AkuRoku- A Present for Roxas pt. 4
As soon as Demyx heard Axels Christmas trouble, the answer became so easy! What better way to make sure Santa visits Roxas than to dress up like him and give Roxas his gift in person! It would be oh so fun to have them dress up as Father Christmas and his elves. A plan so easy and simple like that, you can't go wrong! Plus, the teen thought, it would get everyone in the castle into the Christmas spirit of joy! But mostly he wanted to do it because it would be fun.
"No. No way. No no no no. I'm not even going to start about how utterly stupid that plan is! Not to mention cliché...."
"Aww common Axel! It would be fuuuun!" he joyfully exclaimed. "We could get the whole castle to help you. I'm sure they wouldn't mind doing something nice at Christmastime for their little buddy!"
"Define 'little buddy'. I know for a fact Larxene would use the term stress ball to describe 'little buddy'..." Axel stated, words going unheard by the scheming other.
Demyx went on as if Axel had never said anything. "And maybe we can get Vexen or someone to fix us up a sleigh! Oh, that'd be awesome, cause then Xiggy could use his powers to make it fly! Or Xaldin. I bet if we asked him really really nicely he'd create a huge wind for us to ride on!"
"Probably help if YOU asked, bu-"
"Of course, if we're gonna have a sleigh to ride in, we also need to get some reindeer. So, we'll have someone dressed as Santa, a couple of us can be elves....hmm wait, there's supposed to be eight reindeer or something right?"
"Well ya, b-"
"So lets see, 13 members minus Roxas and the eight reindeer look-alikes gives us 4 remaining people to be the elves. Well, I guess that should be plenty, cause I don't think Santa Claus would want too many of his elves out of the workshops after a whole year of making toys and presents. He'd just need a few of them to help him sort the presents and make sure the reindeer don't run away. That would be bad, Santa being stranded by his own reindeer in some random kids house."
"Did you just do a math problem correctly?!"
"We can also get the costumes done in a jiffy," he continued on, "considering we can all work on them together! Oh, how fun is that going to be! All of us working together to make Christmas costumes!! Wow, this is sounding better and better by the minute!"
"...Demy...."
"Oh and don't worry," he added, looking at Axels troubled face, "you are going to play Santa, cause this is your promise to Roxas after all. We'll get some pillows for you, and a hat and a big jolly beard! No wait, the beards too much, and you'll probably set it on fire like your washcloth. Ah well, don't worry, you always looked good in red, so there shouldn't be a problem about that. What else do we need to do.....AH! The present! I almost forgot!"
".....Dem...." Axels upper brow was twitching more and more often now.
"Axel, we need to find a gift to give to Roxas saying its from you-er, from Santa! Which you are, in a way, now that I think of it..."
"OY!" the red haired one yelled, clutching the slightly smaller one by the shoulders in order to face him.
Demyx was slightly taken off guard, still half engrossed in his plan of which he had decided to name the "Operation Save Christmas for Roxas!". While pondering his last though, about if he should refer the present to Roxas from Axel since he was to play the part of Santa Claus, his hand had somehow placed itself on his chin, finger taping his lips in an unknown rhythm. His hand chose to stay there as he peer back at Axels glare his with big emerald eyes.
"arg...fight the cuteness, concentrate on the stupidness...fight the cutness, concentrate on the stupidness...." he reminded himself.
"Demyx," he finally said out loud, "....look, buddy, I really appreciate what your trying to do for me here. But lets face it, theres no way we could pull off such a feat!" he sighed, the continued. "Look, I've already decided. I'm going to have to tell Roxas that there is no Santa Claus and that my promise is quite as useless as hoping Sora will save the world."
"NO!" Demyx shouted with such force Axel threw up his hands in case of need for protection. "YOU CAN'T TELL ROXAS THERE IS NO SANTA CLAUS! Even if we don't believe there is, he does, and he holds onto that belief at christmas time! He's still a kid Axe. We need to let him grow up on his own, mature on his own, and learn to accept things as time goes on. If you tell him there is no Santa Claus, you'll crush his poor little heart! If you tell him that the thing he believes in doesn't exist, he'll never forgive you Axel. And neither will I!" he finished, glaring at Axel the hardest he could muster in all his being.
Axel winced slightly. Demyx's glare was new and painful for him to behold. And he was right! He couldn't just tell Roxas that the child senses in him was wrong and expect him to move on as if nothing happened. Roxas was....fragile. He had never experienced a childhood (as none of them had) and wouldn't be able to cope with the loss of something he truly believed in. He didn't want Roxas to hate him either. Or Demyx. Demyx could especially make his life a living hell.....but still....
"...what am I suppost to do?" he asked, head hanging in defeat. All he wanted was for Roxas to be happy on their first Christmas together....
"...just trust me. That's all it will take." was his only reply.
Axel looked at Demyx again, at his reassuring smile and ever so bright eyes. he knew there was no winning, but he just had to ask.
"Can't we do something other than this?" giving a weak hopeful smile.
"Well you don't have any other ideas."
"Damn you."
In uter defeat, Axel followed Demyx to organize 'Operation Save Christmas for Roxas'.
------
When Axel saw who Demyx was planning to use to convince the rest of the Organization to help them, he immediately refused to continue.
"No way. Absolutely not! There is no way you are going to convince me to agree with you on this one!"
"Aww common Axe! Who else can get everyone to join better? Name one person."
"Out of the question Dem. No no. I'm NOT asking help from HIM!" he said, pointing at said individual.
"Honestly Axel, I don't get why you're so jealous of him. It's not like he's trying to steal Roxas from you." walking towards the hallways arch and away from a fuming Axel ready to strangle him on the spot.
Beneath the archway, two individuals stood together in close embrace. Arms wrapping about each other as if in fear a single breeze could part them. The slightly taller and female one was unfortunately against the wall, trapped between that and her kisser under the dangerous mistletoe above. But Demyx wanted to talk to the shorter, male, blue haired nobody.
"Zexion!" he called out, waving excitedly at the couple.
If Zexion had a heart Axel was sure it would have stopped if just for a second at that very moment. He did however pull away from the kiss in a hurry. Axel even thought he saw his shoulders raise very suddenly in surprise of being caught off guard. He rested his head on Silexa's right shoulder before turning it to glare icily at the unfortunate person who had disturbed his peaceful moment. When he caught sight of them both, his stare was full of irritation.
"What? Are you both blind as well as stupid?" he shot at them.
"No, I'm not blind." Demyx replied, with no mention to the second insult. "and neither is Axel, I think. You're not, right?" he turned his head towards Axel.
"I'm neither one, I can assure you that" he shot back Zexion.
A teasing smirk showed up on the schemers face. "Then you obviously don't quite understand when or how to keep yourselves away when I'm clearly busy." Another glare. A warning one.
"Aww common Zexy, you're not all that busy." A visible eyebrow twitched. "Besides, we have a plan that we're trying to complete and we need your he."
His head lifted a bit in curiosity. "You....come up with a...plan?"
"Yup! Were going to help Axel keep his promise to Roxas!"
"You...." he pointed towards Demyx, "came up with a plan to help keep" changed to Axel, "HIS promise about Santa Claus visiting number thirteen." Now this wasn't something you got to hear everyday.
"That's right Zexy! We're gonna have everyone dress up as elves and reindeer while Axel dresses like Santa Claus and gives Roxas a gift! We just need your help to get everyone together. How about it?" Demyx asked, fully confident now that Zexions curiosity was attained.
Zexion burst out laughing. This was just too much for him. It hurt his sides so much that he had to keep an arm out on the wall to support him.
Once he stopped, took a couple of breaths and stood up with some help from Silexa, he looked at both men seriously.
"You both honestly believe this could work? Axel as Santa. Not that I would want to miss that, but still." he went on, serious again. "There would be a very slim chance that you guys could pull it off."
"That's why I need you to convince the others to help us out! We need them to get into the plan with us and become the reindeer and elves! And who can convince people better than you?" he finished, throwing in the bait. Zexion raised his eyebrows as if to question that last comment. But Demyx knew as well as Silexa. Zexion was caught.
"Alright, leave it to me then." he said finally, "but I expect something in return of my hard work." and folded his arms.
Resisting the urge to pin the annoying prick to the wall and beat the crap outta him he asked the dreaded question. "What will it take."
When he opened his eyes again, Zexion was smiling.
-------
"I can't believe Zexion really got everyone to participate in this! Like really, they're all working away like they want to help!"
"Demyx, I thought you were certain he would be able to get everyone involved..."
Zexion shrugged in his new elf outfit. "What can I say. I amthe King at making people do what I want..." he noted proudly while following Demyx to check on Saix, just to make sure his reindeer outfit was still in one piece.
Silexa whispered to Axel as she fixed on his new hat, a smirk on her face. "All hail the Blackmail King, who without help couldn't do anything."
They both silently laughed.
"I've been wondering...." Silexa started, still stuffing Axel like the Christmas turkey.
"What's that?"
"What did Zexion ask in return for his services?" tilting her head to the side. Axel let out small but loud groan before answering.
"Every one of his chores from this day onward and to never ever let me or that blond twit disturb you two. Too bad he forgot to cover his time alone."
Both nobodies smirked knowing poor Zexions to be fate.
-------
Unlike how Axel thought it was going to be, the materials for creating a fake Santa visit were roughly easy to obtain. Thanks to Zexions "persuading" skills, ever single member was working together like their existence depended on it. Not even Saix tried to tear him apart when he made a joke of his new attire that consisted of antlers and a tail. Why he was a reindeer and not an elf, Axel had no idea, for his naturally pointed ears would have served their purpose well. Lexaeus and Vexen got to work gathering scrap metal from Xemnas's....big bird looking thing that he had named Tinkerbolt. Xemnas himself had started to make an argument about his role. Since he was Superior it seemed only fair that HE play the role of the great Santa Claus. The argument ended short when a certain blue haired elf started fanning himself with a few papers absent mindedly and grinning evilly. The Superior immediately shut his mouth and proceeded into his outfit of pointy ears and green tights.
Where the outfits came from in such short time, Axel would never know. Demyx and Luxord would kept their secret from the rest of the Organization until Vexen was so unfortunate to stumble upon it.
Fit out in a bright red suit with pillows stuffed down his front, and held together with a huge black belt that wound its way across his newly formed stomach. The hat was still not placed in its spot. It was being clutched in his hands over his lap. Axel had been sitting down on his own for the past while as everyone else was loading the 'sleigh'. There had been a debate about who would allow them to 'fly across the sky', since Xaldin had been asked by a very adorable elf named Demyx. Xigbar however thought he could keep the sleigh afloat longer that whatever wind Xaldin could muster. The brawl ended to no ones surprise with Xaldin victorious and Xigbar purple in the face.
And as he sat there, Axel thought. He thought about what his friend had done for him this night, just to assure he could accomplish his own selfish little promise that he had made without even considering its meaning. He thought about how horrible he had been to so many people because he himself could not accomplish what he had begun. He took out his anger on them because they only spoke the truth, that they didn't know how to fix his problem, or that they didn't want to hurt Roxas. Did he deserve to wear the big man's hat? Axel wasn't so sure. When it came to being cheerful and making others happy, Demyx excelled at that without even trying. He looked at the gift that was to be given to Roxas. It was his gift he could not wrap hours earlier. 'To Roxas, From Santa'. Delicately neat writing done by Namine herself. He didn't know if she had forgiven him, but he really hoped that one day she would. Unfortunately, this would mean he couldn't give anything to Roxas from himself. Their first Christmas together and Roxas wouldn't get a gift from the person he loved. It didn't seem fair that Axel should receive any gift from his Roxas when he himself could not actually give him a gift.
He sighed and hung his head, remaining in his brood. Then Axel thought of something he hadn't before. Maybe, he though, a gift isn't just something you can buy. Maybe it can also be a big gesture or thing that you do, unselfishly, for the person you love, just so that they can be happy. Armed with his new discovery, he thought of how fun this night had been. He thought about how well everyone had worked together and seemed to enjoy themselves, even a little. He imagined how happy Roxas would be, and realized the relief he felt. Yes, as long as Roxas was happy, that would be the greatest gift Axel could receive.
Making his promise may have been the greatest gift he could give at Christmas.
Still not really believing what he was about to do, he stuffed the red hat over his equally red spikes, and stepped out to meet with the rest of his...reindeer and.....elves, all waiting for him to finish making their little buddy's...Christmas hope come true..........'
"You know Zexion, it's very weird how accurate that book of yours ended up being." Silexa said quietly to the silence. Beside her, the book reader had fallen asleep, book still propped open at the very last page. He had read to her out loud for entire book and had peacefully fallen asleep before he could finish. It had been a long day for him, for all of them, and would no doubt be a Christmas they would remember for a very long time. Stiffing a yawn, she got up and grabbed the nearest blanket. She looked at his peaceful face again, admiring the rare chance to see him so seemingly calm and reserved he looked. His head unable to sustain its own weight had plopped itself onto his chest, giving him a more relaxed look. In so many ways, he looked so much like his old cute self she mused. Gently laying the blanket over top of Zexions sleeping body so not to wake him up, she leaned over to kiss his cheek and whispered two last words.
"The End."
[authors note] The reason I didn't explain what happened after Axel walked out to give Roxas the greatest gift he could give was because I wanted you guys to imagine what happened! that is my gift to all of you, the chance to believe what you want to happen. whether they failed or succeeded, I don't know. I do hope they did (with some mishaps of course xD )
the ending was inspired by a drawing my friend made me for Christmas. I love it so much and I love her more.
So thats it, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good sleep.