanged surprised looks. "Heartless hunting," Axel inquired carefully.

Xigbar nodded, an unusual solemness about him. "Yeah, but he's more than just any old regular heartless," Xigbar said, shifting uncomfortably.

"He's yours," Axel finished for him, eyes locked on Xigbar.

"How'd you know," Xigbar said looking surprised. He shook his head and said," you're just too clever."

"We recently had a brush with Marluxia's," Axel said.

Luxord nodded and said, " and Roxas."

"Roxas," that had caught Xigbar's attention.

"He gave us this," Axel said, reaching into his pocket. Just as he started to pull out the block the ground began to shake.

Xigbar bolted over to the door, throwing it open. "It's him," He said, summoning his guns and dashing out the door. Axel and Luxord looked at each other, then ran outside as well.

Axel looked up, just in time to see a massive shadow flying away. He saw Xigbar shooting at it fiercely, but to no avail. It disappeared farther up the mountains, leaving a frustrated Xigbar behind. Xigbar cursed and fell to his knees in frustration.

"Well?" Axel walked up beside him. "Let's go get him." He offered Xigbar a hand and grinned. "How tough can one measly Heartless be?"

Xigbar looked up at Axel and nodded, grabbing his hand and pulling himself to his feet. "I know where he hides out. We can probably find him there."

"Onward then gents, the beast awaits us," Luxord said with a playful grin.

XxX

"This is it," Xigbar said.

The trio had spent the rest of the day hiking through the blinding snowstorm, farther up the mountain, much to Axel's discontent. To end a day of bitter cold and suffering...

"We have to climb that," Axel said, looking at the cliff before them. A monolithic wall of sheer stone and ice rose up before them, blocking anyway to continue forward.

"Ummm, well, you do," Xigbar said with a playful grin. And with that he disappeared, only to reappear at the top of the cliff, looking down at them, waving.

Axel gritted his teeth and walked back a few steps, then dashed forward, leaping onto the rock wall. The lack of foot holes didn't stop him as he scrambled up the side of the cliff like a lizard. Luxord watched with amazement as he managed to get a good ways up before he lost his momentum and fell back to the ground.

"Not bad," Luxord said, looking down at Axel, who was laying face up in the snow. Axel snarled at him and got back to his feet, brushing the snow off.

Luxord grinned, summoning a handful of cards. They encircled him, and he disappeared. They then floated up to the top of the cliff, depositing Luxord at the top.

Axel crossed his arms bitterly, frowning at the nobodies at the top of the cliff, though he was sure they couldn't read his expression from up there.

Axel tried several more times, trying to scramble up the the side, but the flat surface, along with the ice, made it near impossible. Axel gritted his teeth and summoned the Oathkeeper in his hand. He gripped it tightly, feeling the energy from it pulsating in his arm. He gritted his teeth and screamed, slamming the chakram into the side of the cliff.

The built up energy exploded, just as it had done when he had fought Cerberus, leaving deep fissures through the rock. Axel stood, panting, looking at his work. He looked at the Oathkeeper and grinned, getting an idea. He summoned his newest weapon, Cerberus, into his other hand. He slammed it into the wall, then the other, slightly higher up. He pulled Cerberus out and slammed it in a little higher, using his chakrams to climb up the side of the cliff.

Axel worked his way up the cliff, slowly but steadily. He finally reached the top, spilling over the edge, onto the ground in front of the other nobodies. He lay face down in the snow for a while, taking deep breaths. Eventually he got to his feet, glaring at the other nobodies. "Thanks for your help," He spat bitterly, dismissing his chakrams, but not before swinging them dangerously close to Xigbar's one good eye.

"Hey, I'm no good blind dude," he said, backpedaling a step. "What was that anyway? New weapon?"

"You could say that," Axel muttered bitterly.

"Come now, stop sulking," Luxord chided playfully, patting Axel on the back.

Axel snorted and stepped away, "Well, are we going?"

Xigbar pointed up at the top of the mountain and said, "he's up there."

"That's quite a walk," Luxord said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Not really. It's impossible to get any closer than here. Our best bet is to catch him coming out."

"Why can't we go any higher?"

"Gravity," Xigbar said flatly.

"Gravity?" Luxord crossed his arms, looking truly puzzled. He looked over at Axel, who was still turned away, sulking. He looked back to Xigbar, " and what do you mean by that?"

"You'll see," Xigbar said ominously, raising a gun towards the top of the mountain. He fired a blast towards the top of the mountain, seemingly at nothing. A few moments passed before it was returned with a roar of anger.

A great shadow suddenly appeared in the sky. It was hard to make out the details of it though, as it was shrouded in snow and clouds. There was another loud roar, and little pools of darkness appeared in the air. Heartless began pouring out in ungodly numbers. They buzzed around annoyingly, taking swipes at them.

"Rapid Thrusters, split up, take'em out," Xigbar commanded. Axel frowned, already in a bad mood. He didn't like someone grabbing the leader position from him.

Before he could say anything, Luxord and Xigbar had both disappeared, leaving him alone to fight the group of Rapid Thrusters that had gathered around him like a cloud. He grinned, summoning both his chakrams. He twirled the chakrams around before jumping into the cloud of Heartless, hacking at them wildly. He destroyed them in massive numbers, but it seemed like for every one he killed, two more came back in its place. He stood, panting wildly and watching as more Heartless poured out of the portals of darkness. "I think I liked them better on my side,"Axel muttered with a grin.

He twirled both of his chakrams around, gathering up as much energy as he could into them. He jumped in the air, flames encircling his chakrams. "BURN," He screamed, releasing the pent up energy. A wave of fire ripped through the crowd of Heartless, destroying them all.

Axel fell back to the ground, exhausted. Another attack like that would kill him. He suddenly felt grateful for the snow he'd been cursing all day. He let his eyes drift close, resting his weakened body.

"Axel!"

He groaned, recognizing that voice.

"Axel, Axel are you okay?" Demyx dashed over to the downed nobody, kneeling down beside him.

"No," he muttered.

"Wow that... that was amazing..." Demyx said, throughly impressed. He could see Axel needed rest, so he got up, giving him his space.

"Demyx," Luxord said walking over, calmly despite the fact he looked like he'd been run through a paper shredder.

"Hey little dude," Xigbar said, approaching from the opposite direction. He looked pretty banged up, but better off than Luxord. Xigbar walked over to Demyx, ruffling his hair. "What brings you here?"

"More importantly, how did you get here," Luxord asked, surprised Demyx had managed to locate them.

"I came with them," Demyx said, pointing to Luxord, then to Axel. " I woke up to find that I'd been left behind. I followed their footprints to a village. I asked some people if they'd seen anyone unfamiliar, and they said they saw three men in black coats come this way. So here I am. It was quite a climb though," he said with a sheepish grin.

"What happened to him," Xigbar asked, pointing at Axel.

"He was fighting Heartless, used too much power I guess," Demyx said, looking down at Axel, who was out cold. "It was pretty cool though... he took'em all out in one shot."

"Foolish," Luxord muttered, starting to walk towards Axel.

Then the ground began to shake as another loud, angry roar echoed through the mountains. The wind suddenly stopped and the snow settled. The clouds parted as the massive shadow they'd seen in the sky flew towards them. It crashed to the ground in front of them, shrieking.

"Gravity Rider," Xigbar said in a hushed tone.

The Heartless had taken the shape of a dragon, light purple skin covering its body. On its chest the Heartless emblem shone proudly, destroying any doubt of what it was. Its had a long, serpentine body, ending with a deadly barbed tail. Its wings were massive, nearly as long as its body, made of a hard, bone like substance that was colored dark blue. Shimmering silver membranes ran between each rib of its wings. On each wing there was one long, curled, vicious claw. Each claw had a chain hanging from it. On the end of the chains were what appeared to be lanterns with bright purple balls of darkness inside them.

Luxord, eloquent as he was, was at a loss of words as the creature stared them down. It hoisted its wings high over its head and opened its mouth. It shrieked, flapping its wings wildly. The lanterns lit up, dark purple sparks crackling around them. Suddenly the nobodies were floored, unable to get up. It was as if suddenly someone had turned the gravity up tenfold.

"See what I meant," Xigbar choked, struggling to get back to his feet. He managed to get up, but it felt like his body weighed a ton. Luxord struggled to sit up, to exhausted from that to get to his feet. Demyx, the decidedly lightest of them, managed to get to his feet a little easier than Xigbar, but not without difficulty.

Gravity Rider shrieked and swung its tail at the nobodies. Xigbar teleported himself away, just in the nick of time, but the others were unable to move quick enough. Gravity Rider's tail smashed into Luxord, sending him flying into Demyx. The two nobodies lay motionless in the snow, groaning in pain.

Xigbar was panting from the effort it took to keep on his feet. He fell down on his knees, holding up one of his guns shakily. He fired a blast at it that struck it in the chest. Gravity Rider shrieked and flew upward, out of sight. The gravity went back to normal, enabling the fallen nobodies to get back to their feet.

"This is proving most difficult," Luxord muttered, rolling his injured shoulders.

"No kidding. It's like it can turn gravity up and stuff," Demyx muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

Xigbar glanced at Demyx then at Luxord. " Maybe you should go back to the gummi ship and wait kid," he said.

Demyx stared at Xigbar like he couldn't believe what he'd just said. " W-what?" His surprise quickly turned to anger and he began shouting," I'm not a child! I can take care of myself!"

"Can you," Luxord said calmly. Demyx glared at him hatefully, but he could see from the passiveness in Luxord's eyes that it wasn't meant as an insult.

"I can," He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, pouting like a child. The recent brush with Cerberus replayed through his mind. He'd run away screaming, needing Axel come save him. He bit his lip and shifted, uncrossing his arms and staring at the ground.

"Let'em fight," a voice said weakly. The three nobodies turned to see Axel pulling himself up out of the snow. He shook the stray flakes off, brushing off the rest as he got to his feet. "The kid can take care of himself. Remember Luxy, we woulda got chomped by the mutant robo puppy if it hadn't been for Demyx," he said bluntly. Axel had a tendency to be that way, blunt and to the point.

"I'm not a kid," Demyx said pathetically. He couldn't help but feel helpless concerning the matter though. Roxas and Zexion were the only ones younger than him, and since both of them were gone, that left him the 'kid' of the Organization. Not to mention Xigbar and Luxord were both much older than him easily. Axel, he wasn't so sure about. He'd always looked up to Axel as a senior, but he didn't know exactly how old he was. Now that he thought about it, they seemed relatively the same age.

Axel walked over to Demyx, staring him straight in the eyes. " You are Demyx, whether you like it or not." Axel started to say something else, but the enraged shriek of Gravity Rider cut him off.

It landed on the ground before them again, glaring at the four nobodies menacingly.

Axel held out both hands, summoning his chakrams.

"Let's do this."

XxX End Chapter IX XxX

FIRE TASTE LIKE BACON- Sora. Classic line from Ansem Retort, if you've never seen them I HIGHLY suggest you get your butt over there and read them at ansem retort dot org. Warning: VERY Mature Content!

Well there's your chapter IX, enjoy. I hope you know I'm working through my vacation to write this chapter. I am visiting my father from July 1st to July 31st, so I'm working on chapter IX while I am out here, to make sure it is done when I get back, so that you can read it as soon as I got back. Actually the day I finished this chapter was July 24th.

Axel

P.S. I had someone ask me before I left how long this story is gonna be. The truth is, well, till I run out of Disney movies probably. I'm going to make it as long as possible. I already have the next three worlds planned out, which is another 6 to 9 chapters there. Not to mention I'm getting new ideas all the time! (and lets face it, there's a LOT of Disney movies out there, not JUST the ones in Kingdom Hearts.)