AkuRoku- A Present for Roxas pt.2

The Castle never looked better any other time of year. Christmas was the one and only special occasion when the halls didn't look as grubby or plain as they normally were. Chains of wreaths as thick as pythons looped up and down along the walls, coming to an abrupt stop every now and then when touched by a door and then continuing on the other side. Added to the wreaths were a few bows and bells, and you might find an occasional ornament attached every few meters. Elderberries entwined through the thick pines, flashing red dots ever now and then. As a tradition, every member got to decorate his or her door for this day. Axel snuck a look at each door he passed on his way to the lower floors. He could have used a dark portal, but the sights were too nice to pass. He descended lower into the Castle, catching sight of more of his fellow members working on the last minute decorating. Xemnas had arranged that some of the members were given duties to help decorate the rest of the Castle, which included the halls, the dining room, the kitchen and some of the leisure rooms. They kept the meeting room blank and empty of holiday additions. This year Larxene was in charge of the dinning room. Though no one was really encouraged by this at first, Axel had to admit she could be creative when she wanted. Marluxia's mistletoe and holly, which he proudly grew for each occasion, was seen over many doors. Axel made a mental note to catch Roxas under one sometime. Xaldins cooking started wafting through the lower part of the castle, entrancing all who smelled it with its yummy mouth-watering goodness.

Finally, he reached his destination, Xigbars' room. The free-shooter was busy decorating his door when he noticed Axel walking towards him.

"Yo Axel! Merry early Christmas dude!" he shouted to the approaching red head.

"And the same to you too." He grinned. Axel looked at Xigbars door. Where he half expected pin-up posters of scarcely dressed women with Santa hats, he saw an ordinary banner that read "Merry X-Mas" and scribbled under it by the free-shooters own hand, "I'm not talking about 'Mansex' ". Axel let out a laugh as he read. Only Xigbar would be daring enough to use the Superiors anagram for Christmas kicks.

"So, what brings you to the depths of my doorstep?" Xigbar asked at last. So Axel explained about his promise to Roxas. His eyes never looked away from the banner except to glance over and see if Xiggy was still listening. Axel had once caught him snoozing while trying to tell him his eyebrow story. When Axel finally looked away from the door, he saw Xigbar playing with origami paper.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Xigbar asked, obviously bored with the topic.

"Well, what should I do?" Axel snapped at him. He was somewhat annoyed that Xigbar wasn't even being serious. But then again, he seldom was.

"Well, a promise is a promise…" Xigbar answered, throwing away the torn paper, "But I don't know how to help you keep it."

So Axel, in failure, went to see Zexion.

Though Axel didn't like him all that much, he was the next youngest Organization member.

He found Zexion after a while carrying a load of stuff too big for him towards the library.

"Hey, Zexy!" he called out.

The nobody stopped in his tracks, and, without turning his body, glanced over his left shoulder. though he only glanced at it for a second, but he was sure he saw a visible blue eye twitch in annoyance. As if waiting for Axel to catch up with him, he remained where he was, turning slightly to the side. But Axel knew better. He was most likely waiting until Axel was within throwing range from him. It was always that way with Zexion. Didn't stick his nose into unnecessary battles, but chucked a blow from across the sidelines. He noticed Zexion looked slightly off balanced while he was standing.

Sure enough, as soon as Axel was within 26 feet away from the silver-blue teen, he swiveled and, using one hand to balance the load of stuff, his free hand chucked a shoe at Axel. Though it was expected, it happened too quickly for the pyro to dodge. And so, the shoe hit Axel square in the face with a satisfying "thunk".

"OW!! God damnit!" Axel yelled as he rubbed his face where the shoe had landed. "Who throws a friggin' shoe?! Honestly?!"

"Won't say you didn't deserve it." Replied Zexion, a hint of irritation in his voice as he spoke. He was obviously not delighted to see Axel. "Now, can I have my boot back?"

He had half a mind to throw it back at Zexion, making him fall under the load of boxes. Or maybe run away with his boot so that he had to walk with only one on or chase Axel to regain ownership of it. But he needed Zexions help, no matter how much he wanted to torment him.

Axel gritted his teeth together. All this had better be worth it.

"I swear you must have been a pro baseball pitcher when you had a heart." he commented, trying to sound pleasantly friendly.

Zexion just brushed away this remark and, balancing all the stuff on one hand, attempted to put his boot back on. Though he kept both himself and the things graciously balanced, were he to blow on him, Axel was most certain he would topple over like a delicate china figurine.

"So what do you want?" asked Zexion, still trying to pull on his boot.

"ME?" looking around to make sure they were the only ones in the corridor. "Whatever do you mean, Zexy?" Trying to throw out the innocent pose. The smaller nobody, having finally wiggled the boot on his socked foot, straitened up and looked at Axel with a reproachful stare.

"Firstly, you never try and talk to me whenever you can help it and even when it can't be prevented. Secondly, you gave me back what I hit you with, and therefore by returning what is mine, you hope that I will be willing to return a favor. And thirdly, you're all alone." He said, ticking the facts off with the flick of his finger.

Defeated, though annoyed, Axel once again retold his story for the second time in ten minutes. As he finished, there was a playful smirk across Zexions face.

"And your coming to me about this why?" he asked slyly. He was obviously amused by Axels dilemma and not even trying to hide it. "Look, as much as I'd like to help you outta this, which comes lower than wanting to give Xemnas coffee, I can't. There isn't any actual way to keep that promise. Unless of course," he added as he glanced up at the ceiling, "you can make Father Christmas actually visit him. But I'm not sure how you could achieve that."

"Achieve what?"

The sudden female voice caught both men off guard. "What, did we scare you?" Silexa mocked, imitating the men's looks of surprise. She was carrying thick red drapes that were adorned over her arms in front and bore a gentle smirk on her lips. Beside her (wherever beside was, Axel mused) Namine stood giggling. The sound of her laughs was light and sweet, filling Axel with tranquility.

Before he could greet either one of the females, a blue-silver head poked past him towards the older one. "Hey Sil, I need you to take some stuff down to Vexen."

"Hello to you to." She shot at him annoyed. "I don't suppose it can wait…"

"Not very likely"

"But I'm already going UPSTAIRS to deliver these!!" shaking the drapes in front of his nose. What came next, Axel had no idea. He had long turned his attention to the smaller blond next to him. After Zexions unhelpful words, Axel decided he needed some cheering up.

"So…how's everything going?" he asked trying to make small talk. They walked along, leaving the quarrelling couple without any bit of regret. As they did, they found a various things to discuss. Namine was telling him about who was doing what at the minute, and in turn, Axel told her who was doing whom. It turns out Larxene was using one of the pictures Namine drew as a decorating reference. No wonder there weren't any evil adornings…yet!

"I wish I could help you help Roxas…" her regretful voice filled Axel once again with uselessness. She had no solution for him either. Now he was really in trouble.

"All I can tell you is that if you break a promise, it'll be a miserable Christmas. But the truth is," she looked away, "that's all I can say…"

"Namine!" turning to her suddenly, "wait a minute. Namine, you can fix this!"

"Huh?" was all she could manage before the pyro grabbed her small shoulders and gleamed at her.

"You! You can alter memories, right?! Right?! Which means you can also make up stuff that never actually happened!"

"uh…."

"So you can create a fake memory for Roxas for me! Right?! You can get me out of this! Make a memory for Roxas." His face was beaming with joy like a candle that had just been lit. It was perfect! He could keep his promise after all…

"No Axel…"

Though her voice was so quiet and soft, he caught ever one of her words. "No…I'm sorry Axel, but…I don't want to…"

The joy faltered from Axels face.

"What??" he asked with probably more force than necessary. "What? But…Namine!"

"I don't want to Axel. I don't want to lie to Roxas like that. Not to Roxas…"

No word could describe how Axels face looked. He was petrified. The suddenly lit flame was put out, from only one word. With every passing second, thoughts were raging inside of his head like a storm. No. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. He was so close to accomplishing his mission, and she didn't want to comply. He tightened his grip on her and, ignoring her winces of pain, yelled at her face.

"WHY THE HELL NOT?! IT'S NOT AS IF IT'S THAT HARD FOR YOU TO DO!!" anger was rising dangerously inside. At this point, he had commenced shaking her violently. Her small frame swayed back and forth so quickly it was likely to break. But he didn't care. "SO WHAT IF IT'S LYING?! YOU'VE DONE IT BEFORE. YOU USED IT AGAINST SORA. SO WHY IS THIS SO DIFFERENT?" He couldn't help it anymore.

"AXEL!!" she begged, "PLEASE!!" trying to break away from his violent actions.

He obliged and stops shaking her. However, just as soon as he did, shoved her away so that she fell to the cold floor in front of him. She let out a cry of pain, but he didn't care.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE USEFULL FOR ONCE?!" he hollered.

Immediately as the words escaped his lips, he knew he had done wrong. But it was too late. His words had reached her ears. Namines face appeared as though she had been harshly struck across the face. And Axel knew that he might as well have done that, for his words had so much more of a deeper effect on her.

"I need to go" she said suddenly. Her blue eyes were wide and tearful, or were they wide with fear…?

"Namine…" he started apologetically, but she shook him off and was walking away.

She called back to him tearfully. "I'm sorry Axel….I really am…"

With that, she was gone.

He deeply regretted his harsh actions now. But he knew so well that it was far too late.

She would never look at him again.

Poor Axel! His little brain hurt from all this thinking and time was running low. He had asked every known person to fix his problem, and none of them could help him out. He heard Namine's final comments like an echo: "If you break a promise, it'll be a miserable Christmas…"

Maybe it was time to tell Roxas…

…he couldn't keep his promise.

Of course, that was before something tackled him to the ground.

--

part 2 is DONE! wow, I think I went a little overboard in this chapter (compared to the last one)

Silexa is my KH OC. she's not a member of the Org. XIII, but she works around the castle as their sort of "maid". actually, she's more like Zexions secretary, she mostly cleans and sorts his work coughplayboycough

Roxas, Axel, Zexion, Xiggy and all others (c) Kingdom Hearts
Santa Claus still belongs to whoever invented him...