Chapter 9 The Nixels and Green Tea
Sora felt his heart pounding as he continued to stare at the psychiatrist. Dr. Marx had a gentle smile on his face as though he had just offered Sora some of the tea he was pouring for himself. The doctor must not have relished what kind of bomb he had just dropped on Sora.
"Is there something wrong, Sora?" The doctor said as the gentle smile became a smirk.
Sora just dropped back into the arm chair, that same shocked expression never leaving him. "How?" he said, barely above a whisper. The good doctor raised an eyebrow at the question. "How did you know?"
Marx just laughed heartily. "I have been around the worlds more times than you could possibly imagine. I have heard and I have seen things that could break many. Yet I have survived. There are few events in the worlds that escape my ears. Such as a keyblade wielding boy adventuring around the worlds with the intent of wiping out both the Great Darkness and the Nothings-But-Are. You goal has almost been fulfilled except from the fact that you now have two new men out there."
Sora's eyes opened at the mention of them. "Xosnaj and Boxcly!"
Marx nodded. "They will not be like the rest of the foes you have faced. They will not charge at you with armies, though it may come to that. You must exercise your brain in conjunction with your muscles. Otherwise . . ." He left the sentence hanging and brought his finger across his neck.
Sora brought his hands up to his face in a fist, pondering the doctor's words. But then a thought struck him. "How do you know them?"
Marx's face went dark. He took a quick sip of his tea and said, "They are acquaintances of mine. Though I must say they were are not my friends in any sense of the word. I won't go into the details but I warn you know, be wary of all. With Boxcly's abilities he could be anyone, even your own family. Constant Vigilance!"
Sora nodded and was about to get up when he heard something. Crunch! Crunch! He could have sworn he heard it from somewhere in the room. The doctor didn't' seemed to be fazed by any strange sounds but just sat there sipping his tea. "Doctor?" Sora began, getting Marx's attention.
"Yes, my boy?"
"That crunching?"
Marx's eyebrows rose. "Crunching?"
Sora looked around the room again. And then walked around it looking for the source of the strange sound. "Can't you hear it?"
He looked at Sora curiously. He rose to his feet and, thoroughly confused, he said, "I'm sorry, Sora, but I have not heard anything other than you own voice." Marx's leg hit the table and knocked over one of the glass teacups he had been drinking from. "My mistake." He leaned over, causing the chair to rise up with him. Marx picked up the fragile glass cup and leaned back into his chair. When he did so, Sora could have sworn that he had heard a hiss coming from somewhere.
Course, the doctor had just shown a bit of faith in him. So he didn't want any more trouble, not that he needed Marx to think he was any crazier than he already did. Sora turned back to the door, but Marx called him back.
"Just to say that I actually did my job, I'm going to give you a prescription." Marx picked up a fountain pen and a small notepad. He wrote something down, ripped the page out of the pad and handed it to Sora.
The hand was legible, if a bit slanted.
A bit confused, nothing a bit of green tea twice a day shouldn't cure.
Dr. Vladimir Marx, PhD.
Sora could almost blanch at the good doctor's prescription. Green tea! He hated green tea. Course, he wasn't about to tell Marx that. Sora saw that was all that Marx seemed to drink. Now he would have to drink something that would turn his insides out. Eww.
"Thanks," Sora said, not very enthusiastic. Marx gave a wave of his hand and somehow, the door opened. Sora wasted no time in getting out the door and slamming it behind him. Course; if he had stayed only a few seconds longer or had come back he would have seen Marx spitting that horrid green tea out of his mouth into a poor potted plant.
XXXXXXXXX
As of this moment, Axel hated the color red.
Red! It was everywhere and it was growing! Leon had decided, after they had given them jobs all over the place, to fix up the castle while he alerted everyone of the situation. Course, he never asked Axel and the others for their help. It was really a big thing that Xosnaj used to be his coworker!
But, now Axel, Larxene, and Demyx were painting a hallway in the castle. Thankfully all the repair work on the floors and walls had already been done so all he had to do was paint. Easy job, right? WRONG! It seemed that the paint that Leon had given them was possessed! Oh, yeah.
Heath, as they had begun to call it, would fall onto your clothing and then BAM! It would grow and spread! Axel had no explanation for it. Course ever since he ran away from home, he didn't have very many explanations anymore.
Larxene didn't seem to be enjoying the experience much either. She had got this stripped black and yellow shirt that she had liked until Heath had gotten all over it, so now her new favorite shirt was covered in red growing paint. Oh, what a wonderful day!
Demyx seemed to be enjoying the whole thing because out of all of them, he was the only one with a suitable change of clothing and an mp3 player. So that meant they had to be serenaded by him with no music to go along with his lyrics. The guy can sing, it was just annoying without music.
Oh, what a beautiful day!
"Hey Axel," Larxene said, putting down the paint roller and trying to scrub off as much of Heath as she could "I'm going to ask that Tifa girl if she has an extra shirt. I can take this crap off."
Axel snorted. "You change now, you'll ruin her shirt. You really want that on your conscious?"
No reply came. Axel didn't turn to see if she had already left or she was actually thinking about that. Nevertheless, Axel continued with his work.
With every roll of the brush, Axel wondered where the feisty blond had went; She had been gone for a long time. Axel knew how long she had been gone cause Demyx had gone through about twenty different songs. All of them added up to an hour. It didn't take that long to find a woman and get a shirt. It would only take about ten to twenty, at most. He was really started to get worried. What if Boxcly had come back to finish the job? What if Xosnaj had started another attack? What if Larxene had fallen of the edge of the castle postern? What if the Heartless were back? The Nobodies? What if Saïx or Marluxia had come back to seek revenge?
NO! He would have sensed something, right? Boxcly couldn't possible know where they were, and Xosnaj had always kept him on a tight leash. And to be honest, Axel was sure he would have heard the sound of Xosnaj's war if he attacked now. Axel shouldn't fool himself in thinking that she could be clumsy enough to fall of the castle. The Heartless could be dealt with and so could the Nobodies. The likelihood of any more Organization members coming back were slim to none.
Calm down, Axel. It's Larxene! She'll be fine. Why should you be worried? It's just a shirt!
That stopped the pyro. Why did he worry? She was his friend, maybe. But that wasn't enough to worry about her when he knew she would be alright. He knew she would be alright, but that didn't do anything to calm his fears.
Demyx didn't notice any of his old friends worries. He was locked up in the beautiful world of music. Since he was working on the opposite wall, He never saw Axel's face. All he heard were the loud burst of guitar, keyboard, bass, and drums that resounded through his ears.
Axel continued his work with a frown. He had been worrying so much, he had never noticed that he was almost done with the wall. The first thing he heard was footsteps. Footsteps!
Axle turned around to see the approaching figures. He hoped that it would be her, alive, unharmed, and unaccompanied by denizens of darkness.
But that wasn't what he got. There was a blond woman. A much older blond woman, escorted by an equally blond man, who, Axel had to say, was just as big as Xosnaj and Lexeaus. The woman was built much like Larxene; small, flexible, thin shoulders, and that confident look on her. The man was just as intimidating as Xosnaj and Xemnas combined and just as broad shouldered! His face had a blond beard with steely blue eyes that were set on the two boys like he meant death to all. He had a scar across his chin and both of them were wearing fine clothing that just screamed wealth. Axel didn't miss the great sword at the large man's side. His scowl just seemed to worsen seeing the two young and lanky men.
"Have either of you seen my daughter?" the man said in a deep voice that just screamed death if the question was not answered.
Axel's only response was getting as much saliva he could muster to allow him to swallow.
The man growled at the redhead's silence. Though before he could do any harm to poor Axe, the woman next to him put her hand on his arm. "Now dear," she said with a somewhat familiar voice, "We can't go around scaring the locals."
The man seemed to simmer, but he said nothing. Axel took a closer look at his suit and he saw a symbol. It was shield with pictures of an oil rig, a gold bar and a pearl all set up triangularly.
The woman took her hand off her companions arm and bowed somewhat to the pair. "Accept our apologies for our rudeness. My compatriot is Oni Nixel and I am Tenshi Nixel. We are looking for our daughter, Eleran."
If they wanted a reaction out of the redhead, they got it. Axel felt his feet wobble out under him and his knees turn to jelly. He lost consciousness as his face went downwards towards a tray of Heath on the floor.
These were Larxene's parents!
XXXXXXXX
Riku paced back and forth across the docks on the old playground island. He had just heard from Kairi that Mrs. Hikari had taken to some new psychiatrist. That's just great! That's all they need when there's more psychopaths wandering around the worlds! Who knows what those madmen are doing right this moment? They could be terrorizing Wonderland; burning the Deep Jungle; for all he knew they were already on Destiny Islands! He could be in that nut, Boxcly's, sights right now!
That's a great thought.
Riku sighed. He really needed to get his mind off all this crap. There was Sora to talk to, but Sora would probably have bad news with him so that was out. Kairi was straightening things out with her parents. At least, her foster parents. No one to talk to. No Heartless to fight. Fight! That's it! If he couldn't do anything else, he might as well ask somebody for a spar. Tidus? Too slow and didn't take them seriously enough. Wakka? Definitely not! That ball could hurt but it was a lame projectile.
Selphie? Maybe, provided she wouldn't be all bubbly. She could be good, though it probably would be the shortest of all the fights. Maybe all three at once? Nah.
He checked all the places she normally frequented: the tree with the paopu fruit, the waterfall, the pier, and the balcony on the south end of the island. That was unusual for her. He knew she was a 'bit' of a romantic so he tried to think of any more romantic places on the island. Kairi had said earlier that Selphie came here a lot since they had returned. Riku neither knew nor wanted to find out why she had been doing this. He only needed a sparring partner.
On his way back from the balcony, Riku heard something coming from the little tree house that was built. He could hear—what was that? It was like someone whimpering. He took a step forward and could see someone in a blue sundress with blue highlights and some patters of dirt here and there. The person was sitting in a fetal position and though he couldn't see the face, it didn't take long for Riku to recognize the hair. Twisted at the sides and back. Selphie was in there crying!
"Selphie?" he called to her, whispering, partly hoping she would not answer.
The crying stopped. She turned around, startled by his presence. "Riku?" Selphie turned around, tear marks that had ruined her tan makeup and red eyes that ruined even more her appearance. "What are you doing here?"
"I was—" he caught himself. What sort of jerk would he be if he told her he was looking for a spar? "Just walking around."
Another whimper of tears fell down her face. She turned back around to face something. Riku wondered what he should do. Really, it wasn't any of his business. If she wanted to cry her little heart out, go ahead. It wasn't like he cared . . . right?
Selphie's tears could still be heard, coming down hard as ever.
Riku sighed at his own sappiness. "Hey Selphie,' he said stepping closer and bending down next to her, "what's wrong?"
She turned back to him, sniffing her nose. "The worst day of my life." Her sentence lost comprehensiveness after that as she grabbed his shirt and began to cry into it. Riku was startled by Selphie grabbing him like that. Though it wasn't unwelcome. 'I offered Tidus a paopu fruit. He turned me down."
Riku wrapped his arms around her, really unsure of what to do. Rejecting a paopu fruit was not a good sign. The fruit was supposedly able to bind people for all time. It was a true symbol of friendship and love. Asking for someone to share one with you was serious. The rejecting of such was not easy for the giver to take. Especially for someone like Selphie.
Riku looked down at where she had been crying over. There was a paopu fruit. Or at least the remains of one. It seemed that someone had taken the sole of their foot to it. If Tidus had done that, Riku would . . .! What was he thinking? Why should he care?
"Selphie?"
Her bloodshot eyes looked up him curiously, "Yes?"
Riku had no idea what sort of mess he was about to get himself locked up into.
XXXXXXXXXX
Vladimir Marx was brushing his teeth.
Or really his entire mouth!
Why, you ask? Because he couldn't stand the taste of green tea. Why did this stupid disguise have to come with that stuff? Damn that man for telling him that psychiatrists drink so much of this perverse stuff!
Said acquaintance was standing behind the poor doctor, causally sipping a wine glass half full of the vile green liquid, much to Marx's chagrin.
"How can you stand that stuff?" Marx said through the water in his mouth.
"It's good," the man said simply, "and it's very healthy for you."
Marx glared at him. "Healthy? It'll send me to an early grave."
The man set down the glass. "Well, all in all, did we get what we were looking for?"
Vladimir smirked. "None! Other than the knowledge that you were completely right," he sneered. "The boy is a complete imbecile!"
His compatriot shrugged. "Well, what did you expect? I read that boy the minute I saw him."
Marx threw the toothbrush into the garbage. He turned his neck, popping the bones. "I was hoping him to be something . . ."
"More."
Marx nodded.
"To quote a cliché, of course."
The good doctor rubbed his hands together. "Well, now that that's settled, I want us to see an old friend," he said, almost smiling.
The man looked at him curiously, "Oh really? I didn't know we had anymore of those." He brought his finger up pondering. "You know, ones we haven't killed.
Marx chuckled darkly. "Well, one slipped through the net."
The man laughed lightly. "I assume we are going to correct said slip and clean the slate." Marx's compatriot picked the glass up and refilled it for the tenth time, Dr. Marx noted in disgust.
"You know him very well."
The man chocked his head. "Oh? Is it someone from our younger days?"
Marx chuckled again. "You should remember well; he was you sparring partner, after all."
This seemed to generally shock the drinking man. "You don't mean . . ."
Marx laughed fully.
The man set down the glass and grinned. "Why it's been ages? I wonder how the old man is doing."
Marx smirked. "I should imagine, fairly well, he does have a son."
The man looked pleasantly surprised. "Oh, where is the young child?"
Marx shrugged slightly and leaned his head at the door.
The man was elated. "You don't mean. . ?"
Marx smiled darkly, "Yes, he is the father."
Laughter filled Marx's ears."How the twisting strands of fate twirl us all in unison. "It's," he paused, "very comedic actually. Don't you agree?"
Marx raised his hand. "Time to fix that mistake." A concentrated form of darkness appeared. It grew and formed an oval door.
Marx put his foot forward, and said, annoyed, "Are you coming?"
The man picked up the glass, took one last sip, crushed it in his hand, and followed his companion off into the darkness. Though while he sprinted to catch up with his companion, Boxcly, the rainbow ravager, called ahead to the darkness, "And will you take that infernal wig off?"
I'M EVIL! If you haven't figured it out yet, ask your local library. But now, we move along, and find that Axel, Sora, and a certain someone who you shall see next time! EVIL!
But anyway, I no I say it every time, but I am sorry for the wait and plan to for faster updates, but . . . ah life.
Feindslayer-of course you stuff they don't! You help write all this crap! And here take this needle, deflate your head. You have no admirers!
Flowergirl220-MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You know nothing of Marx. That's, of course, if you haven't figured it out now. Sora's mother just thinks he's got a separate personality or that he's completely bonkers. But, ye shall see what's wrong with Ikari (Sora's daddy) in the next chapter.
Turner Child- I did a bit of the starting of the RikuSelphie Relationship but as you see now, or if you figured it out, no Marluxia.
Anonymous-Ah, the women. Such lovely things that can rip us to shreds with a thought and then make out. Anybody other than me confused? Though, I didn't have much Sora action here. It was more on the sub-plots, which will all intertwine.