*bows* I apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter up. I could ramble on about Chemistry projects and being away at the Sears Drama Festival performing my school's play, but they're just excuses, so here it is, the belated chapter. Things really start going after this one.
"Hey, Xandra. Your Somebody name was Drana, right?"
"Yeah...that's who I was before I was a Nobody."
"It's a nice name. I wish I had been a Somebody, but that's stupid, isn't it? I'm a puppet. I'm...not even worth anything at all."
"Stop talking like that, 'kay? You're worth enough to change the past."
"What was it like being a Somebody?"
"Look, Xion, I don't want to talk about that. Let's just get going."
Xion had thought she understood things like friendship, and even love, or at least, the idea of what love could be like. She had thought that what she felt radiating sometimes between her and Roxas was the highest feeling that a person could reach. She'd thought that Xandra knew the same pain of that feeling.
But that was before Axel appeared out of nowhere.
"Axel?" Xandra whispered, moving forward slightly. All traces of her expressionless mask were gone and her face was filled with things that Xion didn't even know Nobodies could feel. She felt almost as if she were staring straight at the sun, or at something that she wasn't supposed to see. She felt hugely, obnoxiously, in the way, like an elephant in the middle of a highway.
Axel squinted at the girl stepping towards him, and for a tiny second, a wave of recognition passed over his face. Then it vanished and he crossed his arms, leaning backwards casually and smirking at them.
"Do I know you?" he asked. "'Cause apparently, you've got my name memorized."
Xandra blinked, and it looked as though she had been hit with a bus. Then she dipped her head, and when she raised it, there was not even a glimpse of the Somebody she used to be in her expression.
"I might have," she said simply, folding her arms across her chest. "A while ago."
"A forgotten friend, huh?" he said disbelievingly. "Well, regardless, I'm afraid I can't let you in that castle, not if you're planning to screw things up for us."
"For us?" Xandra questioned, moving closer to him. "Do you mean the Organization? Because you might find that our goals are closer together than you had assumed."
"Really?" he said lazily, still not moving, his eyes following the girl in front of him. Xion shivered: this Axel was a colder one than the one she knew, but she recognized that stance. He was tensed to spring at any moment, to whip out his chakrams and kill them both if need be.
"Unlike the other members in this castle, you were sent with a special mission," Xandra said slowly. "Saix sent you to find the traitors to the Organization."
Axel's eyes glinted with what seemed like interest. "And how would you know that?"
Xandra opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, hesitating. An idea sparked in Xion's mind, and she stepped forward, out from behind the other girl, pulling off her cloak, which was still inside out. She flipped it the right way out and put it back on again, now looking every inch the Organization member.
"Because we are part of the Organization too," she said boldly. "You don't know about us, because we do not associate with the rest of the Organization. Only Xemnas and Saix are aware of our existence, and they sent us as backup."
Axel raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Because a cloak proves so much."
There was a slither of sound and a flash of movement too fast for Xion's eyes to follow, and suddenly Xandra was behind Axel, her sword at his throat.
"Why would we need any other proof for you?" she asked silkily.
Xion thought she saw Axel lean forward slightly, pressing his skin to the blade as though to test her resolve, but then there was a burst of red light and a ringing sound of metal on metal as he ducked away, knocking the sword off with his chakrams. The two people stared at each other for a moment, Axel swinging the spiked discs around his hands, Xandra holding her sword at the ready, but then Axel grinned sarcastically and the chakrams disappeared.
"Well, looks like we're working together," he said smoothly. "I'll just go and open the door for us so the others won't see. They have ways of watching, but they don't know that I have ways of disabling them."
He turned and dashed off in the direction of the doorway, flickering out of sight easily with his speed.
Xion glanced back at Xandra, trying to gauge her companions reaction to all that had just happened. The other Nobody was staring at the ground, her sword tip trailing through the dust in aimless patterns.
"Are you alright, Xandra?" Xion asked quietly. She moved closer slightly, reaching out a hand towards her, when the girl spoke.
"You know, when I was a Somebody," she said hoarsely. "I think I was a lot nicer. But I can't really remember, because I don't remember how it feels to be nice. I know that if I was a Somebody, seeing him again would feel..."
Her voice faded, and Xion saw a flash of Roxas's face in her mind, his sun-coloured hair sticking out around his sun-bright grin, that rare smile that she knew few people had seen.
"Seeing him again would definitely be better if I could feel things," Xandra said. "But there's just one thing I have to do."
Foreboding pitched through Xion and she instinctively took a step back. "What do you-"
Xandra's hand shot out and grabbed the front of Xion's cloak, pulling her past her, throwing her headfirst into the swirling portal that had suddenly opened up behind Xandra. Xion squeezed her eyes shut, curling into a ball as she spun through the blackness. After a second, she felt her back hit the ground, and she rolled to a stop, jumping back up to her feet.
It took her a moment to realize that she was looking at herself. There she was, standing a few feet in front of her, next to Xandra. They were both facing Axel, who was standing a little bit away with his arms crossed. It was the exact same scene as a few minutes ago.
She heard the crunch of feet behind her, and as soon as Xandra stepped out of the portal, the other Xion and Xandra faded away as if they had never been there. Axel blinked, then switched his gaze to them, as if nothing had changed.
"Do I know you?" he asked. "'Cause apparently, you've got my name memorized."
"Yeah, you know me," Xandra said harshly, pushing past Xion and marching forward. "And I know you."
Axel opened his mouth to say something in response, but Xandra didn't stop moving. She strode right up to him, reached up, pulled his head down to hers, and kissed him.
Xion gaped.
Axel's smirk faded as Xandra wound her arms around his neck and moved her mouth over his. For a second, he was absolutely still, but then, to Xion's shock, his hands moved, as if beyond his control, fisting in the material of Xandra's cloak and yanking her against him as he fiercely reciprocated the kiss.
Xion felt like a voyeur. If they kept doing...doing THAT...clothes were going to start flying, she was almost certain of it! And yet, she could almost see another girl in Xandra's place, a girl with different clothes and a softer expression. And she swore that Axel was changing before her eyes as well, into a version of himself that she had never met.
As she watched, she could almost see the two of them as they must have once been, a Somebody and a Nobody who were in love.
Xandra pulled away from Axel, shoving against his chest to scramble backwards, the spell breaking. He stared at her, breathing hard, with those eyes that were not Axel's.
"Drana?"
Xandra's eyes widened. "No," she moaned. "I thought you couldn't remember. You're not supposed to be able to remember."
But even as she spoke, a film seemed to swipe across his eyes, and the coldness returned to them. He straightened up, smiling sarcastically once more.
"I'm not sure what you thought that would accomplish," he drawled. "But, it takes a pretty weird person to go kissing people they've never met."
Xandra swallowed hard, and nodded to herself.
"That's it then," she muttered. "I'm done here."
She turned around abruptly, and walked back to Xion, her face like a mask. Without saying anything to the other girl, she threw up her hand, summoning a portal. She walked inside and Xion followed, glancing just once over her shoulder at Axel.
He hadn't moved from where he stood, but his eyes lingered on Xandra's back, his brow furrowed in confusion. Xion closed her eyes, feeling a wave of sadness come over her, and disappeared into the portal.
"Why?" she asked, as they stepped out once more into the same spot, watching Axel run away from them to open the door.
Xandra was quiet for a second.
"I just wanted to see if I could feel it again," she whispered.
Xion knew better than to ask if she had found out whether she could.
"Why bring me with you?" she said instead.
Xandra glanced over her shoulder at the other girl, giving a slight bittersweet smile. "I wanted a witness, so I knew it happened."
Xion couldn't think of anything to say in reply to that, so she just looked at the ground.
"Don't worry," Xandra reassured her. "I'm better now. I won't do that again. From now on...he's just a tool to help us complete this mission."
Axel flashed up in front of them, skidding to a stop a few feet away.
"We're all good," he said, nodding his head at the door behind him. "Shall we, then?"
Xandra stepped forward confidently, but for a second Xion hesitated, looking over her shoulder at the empty landscape behind her. In four days, Sora would be arriving here and losing his memories, memories that would steal into her brain and Roxas, condemning them to death. And here she was, on a mission to stop this with a man who didn't know they would be friends someday, and a girl who was a lot more broken then she had first seemed.
Could they really do this? Could they save Roxas and herself and Sora?
"Hello, Castle Oblivion," she muttered.
It all started now.