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Axel

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When I woke up, something inside me had changed. I felt almost… heartless, like my heart had been stolen. She was giving up her sanity for me. She said she knew what she was doing and I trusted her but I was scared. If he knew that she was using him to see me again, he would kill her.

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"That's stupid." Demyx said, plopping down on the couch.

"What Demyx is trying to say is that it's not very smart."

"Well it's the only thing she can do."

"Sounds to me like he's blackmailing her." Zexion mumbled.

"Exactly."

"Or he's just using her as his sex slave."

"Demyx! Shut up! He wants to marry her! I'm about to lose her forever and you're treating it like it's nothing more than some dude stealing my girlfriend."

Demyx stared at me with his eyes wide open and his jaw dropped.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

I sighed, "It's cool man. I just need you to take this seriously."

He nodded, "So what are we going to do?"

"There's nothing we can do. She won't let me come after her."

"We'll have to wait on her." Zexion muttered.

He had gotten his laptop. He was staring at the screen, his eyebrows pulled together. The normal ocean blue color his eyes normally held seemed darker, like the ocean during a storm.

"Did you find something?"

"Well after months of sorting through encrypted codes, I managed to track down a link that led me to the site of an institution."

Demyx moved closer to Zexion and gasped.

"Shit! This place is like Alcatraz on steroids."

Zexion turned the computer so that the screen was facing me. There were several windows open, all but one were black with red letters and numbers. On the other, the main one that was open, was a picture of a castle like building. It was built high about a city.

"My god."

There were dozens of windows but one in particular caught my eye. At the top of the building was a glass room. In the window was the silhouette of a body I knew all too well. I recognized every curve.

"Axel," Zexion said, breaking me out of my daze, "this place has no name. It has no location. It's so well hidden that I had to go through so many codes, thousands, millions even. You're not going to like this but wherever she is, she is in danger."

"No, he wouldn't let them hurt her."

"But would that stop them? If they find out she's been contacting you, do you think he would stop them?"

"Zex, he will not hurt her."

"But Ax_"

"NO! He will not hurt her."

"Yeah, until he finds marks on her body that he didn't leave."

"Demyx is right. Axel, you can't have sex with her."

"Well… about that."

"When she visited you last night, you did more than just talk."

"Hey, not fair, it's been months since I've even seen her."

"Well as long as you left no marks on her skin, then she should be fine. Otherwise, she will be in grave danger if she isn't already."

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Rienna

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I was standing in my closet. The room Xemnas gave me was at least three times the size of that cell. There of the walls were black with an intricate labyrinth pattern painted on them in purple. The painting on the fourth wall didn't seem to belong, an ocean scene. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Someone came into the room, "The master requests you join in the main room."

I looked at the door to see a small boy. He looked just a couple of years younger than me, maybe sixteen. His hair was blonde and his eyes were blue. His hair reminded me of Axel's with the way it stood in an unusual disarray of spikes. He looked sad, tortured.

"What is your name?" I asked as I joined him at the door.

"Roxas."

He turned and left the room. I followed. He led me through the halls and to the main room. He walked as far as halfway to Xemnas, bowed his head, and left. Xemnas stood and beckoned me over to him. I bounded over and he took my face in his hands.

"Good afternoon, my sweet."

"Hello. You summoned me?"

"Yes and please don't say it like that. I wanted to tell you that I will be leaving in the morning."

"Why?"

"I have some business to take care of."

I decided to give him the best sad face I could.

"I will be back before the week is out."

"So you're leaving me here alone?"

"Do not worry. No one will harm you. But if you would like, I can assign someone to protect you."

"No. I'll be fine. But what if need to contact you."

"That, my dear, is something I must show you."

He held his hand out and I took. He led me to another room. Inside was a floor length mirror. I looked up at him and he nodded. I ran over to it and put my hand on it.

"It's a looking glass. Or at least that's the best name we could come up with."

**author rolls her eyes**

"How does it work?"

"You simply put your hand to the glass and think of me."

"Hm," I paused, "I want a dog."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"I'll think about it."

He crossed the room and stood close behind me. I stared at our reflection in the mirror. His hands moved up and down my arms slowly.

"What would you like today?" I turned to him but he stopped me before I could speak. "Other than get a dog?"

"I want to go out. You know, out into the city."

"Sounds like fun. Why don't you go change and I'll wait for you in the main room."

I jumped up to kiss him and then left the room.

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Xemnas

**gasp! Xemnas has a chapter! Deal with it!"

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I enjoyed seeing her happy. She was to an extent free again. I would take her into the city and she would be happy. I went back to the main room to wait for her.

"You are making a grave mistake pampering this girl."

"She's young. You knew we wouldn't keep her locked up forever."

"She's a child, sir, and an experiment. She's not human."

"Neither are we. I will not treat her as an experiment. She is a person and obviously she can still feel."

"But_"

"Luxord, that's enough. Case is closed. She has been through far too much and you know that. If I can do something to ease her pain, then I will. I still haven't told her the real reason I'm leaving."

"I thought you weren't going to?"

"I don't know how to."

"She'll find out when you bring him back here."

"Her little dream boy is the least of my concerns. I just feel that if I can get him hear and keep him here then she'll truly be happy. I know that if she stays with me she won't be as happy as I want her to be. She's not leaving here because she doesn't know how to care for herself and he won't be able to care for her the proper way."

Just then, she bounded through the doorway pulling her arm through her jacket sleeve.

"Can we go?" she smiled.

I nodded and joined her in the doorway.

"I'll have my phone. I'm trusting you to hold things down here."

Luxord nodded and I ushered Rienna through the door and to the garage. I had my driver drop us off at the train station. As the locomotive rushed past the trees, Rienna watched through the window in such awe it was adorable. When we finally made it to the city, she was dragging me along by my hand.

"Slow down love."

"But I want to see everything."

"And you will but all in due time. We have the rest of the day."

"I know but let's go."

I laughed and followed her as close as I could. We were walking down the street when we passed an ice cream shop.

"There is something you absolutely must try."

I pulled her into the shop and stood at the counter. She stood in front of me and held my arms around her waist.

"Two orders of Sea-Salt Ice Cream."

The boy behind the counter nodded. Rienna looked up at me. The boy handed me the frozen treats.

"Come along love." I smiled.

She followed behind me after I gave her her ice cream. She seemed nervous to eat it.

"It's fine, babe."

She licked at the popsicle and mumbled something unintelligible before really speaking.

"It's salty." she said, wrinkling her nose.

"It's how it's made. Sweet and salty."

"It's amazing though."

"That's why I said you had to try it."

We walked some more as we ate the ice cream. I found myself spending money more than ever. She didn't have much so I bought her new clothes, new shoes, and really anything else she wanted. The last place she dragged me into was the pet store.

"Xemnas, it's adorable!"

She had her hands on the glass that separated a room full of puppies from the rest of the store. She had her eyes fixed on a small, black, fluffy dog.

"It's a... what is it?"

"I think it's Pomeranian."

"That is a very small dog. Don't you think it would get lost at home?"

She shrugged. A saleswoman approached us with a smile on her face.

"Can I help you with something?"

"How much for the little one there?" Rienna asked pointing at the creature.

"200."

Rienna looked up at me with begging in her eyes. I looked down at her and sighed.

"We'll take it." I said reluctantly.

Rienna let an excited squeal escape from her lips before she kissed me. The saleswoman smiled and then went to get the dog. When she came back out, she gave the dog to Rienna. It licked at her hands and at her face. She smiled and laughed.

"Would you mind getting food while we find some other things?" I asked the saleswoman.

She nodded and walked away. Rienna and I went to find a collar, a leash, and a few toys. When we went to the counter a bag of food awaited us. We set the other things on the counter and the saleswoman added up the total.

"Your total comes out to 256.74."

I looked at Rienna and she smiled. I pulled my wallet out of my pocket and got my credit card out.

"You are so lucky I love you." I said as I swiped my card.

She kissed my cheek and then held the dog up to me. The creature licked my cheek and I smiled.

"I shall call her Talia."

The saleswoman handed me the bag of things.

"Let's go home."

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Axel

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"Axel, you need to stop this." Zexion mumbled.

I hadn't gotten bed for a long time. I wasn't sure how much time I spent in the dark with my eyes closed waiting for her to come back. She didn't visit me last night which made me really worried.

"Maybe she's not coming back man. She's able to and she hasn't. You can't sit in here like this anymore."

"Three more hours."

"Ax, get up." Zexion urged.

"Why? She's dead for all I know. And you guys aren't exactly helping."

"How can we help when you won't talk to us?"

"There's nothing left the talk about."

The doorway fell silent. I glanced over and saw the expressions on their faces.

"What's wrong?"

They both pointed to the mirror propped up against the wall. I sat up and looked over to find Rienna looking around with her hands pressed to the glass, only it seemed more like a reflection, like she was trapped inside and looking out.

"Now I could've sworn I did this right. It's all dark. Maybe I didn't think hard enough. Magic mirror show me Axel please."

"Rienna? Baby?" I whispered.

"Axel?" her voiced perked up.

I got out of bed and turned on the light. I got to my knees in front of the mirror.

"Ax, it is you."

"Why are you in my mirror?"

"It's something he showed. I can visit you now even when I'm not asleep."

There was a little barking behind her.

"What is that?"

She turned around, picked something up and then turned back to me.

"This is Talia. She's a Pomeranian."

"He got you a dog?"

She nodded and set the small creature down, "Axel, I'm safe. I know you've been worrying about me. I didn't visit you last night because I was so exhausted. He took me into the city."

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know. He had some business to take care of out of town."

"So you're happy then?"

"Yes but not as happy as I would be if I were there with you."

"You have no idea how it comforts me to hear you say that."

"Axel, did you honestly believe I would leave you?"

"I don't know."

She put her hand to the glass. I put mine over hers and she smiled.

"I love you Axel. Nothing and no one can ever change that. Now, nothing can keep me from seeing you." She blew me a kiss, giggled, and then turned to look behind her; she turned back to me, "I have to go, love. I will return tonight."

She kissed the glass and then was gone.

"See Axel you wasted all this time."

I turned out the light and climbed back into bed, "She not with me yet."

"Be happy with what you have." Zexion scolded.

Demyx glanced at his watch, "Zex, we need to get Kairi and Sora from the airport."

"Why are they here?"

"Kairi was worried about you. Demyx told her about your sulking and she freaked out. And Sora won't leave her side."

I threw my cover over my head and groaned.

"I hate you Demyx."

"Yeah love you too man. Zex we really got to go."

"When we get back I want you out of bed, showered and dressed."

"Yes sir."

They turned to leave. I sat in bed a little while longer before finally getting up. I walked into my bathroom and took off my pajamas. I turned on the shower and took off my boxers. I stepped under the water. It fell against my skin. I let it run through my hair. I washed my body and stood under the water. I got out and wrapped a towel around my waist. I went back into my room. I pulled on a new pair of boxers and a pair of jeans.

I sat on the floor in front of the mirror. I put my hand to the glass hoping she would show up again. The truth was, if Demyx and Zexion hadn't seen it too, I would've guessed it was nothing more than my imagination. I was glad she was happy but I wanted her here with me. She said she would return tonight.

I sat on the couch and turned on the TV. I scanned through the channels not really looking for anything to watch. It seemed like hours had passed before Zexion and the others walked back through the door. I had decided on an old re-run of The Simpsons. Little did I know, it was actually a marathon.

"I'm glad you listened to me." Zexion mumbled, a smile spreading across his face.

"Well if you had gotten back and I was still in bed, you would have tried to scalp me."

"Nah, he would've just beaten the hell out of you."

"Hey Axel."

It was weird to see Kairi all grown up. Last I'd seen her, her hair was about half way down her back. She was only about two and a half feet tall, granted she was like four years old. Now she was at least five foot five. Her hair was cut short, just above her shoulders. I wasn't sure how long it had been since I'd seen her, nine maybe ten years.

"How old are you now?"

"Sixteen next month." She smiled sitting on the couch next to me. She kissed my cheek, "Now tell me about this dream girl."

Twelve years, I thought.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't really know anything about her."

"And yet you love her."

"Very much so."

"Why?"

"Because she makes me happy."

She didn't say anything. She looked up at Sora and he smiled. He took a seat at her feet. She ran her fingers through his hair and he leaned into her touch.

"So is this finally something?" I muttered.

"Yes Axel."

"About time, what with all the letters. 'Axel, I don't to do about Sora.' Blah, blah, blah."

She punched me in my arm. A few hours passed and it got darker outside. Kairi and Sora told us stories about back home. One of the stories in particular caught my attention.

"I swear I had never seen someone so happy to be walking the streets. She was pulling guy along everywhere. Next thing we knew she had a little dog jumping all over her. But she looked insanely happy."

"What did she look like?"

"Brown hair chopped super short, like shorter than mine." Kairi described, "Brown eyes. Maybe a little taller than me."

"That was my dream girl."

"Oh Axel, I'm sorry."

"Wait, you guys live in the same city as her."

"She's in Twilight Town?" Demyx mumbled.

"We have to go."

"When Kairi and Sora have to leave, we will go with them, if that's what you want." Zexion reasoned.

"Don't worry about her Axel." Sora assured me, "She looked happy to us. By the way he was looking at her he would never do anything to hurt her."

I kept that particular thing in mind. She had said he wouldn't do anything to hurt her and Sora just said the same thing but what about the others there. Would they hurt her?

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The author has something to say. This is a very big suspense moment for me, mainly because I have no idea what's going to happen next. I'm thinking of having Luxord disobey Xemnas's orders and lock her up until he gets back. I'm also thinking of having Axel run into Xemnas on the street.

Leave reviews. Help me decide. Plus reviews make me happy. It's nice to know my work is liked.