Chapter 16

I stood beside my window once more, looking out over the World That Never Was, lost in thought. I heard someone enter my room and I hid my fury when I saw that it was Xemnas. I bowed, making the gesture slightly sarcastic. "Good evening Superior. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Xemnas frowned, but made no comment on my insolence.

"I have a job for you," he drawled, holding out his hand to create a dark portal in my room. I tried to keep my excitement in check. Something must have shown on my face, because the Superior grinned in a very devilish way. "Before you get too excited, I should let you know that you will be heavily monitored during this mission. If you should fail or detour from what I am about to tell you, you will become a Dusk... end of discussion." I bit my lip. I was not only on thin ice for cutting myself, but also because I failed to kill Roxas. My heart warmed thinking about him... He was alive and well... at least he was when i saw him. It still hurt to know that he hadn't remembered me until the end. He was waiting for me in the next life. He was with his Other now... he had his heart back. Nonetheless, I had not destroyed him or brought him back before he merged with his Somebody, which meant that the Superior was not just threatening me now with being demoted to Dusk.

"I will not fail you again Xemnas," I vowed, pulling on my gloves to hide the scars on my wrists.

"I'm sure you won't. This task should be simple enough... even for you." I grimaced. "Your task is to capture Kairi and bring her here." I hid my surprise as best that I could. "We have evidence that shows that Sora is very much...ah... attached to this girl. We need the hearts his Keyblade release from the Heartless. If he thinks Kairi is in danger, he will not stop until he has her." I nodded, and then stepped through the dark portal to complete the mission that Xemnas gave me.

Kairi and I were walking through a portal of darkness, my grip firm, but gentle on her upper arm. She struggled pointlessly in my grip. "Let me go! LET ME GO! I need to find Sora and Riku!"

"Sora and Riku will come to find you," I pushed out between my gritted teeth. Kairi apparently wasn't happy with that answer, because she kept struggling in my grip. "Will you stop wiggling?!," I finally spat out at her, my patience on its last strings.

"Not until you LET...ME...GO!" she panted out as she continued her struggling. I sighed, and counted to ten. When that didn't work, I picked her up completely off the ground and threw her over my shoulder. "HEY!" she screeched, kicking her legs pointlessly in the air. "PUT ME DOWN!"

"If I put you down, will you quit trying to run," I drawled coldly, not having any sympathy for this girl right now.

"No."

"Then you can forget being put down," I concluded as I started walking again. She kicked and beat her fists on my back, but she might as well had been beating a building with all the good it was doing. Finally, she gave up and sighed.

"I promise not to struggle anymore... Please put me down."

"Ah I dunno... I think I prefer this method of getting you from place to place," I said, not quite ready to forgive her for the headache she caused.

"Hey! You said if I stopped struggling, you'd put me down!" She said, indignant that I considered going back on my word. Chuckling, I put her down, but kept a firm grip on her arm. She walked defeatedly next to me. I looked at her. There was nothing unique about her. Brown hair, blue eyes, pink dress... she looked a lot like Namine... but then again, she would. She was her Somebody. Still, she was weak and she didn't look like anything important. Nonetheless, I was intrigued by her courage. It took balls to jump into the Darkness if you had a heart. Not only that, other women would have shrieked in fear and stopped fighting long ago. She had not. Cautiously, I asked,

"Why did you keep fighting me, even though it was obvious you wouldn't succeed?" Kairi was silent for a long time; I thought she wasn't going to answer me. Then...

"When you care for someone as strongly as I care for Riku... and Sora," she sounded different when she spoke Sora's name, "you'll fight all the Darkness for them." I looked at her eyes; they looked far too old for a girl her age. "When your hearts are connected like me and my friends, you know that wherever you go, you are never alone... you are never weak." She paused for a long moment, then said, "You wouldn't understand." I looked away, humbled by this girl.

"I do," I whispered quietly, but I think she heard me, because she asked,

"Is there someone you care about? Someone who would travel the Worlds for?"

"Yes," I whispered quietly, tears starting to fill my eyes. I hid my face from view. She touched me lightly on the arm.

"What's her name," she said, showing more intuition than I had seen in a person in a long time.

"...Zephyra." Then I broke down and with a sob, blurted out, "I loved her... I truly did. I may not have a heart, but I knew I did. And even Roxas... I loved him too... in a different way. Both left me... and I will never see them again." I cried out, "I don't even know where Zephyra is. She just vanished... No one... not even Superior has been able to find her. Maybe she's dead or as dead as we can be. I don't even know." I stopped walking for a moment to gain control of myself.

"Well then, why don't you go out looking for her? And Roxas too," she told me. I scoffed. Roxas was gone... but maybe if he freed himself from Sora's heart... Was that even possible? Now looking for Zephyra... that had possibilities... However, I had to get Kairi to the World that Never Was before the Surveillance was taken off me, and then there would be only a moment of freedom before Xemnas came down with avengence. Maybe I could work it out so we both ended up free... Just as a plan popped into place, I could see the end of the dark portal. We emerged into the World That Never Was.

"Kairi," I whispered urgently... "When my Superior comes, I want you to do something."

"What," she said warily.

"I'll create a portal behind me, I want you to break out of my grip and run into it...Don't give me that look!" She was looking at me in skeptical disbelief. "If this works, we'll both be free to find who we care about... So just do it!" I hissed out as Xemnas appeared in front of us.

"Welcome Kairi, to the World That Never Was," began Xemnas as I created a portal behind me, small enough to be hidden from view. Xemnas looked at me. "Good work Axel, you may go back to you room as soon as..." just then, I loosened my grip slightly on Kairi's arm, letting her know that she should run now. She broke out of my fragile grip and dove into the portal behind me. Xemnas shouted something indistinct in a rage, while I shouted over him, "I'LL GET HER!"

"NO AXEL! YOU'RE NOT ON SURVIELLENCE! SAIX OR LUXORD..." Superior began, but it was too late, I had already leapt into the Darkness, laughing at my newfound freedom. I caught up with Kairi, who was racing through the portal at top speed. I ended up beside her and we both slowed down.

"Thanks Axel," Kairi began. I held my hand up to forstall any thanks.

"No time for it... We only have a few moments more before someone comes to catch us. And please tell them you got away; that I didn't let you go ok?" She nodded. I made another opening in the tunnel. "This was where Sora was seen last... Twilight Town...he may still be there..." Kairi looked at me with such gratitude, you would think she was a starving mother who had just been told she had won 2000 munny. She mouthed the words 'Thank you' as she disappeared into the side tunnel. I continued down this first tunnel, whispering to myself as I lightly traced my scars through my gloves, "Zephyra... I'm coming for you... You too Roxas."