Chapter 6: Him
The hooded figure reached up and lowered his hood, revealing a full head of scarlet red hair spiked in all directions. I inhaled and slowly pushed myself up, using the wall as a brace, and pressed myself up against the wall in slight fear. The figure turned his head a bit though his face was still out of sight.
"Hello Remea." He said. I stared at him in disbelief,"Been a while." I stepped forward shakily and narrowed my eyebrows.
"You're supposed to be dead." I said softly. The figure chuckled and turned around fully, and I saw my predictions were correct. Axel.
"Well I'm obviously not!" He grinned rather widely, his emerald eyes shining, and threw out his hands to either side. I took a shaky step back, back up against the wall. Axel raised his eyebrows, still grinning, and leaned forward a bit with his arms still open. I looked him up and down unsurely. Suddenly feeling an unstable rush of emotion, I leapt forward and embraced him in a hug. I don't think that was what he was trying to imply, for his arms took quite a few seconds to wrap around me as well, but when he finally did I burst into sudden tears.
"Woah, uh. Huh, good to see you too." He stammered. I slowly looked up at him, my blurry vision quickly going away. He smoothed back my hair with his hand and smiled. I let go.
"Uh uh. No. No, no, no." I sniff, stepping back and wiping away my tears, "I did not come here so we can have some emotional episode. I came here for help." Axel's smile faded and he shrugged.
"Okay, sure. What's up?" He leaned back against the table and rested his arms on the top, "I'm all ears." I cautiously stared at him for a second, then nodded.
"I should have died today. Twice, I encountered sure-death experiences. None of my friends could accept that. Especially not after the clock tower incident." I sighed. Axel seemed a bit more interested.
"Clock tower incident?" He asked, and I detected a bit of nostalgia in his voice.
"I fell off the clock tower today. Seventy feet, then splat." I said, emphasizing with my hands, "And I walked away without a scratch." Axel nodded, suddenly into the conversation.
"I take it your friends didn't like that." He hummed. I scowled, he took it so lightly.
"Of course they didn't. They aren't like us, they don't see people fall off of seventy foot clock towers everyday." I scolded, "And Olette was heartbroken. We've never kept anything from each other but now-"
"Olette?" Axel cut my sentence. I looked up in surprise.
"Yeah. Do you know her?" I asked. How on earth would Axel know Olette?
"N-No. I've just heard the name somewhere." His cheeks flushed. That's when I remembered, and it hit me like a bullet.
"Roxas." I whispered. Axel's eyes shot in my direction and they looked cold and empty. I realized I stepped on a land-mine, "Oh, I meant that..." I trailed off, unable to think of something to say. Axel stared at me with those cold, empty eyes for a moment before they grew colored and warm again.
"So what do you want with me?" He asked, hoping to quickly change the subject. I happily obliged.
"I want you to come with me on a journey." I said. He almost looked surprised. Almost.
"Okay. Where?" He said almost too casually. My heart began racing. Where did I want to go? I searched my mental index of people to see and places to go, and I stopped suddenly at the S'.
"Destiny Islands." I whispered. I knew where my heart was set and I was determined to get there,
"I'm going to find Sora." Axel stepped forward and grabbed me by the shoulders. My head jerked up and I stared up into his gleaming emerald eyes. He was worried.
"Sora?! You're going to go all the way to Destiny Islands?! That's insane!" He yelled. I scowled and forcefully pried his hands off my arms and brushed myself off.
"Insane is just an adjective. I'm insane, you're insane, but that's alright. Why? Because we are who we are. Besides, Twilight Town is boring and I need to get out again. I need to roam. It's what I was made for...sort of." I shrugged and smiled a bit.
"You've grown your hair out." Axel softly pointed out. I reached up and stroked my bright blue hair which was pulled back into a feathery ponytail, and my bangs fell loosely over the left side of my face. Axel smoothed his own hair back with his hand and let it naturally spring up again in spikes in every direction.
"Alright. I'll go with you. But we're going to need a ship and more passengers to make the trip less suspicious. I don't know how to take care of either." He shook his head softly.
"I know someone who can lend us a gummi ship." I said a-matter-of-factly. Axel nodded then stared at me further. It hit me, "Oh! Passengers." I thought about it a minute before one name came to mind. One name who would make the trip easier and brighter. One name who would make everything a tad less awkward. I smile widely and look up at Axel.
"Do you know where Naminé spends her days lately?"