Chapter II

-A Little Help-

"I don't want it!" Xemnas shrieked, shoving his plate away.

"But toast and eggs are good for you," Demyx said helplessly, "And… and they taste great, too!"

"Nuh-uh! Don't want it!" he protested, scrunching his face and shaking his head. Having observed this, Axel looked thoughtfully up at Roxas.

"I like it…" he said softly.

"Um… okay, that's good," Roxas replied with a nod. He glanced up at the doorway leading to one of the many hallways. A familiar face looked back at him.

"Hey, Axel, wait here, okay? I'll be right back," he told the red head.

"Okay."

The blond pushed his chair away from the table, and stood up, with an apologetic smile, then made his way to the door. He stepped out of the room, and faced the girl who stood around the corner.

"Xion?" he said slowly, "Where have you been?" She timidly brushed her black hair behind her ear.

"You tried to run away again, didn't you?" he guessed, "And then you came back, probably because you were wondering why Axel didn't come after you, to bring you back here."

"Y-yeah," Xion replied nervously, "Er… what did happened to… to Axel?"

"Oh, he's fine!" he assured her, seeing her expression of concern, "He just-"

"Who are those children?" she asked, glancing over his shoulder. Her eyes suddenly widened.

"Roxas, is that…? No, it can't be… Is it…?" she stuttered.

"Axel?" he finished, biting his lip.

"You can't be serious," she gasped, "there's no way." Axel peered over the back of his chair, as if on cue.

"Xion!" he squeaked happily, but his expression changed to that of a pout as he approached the two.

"Where've you been?" the little boy asked firmly.

"You're so cute!" Xion exclaimed, picking him up. Roxas could easily tell that it was to change the subject. Axel grunted in frustration and squirmed, when she nearly hugged the breath out of him.

"S-stop! Stop squishing me!" he pleaded, and looked, horrified, at Roxas.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Axel," she apologized, loosening her grip and rubbing his back.

"I-!" he tried to protest, but relaxed, and said, "That feels good… don't stop…" The fourteenth member of Organization XIII grinned. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"C'mon," he told them, "We gotta finish breakfast."

"Alright," she laughed softly, "Wait- he… aw, he fell asleep." The Key of Destiny looked at his friend's face. He was definitely asleep.

"So much for breakfast…" Roxas sighed.

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"So… this is all Vexen's fault?" Xion asked, after hearing Roxas' explanation. She glanced at the sleeping Axel, with pity for the little boy.

"Is there any way to turn him back to normal?" she asked.

"Well… the same thing happened to me," Roxas thought aloud, "so he should be back to his real age soon, I hope."

"But what if he doesn't? What if we need to actually do something? I mean, just because you turned back to normal, doesn't mean it will so easy for him."

She had just uttered the very questions which had been swarming through his head, for the past few days.

"I… I don't know," he mumbled, but an idea suddenly formed in his mind, "What about Vexen?"

"But, isn't he still small, too?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, but he might still have at least some memory of how to reverse this mess!"

"So, one of us will go and see him, while the other stays here, with Axel," Xion decided. Roxas rolled his eyes, again.

"Okay, I know that you want to stay here with him. Because he's 'so cute', right?" he teased.

"…Yes, if you don't mind, I'll stay here with him," she said, and added playfully, "Besides, I like him this way- don't tell him this later- because he's not only adorable, but he's not constantly chasing me down, trying to bring me back here by force."

"Then I'll see you later," Roxas replied with a smirk.

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"I'll need thome time to figure on how to thort it out," Vexen told Roxas, "However, I thuppothe that I'll need to fitth the problem before I'm too thmall to do anyfing…"

"What'll happen if you don't?" Roxas asked, "Won't you just turn back to normal, eventually?"

"Well, yeth, but it will take ath long ath it would for anyone elthe to grow up," he explained, "And perthonally, I don't want to do all that all over again."

"Mm," the teen nodded, "So, how long will this take, do you think?"

"Well…" he said slowly, "I fink that it might take at leatht a few weekth."

"A few weeks?" Roxas repeated, "Exactly how little will you be by then?"

"There'th no way of knowing that!" Vexen replied seriously, "But thertainly too young to do anyfing… I'm guething, maybe, an infant?" Seeing the look on Roxas' face, he quickly added, "But Letthaeuth knowth what to do. You jutht need to worry about Atthel until then." Zexion covered his mouth, stifling a laugh.

"It'th not that funny!" Vexen screeched.

"That lisp'll help you get what you want, I think," Zexion pointed out, "Because everyone else seems to like it."

"Do you really fink tho? It hath been eathier to talk to everyone lately…" he noticed, "Or at leatht, they'll talk to me more."

"But, is there anything I can do to help Axel?" Roxas interrupted.

"No, not right now," Vexen said, "Jutht take care of him for a little while, okay?"

"Right…" he sighed, and added under his breath, "Great…" It wasn't that he didn't like the pre-schooler Axel, it's just that he could be a bit difficult, sometimes.

"Well… um, thanks," he simply said, leaving to return to Xion and Axel.

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Roxas entered his room to see Axel asleep, curled up in the pillows of the bed. Xion turned to him with a smile.

"I hope you don't mind," she said quickly, "But I let him sleep here. Is that alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine," he replied, "At least he's not as hyper as Xemnas. That's weird, isn't it, Xion? He's always so serious, and seems to think it's somewhat childish when any of us act cheerful, at all. At least, normally…"

"Oh, he doesn't know any better, right now," Xion shrugged, "But that's what makes it so funny, isn't it? And Axel… He looks so sweet, just sleeping there, so innocently! What did Larxene think of them, being so little?"

"You're kidding, right?" he laughed, "She avoids Vexen at all costs, she picks on Xemnas all the time, at least, while she can, and… she doesn't seem to mind Axel all that much, actually."

"Right, right… That makes sense," she said, nodding, sitting down beside the toddler, she looked up at Roxas, asking, "So, what did Vexen say?"

"He says that he'll need some time."

She sighed. "How long?"

"A few weeks," he mumbled, as her jaw dropped.

"Will he be okay until then? Axel, I mean?" Xion gasped, "Or any of them? For that long?"

"They've lasted this long, haven't they?" he pointed out, "But Vexen did say that they might all be infants, by that time."

"Ah… Well…" she began, then offered, "I'll help you take care of Axel. You can just leave him to me, when you're busy! Besides, how hard can it be, to take care of such a little guy? I know he can have a little bit of a temper, a times, but…"

"Believe me, you don't even know the half of it," he thought.

-Finally, I have this chapter up! Sorry it took so long... I hope everyone enjoyed it!- TwilightFairy928