Axel entered the Gray Area, late as usual. It was completely empty, devoid of Nobodies.
"So what gives?" Xerisa's voice shattered the silence and made Axel jump. He whirled around to see the hooded member coming into the room.
"Uh…not sure," Axel said, regaining his composure.
"Xemnas has called a meeting of the Organization," Saïx stood in the doorway of the Gray Area. "You are both to report to the Hall Where Nothingness Gathers."
"Is everyone else there?" Axel asked.
Saïx nodded, "we're just waiting for you two."
"Sorry to hold you up," Axel said. "Xerisa, you know where the Hall is, right?"
Xerisa nodded.
What, won't talk in front of Saïx? Axel thought. He turned and headed out of the Gray Area behind Saïx who had already begun to leave. Xerisa followed in back.
"Good of you to join us," Xemnas said, dryly, as the remaining 3 members warped into their seats. Xerisa sat in the seat that once had belonged to Roxas. "Sora has been sighted in Radiant Gardens," Xemnas went on, "which means he is on another of his quests."
"What does this mean for us?" Demyx asked.
"Our goals are once more in reach," Xemnas said. "He is fighting with the keyblade. Weather he knows it or not, he is gathering hearts to Kingdom Hearts."
"I meant what does that mean work-wise?" Demyx asked. His tone betrayed that he was hoping this meant a drop in the workload.
But it's been slow since we've started back up again, Axel thought. The worst we've got are a few battle missions to make sure we're still in shape. It's about time we start working for real.
"I was getting to that," Xemnas said, his scowl deepening from its usual state. "Although we cannot collect hearts on our own, we can still help the process along. If emblem heartless are easier to defeat, Sora will defeat more of them. And if we defeat all pureblood heartless, Sora will not waste time and energy fighting them."
"I get it," Axel said, "we're gonna be pulling the strings while the puppet still thinks he's a real boy."
"Precisely," Xemnas nodded. "On all of your missions, emblem heartless are to be weakened, but if possible, left alive for Sora to defeat, especially if he is in the same world as you are. All Pureblood heartless are to be destroyed on sight, especially if they are powerful and cumbersome to defeat. However, this is still a covert operation. If Sora discovers we are still alive, he may attempt to destroy us again, and we could do without the disturbance. That being said, Vexen..."
The Chilly Academic looked up in acknowledgment, as well as a bit of curiosity.
"…you will be paired up with Zexion today," Xemnas went on. "You two are headed to Radiant Gardens. Your mission is to discover what Sora is after this time and just do general recon on his plans, route, abilities, and so on."
Vexen and Zexion both nodded in agreement.
"You have your orders, get going," Xemnas commanded.
The two Nobodies who were assigned to be together both vanished from their seats in a dark corridor.
"Xigbar," Xemnas turned his attention to Number II, "you and Marluxia are also going to Radiant Gardens. Your job is to eliminate pureblood heartless and weaken all emblem heartless."
"You got it, boss," Xigbar said before he and Marluxia vanished the same way the previous pair had.
"Saïx will handle the rest of the mission assignments," Xemnas said. "You are all going to be on heartless weakening and elimination. Not necessarily to prep them for Sora, but to be sure you're all capable of doing so."
"What about healing heartless?" Xerisa spoke up, which seemed to surprise everyone, even Axel.
"Healing heartless?" Xemnas repeated.
"Heartless with the ability to heal themselves and others," Xerisa said.
Xemnas nodded approvingly. "Those are to be destroyed above all else. This includes barrier masters. There is one more thing I would like to mention. Sora was spotted yesterday; it is highly possible that he has moved on to a new world by now. You are all going, in pairs, to worlds surrounding Radiant Gardens. If any of you see any signs of Sora, one of you must follow him and the other goes back to Vexen and Zexion and inform them of his location. They are to continue their mission where Sora is and your mission remains the same. Dismissed."
The remaining Nobodies warped away and headed to the Gray Area.
"Man, this reeks," Demyx complained, "more work, and hard work too!"
"Oh quit your whining, you little baby," Larxene spat. "You're part of the Organization, you have to get your hands dirty some time."
"I, for one, am glad for a change of pace," Xaldin remarked.
"Yes, the chips are on the table," Luxord said, "now let's see who wins the pot."
Larxene groaned.
Axel chuckled to himself at her annoyance, then looked back at Xerisa, who trailed at the back of the group. "So, what do you think about this?"
Xerisa didn't even bother to look up at him.
"Why 're you even bothering?" Demyx asked. "That girl says less than Lexaeus. And she's obviously not friendly."
Can't argue with that last one, Axel thought.
Lexaeus grunted at the comment, but apparently couldn't disagree.
The 7 members arrived in the Gray Area to see Saïx by the window waiting for them as usual. Axel stayed back as Saïx handed out the mission locations. Finally, he and Xerisa were the only other ones left in the room, save for the cloaked Moogle that set up shop in the corner.
"Well, looks like it's us two again," Axel said.
"That is correct," Saïx said. "You two are headed to Agrabah. Axel, I'm sure you know the terrain. Your mission is as Xemnas described it."
"Of course," Axel said. "Alright, Xerisa, you set to head out?"
Xerisa nodded.
"Woa, calm down," Axel joked, "we're goin'."
Saïx was not amused. "Although this mission is not directly related to Sora, it is important, so be serious."
"I always am," Axel said with a salute which ended in him making a dark corridor. "Alright, forward march!" He marched into the dark corridor, assuming Xerisa would follow. His stride was destroyed as his right knee gave in from a blow aimed directly at the joint. He tumbled forward, out of the corridor and landed face-first in the sand.
"Can you at least try not to make a fool of yourself?" Xerisa stood over her fallen partner. "You're really only making Saïx more mad."
"Oh and I suppose you're an expert on feelings we don't have," Axel spat, standing up and dusting himself off.
"Believe what you want," Xerisa said, "but you're not helping the situation, you know that."
Axel said nothing to that. "C'mon, let's go find some heartless." He walked out into the middle of the plaza-like area, which would draw any surrounding heartless out of hiding.
3 Soldiers, a Scarlet Tango and a Red Nocturne spawned and headed in towards Axel. Acting mostly on impulse, Axel jumped slashed at the Red Nocturne, knocking it to the ground. He landed in front of it and began to attack until it vanished.
"Hey, genius," Xerisa called, from the sidelines, "we're not supposed to kill them, or have you not 'got it memorized'?"
"I forgot," Axel rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"That was fast," Xerisa said. "I would think you of all Nobodies would be slow to forget something."
"Hey, you could help too, you know," Axel said, throwing his Chakrams, one at each of two of the Soldiers.
"I could," Xerisa leaned against the wall that surrounded the city.
Axel shot an annoyed look in her direction as he caught one of his Chakrams without looking. He caught the other and then turned his attention back to the fight. The two soldiers were on either side of him. He held his arms out on either side and from each Chakram fired a ball of fire.
"Leave those two, they're weak enough," Xerisa said.
Not the kind of help I wanted, Axel thought, but had no time to vocalize his complaint. He threw one Chakram at the Scarlet Tango and from the other shot two fireballs at the remaining Soldier.
"That should do it," Xerisa said.
"Yea, no thanks to-" Axel stopped abruptly as he turned back to face Xerisa. Her hood had come off and her purple hair was flailing around as if it were in a whirlwind. Her eyes were completely covered with a purple glow and she had both arms out and her hands were surrounded by a purple glow again. The two Soldiers Axel had weakened first were suspended off the ground in the same glow.
"Move it!" Xerisa said. "Get on top of the buildings before I drop them. The little shit's about to fire."
Axel turned around and saw the Scarlet Tango and the other Soldier surrounded by another glow. The Scarlet Tango was about to fire a fireball, but was stopped, almost as if it were frozen or time was stopped around it. Looks like something Luxord would do, Axel thought. He jumped up and grabbed an awning and used that to pull himself up onto the roof.
Xerisa placed the heartless down gently, so she wouldn't cause any more damage to them, then quickly followed Axel's route.
"You coulda told me that's what you were going to do," Axel said, helping Xerisa up.
"Talk is cheap," Xerisa replied. "How many times do I have to say it?"
"Before I got it memorized?" Axel asked with a grin.
Xerisa stared up at him, her eyes half closed with a lack of amusement. She continued to stare, unblinking, for a few moments. Without warning, she lunged forward and plunged her elbow right into Axel's gut.
Axel, caught off guard, was knocked to the ground. He sat up and held his stomach as the pain slowly died away. "I take it that phrase bothers you?" He had one eye closed, bracing the fading pain, and still tried to grin.
"No," Xerisa said, walking past him, "it's your face when you say it that bothers me."
Not my day, Axel thought. Note to self: do not piss Xerisa off, unless you want to get hurt.
"I coulda told you that!" Xerisa spat.
"Well then thanks for telling me!" Axel shot back.
"You never asked," Xerisa said smugly.
Yea, but I asked a lot of things you did not answer, Axel thought, bitterly.
"You wanna get hurt again?" Xerisa snapped.
"Hey, not my fault you can't keep out of my thoughts," Axel defended, standing up and brushing himself off. "And I know you don't care, but that's really rude."
"'Da's renny rood,'" Xerisa mocked Axel in a whinny tone. "Let's just get on with the mission." She walked across the closely built buildings towards a door on the upper level.
Why does Saïx think this is ever going to be…. Axel stopped his thoughts abruptly as another occurred to him. "Hey, wait, if you could read minds all this time…."
"Yes, I'm well aware of why you and I are always paired together," Xerisa said. "But, I need not worry about it anymore."
"Hmf," Axel folded his arms, knowing full well what she was referring to.
"You coming?" Xerisa asked as she approached the door.
Axel said nothing, but followed her through the doorway. On the other side, they were still on top of the buildings in a bit of a corner with one taller building on their right, blocking their view of the ground below. Axel simply continued walking past Xerisa who had stopped. As soon as he passed her, Xerisa reached out and pulled him back by his hood. "What the-"
Xerisa slapped her hand across his mouth and wrapped her other arm around his neck, keeping him in a headlock position.
What the heck?! Axel thought, assuming Xerisa would read his mind.
Slowly, Xerisa released him and motioned with her head around the taller building as she inched closer to the edge of it.
Axel cautiously poked his head around the building. He saw nothing until he looked down. On the ground level were a group of people, two were definitely native to the area and one was the keyblade wielder.
"Sora?!" Axel exclaimed in a whisper, "but he's supposed to be in Radiant Gardens!"
"Well he's obviously not!" Xerisa snapped. "I'll stay here and tail him; you go tell Zexion and Vexen he's here."
"Right," Axel nodded. "Hey, wait. No, I'll stay here and follow Sora. You go tell Zexion."
"I'm not going anywhere near Vexen ever again!" Xerisa said definitively.
"You're 19, you're not a child, therefore you've got nothing to worry about," Axel said, "and that's if your fears about him are true."
"Doesn't make him any less creepy," Xerisa said. "Now get moving."
"I'm not going!" Axel snapped. "Vexen is not really my favorite member right now."
"Like he's mine?!" Xerisa asked. "Alright, fine, we'll do Rock, Paper, Scissors."
"No way!" Axel snapped, "you can read my mind! You'll win!"
"Damnit," Xerisa cursed under her breath.
"Just go," Axel said.
"You go!" Xerisa retorted.
"I out-rank you!" Axel pointed out.
"I don't care," Xerisa said. "No one out-ranks a hypnotist!"
"But that won't work cause I'm ready for it!" Axel said.
"Try me!" Xerisa glared at him.
Axel turned away. "Alright, this is getting us nowhere. And I can't believe no one's heard us yet."
"That would be very bad for the over-all plot," Xerisa said. "So, here's a thought: why don't we just follow him? We're just as good at recon if not better."
"But if we report back to Saïx what we find out, he'll scold us for not following orders," Axel said.
"You mean when you report back to Saïx," Xerisa said.
"Oh no, you're not getting out of it this time!" Axel snapped. "You're taking the heat for this too!"
"I think you're in charge of heat," Xerisa said with a smirk. "Alright, so how 'bout this: we don't tell him."
"What?!" Axel exclaimed. "Are you out of your mind? What if he finds out?"
"Then we'd be in the same boat we're in right now," Xerisa said, "so why not at least try to jump ship? You got any better ideas?"
Axel had to admit that he didn't, but he had grown tired of lying to Saïx especially since the Lunar Diviner was on to him.
"What're the Chambers of Repose and Waking?" Xerisa asked suddenly.
"Huh?!" Axel was caught off-guard by the question.
"Sora and them are looking for the 'Chamber of Repose,' and the 'Chamber of Waking,'" Xerisa replied, "So, what are they?"
"I'm not really sure," Axel said, which wasn't a total lie, "but I know Saïx would definitely want to know that they're looking for it."
"So it's settled," Xerisa said. "We don't tell him."
"What? Why-youch!" Axel held his head. The shooting pain had caught him off-guard. "That's not fair! And why won't we tell him?!"
Xerisa grinned with satisfaction and then peeked around the corner to watch Sora.
"C'mon, this isn't fair!" Axel groaned.
"Life's not fair," Xerisa said with an over-dramatic inflection. (Quoting the first line in Lion King.)
Axel made a face, but had no choice but to comply. He sat down on the roof, leaning against the side of the building.
"Who's that with him?" Xerisa asked.
"Two folks who live here," Axel replied, remembering the scene he had seen when he looked around the corner. "Roxas and I've seen 'em around here before."
"And the other two behind him?" Xerisa asked.
"I'm not sure," Axel said. "Usually he's accompanied by a duck and a….dog thing."
"Donald and Goofy," Xerisa replied, "Wizard and soldier of his Majesty King Mickey. They were dispatched with orders to 'find the key.' But that's obviously not them."
"Yea, I think I know the girl," Axel said. "She's Sora's girl friend. I kidnapped her once to…." He stopped, not really wanting to admit what had happened in the final days of his previous existence. But she can read my mind and knows already.
"No, I don't care about your twisted past," Xerisa replied, "or whatever it is you're so ashamed of. So which girl is his girl friend?"
Axel rolled over so that he now crouched beside Xerisa, who moved to let him see. "That's a guy," Axel said, pointinging at the white-haired person behind Sora.
"No way, really?!" Xerisa asked. "He needs a hair cut."
"Wait, I remember him!" Axel said, "he fits the description of the imposter Organization member."
"Probably just wore the coat because it hides your presence from the 'darkness,'" Xerisa said.
Axel shrugged; he didn't really care at the moment. The mission may have been recon, but he already knew they were not telling Saïx so it no longer mattered. He rolled back onto his back and reclined against the wall again. "Hey, Xerisa."
"What?" Xerisa asked, sounding a little annoyed.
"Why do you care?" Axel asked. "If we're not doing recon for the Organization, why bother doing recon at all?"
Xerisa turned around looked Axel directly in the eye. Her eyes were half closed with an apparent annoyance at his lack of understanding. "Lemme clue you in on something: knowledge is power. You should never pass up an opportunity to gain power. You never know when this information will be useful."
Axel only frowned. He had to admit, she had a valid point, but right now he was in no mood to compliment her. He simply laid there, staring up at the clear blue sky. Clouds drifted lazily across his view. With nothing to do, he let his mind wander, back to the days when he and Roxas used to go on missions together, back to when they sat on the tower and ate ice cream.
"Today makes 255," Again his old friend's voice was clear as day in his mind.
Was it really only that short? Axel thought. It wasn't long after that he left the Organization. Somewhere around 300. Only 300 days together, not really a lot when you think about it. And it definitely wasn't enough. Axel sighed. Roxas, why? Why did you have to-
"OW!" a tug upwards on his flaming hair jolted him back to reality. "What gives?!"
"They're on the move," Xerisa stood over him, "hurry up." She turned and walked back through the door they had come in.
Axel rubbed his scalp to ease the pain. She likes hurting me, it seems. With a mix of a groan and a sigh, he stood up and trudged after his partner. Xerisa stood in the doorway, using it for cover and Axel followed suit.
"Alright, that was easy," Sora said, resting the keyblade on his shoulder.
"Too easy," said the boy with the long white hair. He stuck the tip of a bat wing-shaped blade into the ground and leaned on it. Near the tip, an angel wing came out, making it look much like a keyblade in shape. The hilt was made up of a bat wing and an angel wing both sprouting from the back end of the blade. "Something's fishy."
"Aww, c'mon, Riku," the girl said, as her own, flower-covered weapon vanished with a flash of light. It too resembled a keyblade. "Why do you have to be so negative?"
"I'm not being negative," Riku protested, "just cautious. I mean, think about it, Kairi, it only took one blow to finish off each heartless. It's never that easy."
"You know, we did train for a month or so after getting that letter from the King asking us to find the Chamber of Waking," Sora said, turning around to face his friends. "Who's to say we're not just that strong?"
Riku bit back a teasing retort; this was serious. "Look, I'm not doubting us, I'm just saying."
"Why would it be easier to defeat heartless?" Kairi inquired. "How could that be bad?"
"I dunno," Riku said. "But it's not right, that's for sure."
Kairi frowned and folded her arms.
"Well, anyway, c'mon," said the native man who was with them as he and the girl beside him headed up to the massive doors before them.
"There's no heartless in the palace," the girl said, "so you don't have to worry."
"Do we even know what this chamber looks like?" Kairi asked Sora as they followed. "How will we know when we find it?"
"We'll figure it out," Sora said with a grin.
"Did they all have keyblades?" Axel asked.
"Looked that way," Xerisa said. "Sora, Riku and Kairi…." She stepped out of the doorway and rested her chin on her hand in a thoughtful manner.
"What're you thinking about?" Axel asked, momentarily envying her power.
"Nothing that should concern you," Xerisa said. "C'mon, let's get outta here. We've done enough." She held out her hand and created a dark corridor and led the way through it.
Axel followed and the two arrived in the Gray Area. Xerisa replaced her hood and then, surprisingly, went right over to Saïx.
"Something to report?" Saïx asked, although his face didn't show it, his voice betrayed a hint of surprise.
"Not a lot of heartless," Xerisa said. "Sora may be there, or may have been there recently. We didn't see him and couldn't confirm it, so we didn't get Zexion and Vexen."
"So I see," Saïx looked at Axel as he approached. "Is this true?"
"What? You don't trust her?" Axel asked, well aware of the answer. "It's as she says, although I didn't think much of it. She's pretty smart, you know."
"Well, not smart enough to talk when needed," Saïx said. "Alright, you're free to go."
Xerisa nodded and turned and left.
"Anything important happen?" Saïx asked Axel.
"Not really," Axel said. He wasn't entirely convinced that finding Sora was something important, so the lie came easily. "Not much new to tell you about her, although she likes hurting me, apparently."
"I can only imagine that you deserved it," Saïx said.
"Maybe in your opinion," Axel said. "What say you give me a break from the little devil? Not permanently," he added as Saïx opened his mouth to protest, "but just a day or two when I'm not paired with her. If we're always together, she'll get suspicious." As if she doesn't already know. "And it'll save me some trouble too."
"Alright," Saïx agreed. "Two days, enjoy the break."
"I definitely will!" Axel said with a grin.