Hastily written and hastily edited, finally, here's the next chapter.
The inside of the castle was bigger than Xion had expected.
The ceilings soared high above them tauntingly, and doorways arched up pretentiously in front of them. Axel strode through everything without the slightest care, but Xion couldn't help but feel like the sheer size of things, and the pristine whiteness, was crushing her, making her into a small black dot on a sheet of paper.
It was similar to the feeling she got at the Castle That Never Was.
Except there, she had had Roxas and Axel with her. Now, she had Xandra, and a different Axel.
They weren't exactly very comforting people.
The trio slunk along the corridor, then darted into a room, small by the standards of the rest of the place. Axel tipped his head back, scanning the room, then spun to face them, turquoise eyes curious, yet detached.
"Tell me what you know," he said calmly. "Who are the traitors in this castle?"
Xandra gave a tinkling laugh and crossed her arms.
"Everyone, of course. But Marluxia is the ringleader. Larxene is someone else you should take out; she will get in our way as well."
"Do you know what their plan is?" Axel asked.
"The girl, Namine," Xandra replied. "They mean to use her powers to enslave the keyblade master, and then turn him against Xemnas. Our mission is to assassinate the girl."
Axel raised an eyebrow, then turned away, putting his back to them. Xion shifted nervously. It was true that she wasn't good at coming up with things on the spot, but she wasn't certain she liked Xandra just spewing things out like this without telling her first. She didn't know where this was going, or how they would proceed! Axel wasn't stupid. Surely, he would see the holes in their story-
"Fine," Axel said abruptly, spinning back around. "Sure, I'll believe that. I never did like Pink Hair too much."
Xion swore she saw Xandra smile, just a flicker of emotion before it was gone.
"You proceed with your mission," he continued. "While I take the other girl and check out what Mr. Crazy Scientist is up to."
Other girl? A sinking feeling gripped her as she realized that Axel was pointing at her.
"I...shouldn't I stay with Xandra?" she said, trying to hide her panic. "After all, we were deployed together..."
"No, go with him," Xandra said suddenly. "I'll be okay."
Without another word more, she dashed out the door, her cloak whipping around the corner once before she was gone. A pang of sympathy stuck in Xion's throat: she knew Xandra had just wanted to get away from Axel and be alone.
"Xandra," Axel muttered, drawing her eyes back to him. "So, that's her name."
Shaking his head like a waterlogged dog, he focused again on her.
"What's your name, then?" He smirked. "You've got mine memorized, so you should return the favour."
"It's Xi-Kai..." Xion stuttered. "Yeah, Xikai."
That had been dangerous. Although when Axel had left for Castle Oblivion, she had never talked to him, he still knew the name of the 14th member.
"Shi-Kai?" Axel confirmed, sounding it out. "Right then, let's get going."
They darted out the door and down the corridor, Axel setting a ferocious pace that Xion could barely keep up with. The walls spun around her, and she focused only on keeping that red hair in front of her, like a beacon, or a lantern. Finally, he shot into a side room, and she followed, skidding to a halt gratefully, doubled over, panting for breath.
When she raised her head, she lost all of that breath again.
"This is Vexen's temporary studio," Axel said.
There were huge, tentacle pipes oozing out of the walls and crawling across the floor to attach to a gigantic clear box in the centre of the room. At first it appeared to be made of glass, but then she realized that the walls of the transparent box were undulating slightly, like it was made of a thin layer of goo stretched over a box frame. Monitors stood on the walls, and strange lights blinked from odd points in the room. Xion's head spun just trying to take it all in.
"Why do you bring me here?" she asked, turning back to the red-haired man. "Vexen isn't here right now, so how can we check up on him?"
Vexen had died at Castle Oblivion, she suddenly remembered. Which meant that she had to convince Axel to kill the man again; Xandra had said it was essential that they change as little of the future as possible. They still needed Sora to come out of this and kill Xemnas. If Vexen survived, he might mess up the end result.
"Besides, from what Xandra and I have seen, Vexen is not one who can be trusted," she added. "He is most likely someone we should dispose of."
"Really?" Axel commented lazily, not even batting an eye at her hasty declaration. "In your professional opinion, we should kill him? And how am I supposed to believe anything you say?"
"What?" Xion said in shock. "Because we're your allies-"
She couldn't even finish her sentence before Axel swept forward, moving like a blur in her vision, and slammed into her, picking her up and throwing her bodily across the room. She soared through the air, struggling to right herslef, and felt a cold shock go through her body as she hit plunged through the transparent barrier of the box, passing right through the gelatinous membrane and sliding to a stop inside the compartment. She lurched to her feet and threw herself against the wall, trying to get out, but it seemed to only be permeable one way, for she bounced straight off of it.
"What are you doing, Axel?" she yelled, her voice sounding tinny to her own ears.
Axel chuckled cruelly.
"I don't trust you and your buddy. Allies? I doubt it, not if Saix never told me about you. I figured I'd just divide and conquer to bring you down, and you seemed like the easier target."
"But we're-" Xion's words stuck in her throat. Friends? How could she say that? This wasn't the Axel who would eat ice cream with her and try to look out for her even when she did stupid things, and even when he knew what she was. This was a completely different Axel, and she didn't know how to deal with him at all.
Axel sauntered over to a huge lever on the wall and wrapped his hands around it.
"Sorry, Xikai," he said, shrugging. "I have no idea what the hell this machine does, but I'm going to hazard a guess that it's not too damn good. See ya."
"Wait, don't-"
Axel slammed the lever down and Xion was jolted to the floor of the box by a huge wave of pressure suddenly pushing down on her. Blue and red lights swirled in front of her eyes, filling her sight, and she rolled over, struggling to her feet, pounding on the walls of the contraption uselessly. Terror beat against her skull.
I'm going to die, she thought in horror. I'm going to die in the past, killed by one of my best friends in the future.
I won't be able to save Roxas.
And then a voice, low and electronic sounding, echoed through the box.
"What do you want most?"
"What?" Xion screamed. A bright flash shot from the walls around her, and her eyes suddenly seared. She staggered, and directions seemed to lose meaning. All she could hear was that voice all around her, bouncing off of every surface, repeating the same question:
"What do you want most?"
A deep shaking started vibrating through the machine, rattling right up through Xion's bones, and she clutched her head in both hands, trying to hold onto some part of herself. This is it, this is the end, she thought in panic. She opened her mouth to cry out, but before she could make a sound, pain split through her mind, bleeding through her fingers, and a wave of blackness washed over her.
Xandra paused halfway down the hallway, glancing over her shoulder at the empty stretch of white corridor behind her. A strange sensation passed over her, a chill that went up her spine. It was similar to what she once had known as fear.
"Axel?" she whispered. "What the hell have you done now?"
Turning, she began to run.
Xion blinked open her eyes, and focused on the first thing she could see . Which in this case was the floor of the box, a fuzzy mis-match of different shades of grey. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, this time forcing her strained muscles to move her head, turning it to look around her. She was still in the box structure, the walls undulating around her, but the lights had faded, and the voice was gone. What had happened? Why wasn't she dead? What ha dhte machine even done?
Slowly, she became aware of a steady thumping noise, and she pushed herself up on one arm, wincing as pain screamed through her limbs. She raised her head, and froze.
"Xion!"
Roxas. Roxas was inches from her, his hands pressed against the translucent wall between them, his blue eyes staring directly into her own.
"Xion, are you okay?" he asked, in that achingly familiar, undeniable Roxas voice.
And now she understood what the voice had been saying.
"What do you want most?"
The future had just been clearly screwed up.
And Axel was nowhere to be seen.
And finally Roxas makes an appearance in the story. About time, considering this story is tagged as Xion and Roxas for the characters...Now where in dead god's name did Axel go?