Kingdom Hearts : Worlds Apart

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A smirk appeared on the face of the man standing opposite them. "Foolish boy," he muttered. At this, six spears materialized from a bright flash of light. They were taller than the man, each with a fierce point that pointed toward the ground. A gust of wind lifted him slightly off the ground. Maxiwill took a step forward, still holding his arm out to keep the girls behind him.

"You think we're afraid?" he lied. He could feel his hand shaking. The moment Xaldin rushed at him, there was the shattering of glass. The wind that had picked up as the Organization member moved had broken the windows of a near by building. Maxiwill felt a sudden weight pushed into his stomach. Literally, the wind was knocked from his body. He could see the whisps of air escaping his lips. In an instant, he was down on the ground, his glasses sliding across the pavement and landing somewhere by Elyxca's feet. The grip on the rose container was tightened even more in Lexstrik's hands. Maxwill tried and failed horribly to sit back up. There was the sound of a thud as he fell back down a few times.

"That's not very nice of you, Xaldin," said a familiar voice, "Picking on a kid who doesn't even have a weapon yet." As Maxiwill started to come to, the world around him still spinning, he saw flames shooting at Xaldin from behind the two girls. His hand moved about the ground for his spectacles. When he placed the half-moon shaped objects onto his nose, the image of a red-haired man came into view. It was Axel. In his hands were two round objects, white and red in color. Each one seemed to be a large chakrum, with four smaller chakrums connected to it. Spikes jutted dangerously out of these smaller chakrum. Xaldin paused, his feet hovering a few inches above the ground.

"Axel? You'd betray me for these three?" Xaldin cast a disapproving look at the three Nobodies, then to Axel. The red haired Nobody looked at them from the corner of his eye and shook his head.

"Are you kidding?" he laughed, "I'm merely protecting them for now. I don't think it's right of you to have done that," he shook his head once more. Xaldin scowled. Maxiwill wasn't sure whether he should thank Axel for helping or to hate Axel for that same reason. However, Xaldin found this as a perfect chance to strike. The man floated toward Axel, snatching up a spear the was floating beside him. In an instant, the red haired Nobody found himself on the ground. Quickly, he jumped back up and wiped his lip. Fire spounted from him like machine gun fire, just one after the other in succession. Maxiwill had never seen fire shot so fast before. Xaldin whipped the wind around him, making the fire distinguish into small embers that fluttered about and disappeared without a second thought. Axel spun a chakrum around his hand. Xaldin flew toward Elyxca this time, finding it opprotune to attack someone who wasn't prepared. "Get back!" Axel shouted out, shoving the girl toward Maxiwill. She bumped into him, causing them both to feel a bit distraught for a small moment. Xaldin pushed himself into Axel, throwing him toward a buidling.

"Make her give it back to me!" Xaldin growled dangerously, holding a spear to the red-haired man's throat. The muscles that tensed were clearly visible in Axel's facial features.

"All right, all right..." he stood up. His chakrum disappeared with a loud crack! and a few small flickers of fire that dropped harmlessly to the pavement. The Nobody looked at Lexstrik and held out his hand, "Give it to me," he stated. Lexstrik shook her head.

"No!" she barked, "I stole it! Fair and square!" The woman held tightly to it. Axel sighed and clenched his fist. He then rolled his fingers back out.

"I'm not going to ask again. Give it to me," he glared at her with his emerald green eyes. It was clear that Lexstrik did not want to hand it over. Underneath her black gloves, everyone knew that she was white knuckled at how tight she was clutching that rose. Xaldin gave a huffing noise, as if impatiently waiting for that rose to become his once more. It took a few more moments of coaxing before...

"Fine! Take it!" she shoved the rose into Axel's chest, causing him to stumble back a bit. His eyes sparkled in the light of the rose. The reflection was clear in his shining eyes. Maxiwill sighed heavily and Elyxca bit her lower lip. Clearly, they were hoping for some sort of offer to be made in trade for the rose.

"Now, will you leave them alone?" he asked. Xaldin snatched the case and left without saying another word. He vanished in the all too familiar black cloud they were coming to use more and more often. "I'm sure he'll put it back where it belongs. Probably wants to give that Beast a fighting chance." The other three Nobodies remained silent. Maxiwill looked at the red haired man crossly. Elyxca gripped her right arm with her left hand. Lexstrik stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You know, Axel?" she started, "I'm starting to wonder whose side you're on. First, you help me stay away from Xemnas. Then, you reluctantly give us information about Organization XIII," she took a breath, "and---"

"And just now," Maxiwill cut in, "You take what was ours and give it to that guy?" He knew from the start he wouldn't like him; turns out that he was only right to begin with, "Make up your mind. Either help us or don't."

"I told you Organization XIII's plans, didn't I?" Axel said, spinning his hand around in the air, "I think that's good enough for you." He turned to leave.

"Don't you ignore that fact we're still here!" Elyxca stomped her foot. Maxiwill looked at her in disbelief. For the first time in the short time he's met her, she barked out in a rage, "Just because we're not part of Organization XIII doesn't mean you have the right to walk out on us!" She clenched her fist. Lexstik swore she saw a whisp of blackness escape her hand. Axel shook his head.

"There's just no getting it through to you, is there?" he said, tapping his head. With a sigh, he held his arms out to his sides. Tongues of fire wrapped themselves around his arms, heading toward his palms. Fire and whisps of black smoke began to swirl and form into his strange weapon. Maxiwill took a step back.

"There you go again!" he barked, "Now you're going to fight us?" He laughed a bit, "Looks like someone can't make up his mind." Axel merely smirked at this. He held his weapon high above his head and dashed at Maxiwill; seems as if he shared the same hatred. The boy snapped his fingers, a heavy gust of wind taking him into the air and out of harms way. He landed behind Axel, with a smile on his face.

"And yet you attack him!" Lexstrik roared, slapping her hands to her sides angerly, "You have some nerve! Didn't you say not to attack the defenseless not FIVE minutes ago!" Axel ignored this. Instead, he ran back at Maxiwill. He barely had time to defend himself from what was coming next.

"Burn, baby!" Axel called out, fire shooting from his palms. The Nobody took the fire straight into his shoulders, causing him immense pain. The smell of singed leather filled the air around him. Clutching his shoulders with his hands, he fell to his knees, groaning in pain. Axel ran at him, his weapons held out beside him.

There was a clang of metal against metal. Maxiwill had thrown his arms over his head in a desperate attempt at protecting himself. However, when he opened his eyes, he noticed someone standing in front of him. He could tell from the brown hair and the ponytail that it was Lexstrik. She was pushing Axel back with something she held tightly in her hands. Maxiwill stood up and ran past them to Elyxca. "What'd I miss?" he asked. Elyxca was pointing at Lexstrik with her mouth open slightly.

"She...managed to copy Axel's weapon!" her finger was shaking, "When Axel ran at you, she somehow summoned the same thing he has...those wheels!" Indeed, this was true. The two combantants turn their bodies in a way that would let Maxiwill and Elyxca to see how the other was faring. Clutched in Lexstrik's hand were two duplicates of the chakrum Axel held onto. The only difference, however, is that the red of the weapons had become a lush shade of purple. She pushed him back, throwing purple flames from her hand. Axel blocked these with his wheels and smirked.

"So...you're a copy cat?" he laughed, "Can't say I've met something like that before." He held up a hand and vanished into a black cloud. Lexstrik sighed, letting her hands drop limply beside her. When she looked down at her hands, the chakrum were gone. A shocked expression replaced the one she wore previous.

"Where'd...what did I..." she stuttered. Maxiwill looked at Elyxca and nodded. The girl nodded as well, approaching her fellow Nobody.

"You..." she searched the confines of her mind for a proper word, "doppleganged Axel's weapon. Almost perfectly too. The only difference was the red of his weapon was purple to yours." A bright smile appeared on Lexstrik's face.

"So I copy things!" she jumped happily, "I wonder if I can make them appear again..." Taking a few steps back from Elyxca, she held her arms out and closed her eyes. Her stance reminded them heavily of how Axel summoned his weapons into battle. However, nothing was happening. Lexstrik closed her eyes a little tighter and eventually gave up.

"Looks like you need the real weapon here to copy it," Maxiwill explained, "And when that real weapon leaves battle, so do your fakers." The boy crossed his arms over hsi chest and approached her. "Well, that's a pretty interesting power. Would you fancy a trade?" he laughed. Lexstrik shook her head.

"No," she laughed, "go blow your hot air somewhere else." The three let out a laugh before the quietness dawned on them. Now they were without any bait for Organization XIII, the exact reason Lexstrik had snatched up the rose in the first place. Together, they resumed their usual position on the curb, sitting in silence. The boy looked at Elyxca.

"I guess it'd be your turn," he said simply, "I went and failed miserably. Lexstrik managed to return with something just to have it taken away...let's see how you fair." The girl nodded. However, before she stood up, something appeared in front of them. It was a swirling black cloud. Quickly, the three stood up and hid behind a building. A figure walked through it. Much like them, he was wearing a black cloak with chains adorning the neck. His hood was down, so they could see his face. On one eye, he wore an eyepatch. It reminded them very much of a pirate. He wore a scar along his left cheek. His black hair was slicked back into a ponytail that dangled above his backside.

"Well, still no sign Roxas..." he groaned, walking away towards the castle in the distance. Once he had disappeared from sight, Maxiwill jumped out from behind the building. He recognized the voice in an instant.

"That was that guy!" he said, pointing in the direction he had walked, "From that place..." he snapped his fingers over and over. Wind kicked up around the three. However, when he stopped, the wind died down, "Hollow Bastion! That's it!"

"But he said something about Roxas..." Elyxca placed a hand on her chin, "Who could that be?"

"Maybe someone from Organization XIII? Someone who betrayed them," Lexstrik scowled, "Like Axel?" Maxiwill nodded at this possibility. However, there were more pressing matters at hand. The boy told Elyxca to go through a portal to another world to find a way to obtain a heart. She bit her lower lip. This spoke to the boy. She hadn't wanted to go it alone.

"Trust me," he said, "We'll be waiting for you when you get back." He nodded at her assuringly. This begetted a smile from Elyxca, who nodded back at him. Maxiwill held out a hand and a portal of the same black smoke appeared in front of her. Slowly, she walked through it and disappeared. Maxiwill was beaming and Lexstrik kept her arms crossed over her chest. Together, the two remaining Nobodies took a seat.

"Where do you think she'll go?" she asked. The boy shrugged.

"Dunno," he told her, "But I have an idea."