Secret
Chapter 1
Heels click unevenly on tile flooring. Snicker-snack! Snicker-snack! The girl wearing the heels makes her way towards the bar, barely. She practically falls onto the stool.
She straightens herself up and readjusts her sun-glasses. She's a girl of medium height with short, bob-like, black hair that slightly falls into her hidden eyes. She is clothed entirely in black. Black dress, black jacket, and black, ankle-breaking heels.
Her eyes search the crowd, though no one could tell. The night-club's music pounded and swayed. The teenager inside her would have ditched the shades and dashed onto the dance-floor. Though her young age, the girl kept her mature façade, gaining her access to the club. The same club that the person she was searching for's father owned. Rumor had it that the owner often brought his son, to "show him the ropes" of the family business.
~ x ~
She smiles again as he cracks a – not so funny – joke. His eyes scan over her. Blond hair, blue eyes, white dress. Plain.
"Oh Roxas, you're so funny!" she exclaims happily, placing one hand on one of his shoulders.
Roxas shook it off, and sighed, "I'm not trying to be funny, Namine. I'm trying to have a conversation with you."
Roxas and Namine had been set up by their friend Olette. The girl thought that the two were so cute together. Namine had always liked Roxas, so she was more than happy to accept such fate. Roxas on the other hand had only thought of Namine as that arty girl that's friends with Olette.
Roxas hated going places with the girl, too many people thought that they were brother and sister because of their matching blond hair and blue eyes. Two things that weren't too common.
Namine sat there, resting her head on her hand as she stared at the boy before her. She loved the way his blond hair was so spiky, yet swooped like a wave. She constantly found herself getting lost in his cobalt eyes if she stared too long. She loved his rebellious fashion sense. The checkered pattern was slightly over used, but it brought out his character. She did, on the contrary, find it weird that he wore two rings and a bracelet, but she got over it. Namine truly loved the boy before her.
Roxas leaned back into the plush sofa. He scanned Namine again. Her dullness shined. Her blond hair lacked any effort or affect. It was just down and over one shoulder. Her blue eyes were lifeless and boring. They didn't seem to shine. She wore a simple, plain, white dress with boring, old, tan flip-flops. Roxas really wanted out of this relationship.
It was at that moment that Namine's friend walked through the door. She had shoulder length red-brown hair and blue-violet eyes. She was wearing a pink dress and a white jacket with many zippers. She had a pair of sun-glasses pushed up onto the top of her head, messing her hair up a bit.
"Kairi!" the blond girl said happily, jumping up to give her friend a hug.
Kairi promptly ignored her friend, instead giving all her attention to Roxas, "Someone wants to speak with you."
~ x ~
"Xion!" a chocolate-brown haired boy ran up to the girl.
She was still sitting at the bar, ignoring her "boyfriend" and continuing her search of the boy. After some more whining she finally sighed and told the boy hello.
He pouted, but shook it off anyway, "Well, I'll see ya late-a! They have some awe-some punch!" he said happily before springing off.
Xion shook her head. Man he's dense. Anyone would know that a night-club would rather have alcohol than punch. The girl's eyes widened as a red-brown haired girl stood in-front of her.
The girl had shades covering up her eyes, but other than that she looked pretty normal, "So, you looking for him," it was more of a statement than a question.
"Affirmative," Xion responded with no emotion what-so-ever.
The girl let out a light laugh, "You should have just asked. I know exactly where he is."
The two girls walked to the back of the club. Xion cursed as the drunk adults tripped all over her, almost knocking her to the ground. The heels weren't helping. Looking at the girl, who was walking confidently in heels higher than her own, Xion wondered how the heck she could do that.
They approached a door marked AUTHORIZED PERSONAL ONLY. The girl pushed her sun-glasses up to the top of her head, "Wait here," with that the girl disappeared into the room.
Xion composed herself. She pulled her sun-glasses off and placed them on the top of her head, revealing her ultramarine eyes.
Soon enough the girl returned, sliding her shades back down her face, "You can go on in."
"Thank you, Kairi."
~ x ~
Roxas looked up as the caller walked in. His cobalt eyes widened as he looked at the black-clad girl, who was probably no older than him.
Clearing her throat, Namine asked, "Can we help you?" Roxas could see that high-school girl rivalry shine in the blond girl's eyes.
The feeling was not reflected in the new girl's though. She responded calmly, "You can't," she then pointed at Roxas, "but he can. So if you'll leave this will be over with sooner."
Roxas had to admit, she was gutsy. He turned and saw Namine with her jaw hanging open. She wordlessly exited the room, leaving the two alone.
The girl wasted no time, "Roxas Naoise."
His eyes widened, "How do you know my name?"
"Save all questions until the end," her tone practically forces Roxas to nod his head, "Good. Now tell me what you know about Marcell Lukistien."
One of the boy's eyebrows quirks upward, "Who?"
Before he knows it the girl is right in his face, her knuckles white from how strongly she's holding his collar, her eyes are slits yet intensity echoes in them. She growls out, "Marcell Lukistien. What do you know about Marcell and Concarto Lukistien!"
Roxas's eyes are wide as sweat slides down his face. His mouth opens and closes, incoherent words are all that he manages. Suddenly he doesn't see the crazy girl, he sees the wall. A stinging pain on his cheek confirms that she slapped him. Soon her hand is released from his collar and he hears shouting. Looking up he spots the girl and Kairi shouting at each other.
"What are you doing!" Kairi yells, flailing her arms in the air. Roxas hardly recognized her with the sun-glasses on her face. For some reason they match the crazy girl's perfectly.
'Interrogation," the black-haired girl responds calmly, placing her own sun-glasses over her eyes.
"Um," Roxas peeped up, "can I ask what's going on?"
"You just did," the girl says with teeth clenched.
Kairi manages a smile, she slides her sun-glasses up onto her head, as if to prove to the blond that it really is her, but most likely to try and calm him down with a familiar face, "Roxas, um, how do I put this?" the smile vanishes and Kairi places her hand on her chin in contemplation.
The crazy girl takes the reins, "My name is Xion Lukistien."
"Oh! So Marcell and Concarto are your parents," Roxas offers.
"Affirmative."
"Well, why would I know anything about them?"
Kairi puts herself in-between Xion and Roxas as she notices Xion's eyes narrow from the small crack between face and shade and her hands form into fists. Holding Xion behind her she smiles at Roxas again, "I'll let her explain later," she growls the last word at Xion, who huffs indignantly, "I'll just take her home."
The two girls start to exit, but Roxas jumps up grabbing onto Kairi's arm, "Wait. How do you know her?"
If her sun-glasses had been down no one would have seen the panic that struck her, "We-"
"We went to elementary school together," Xion quickly puts in.
Roxas's eyes narrow slightly. She's lying right through her teeth! He looks from Xion to Kairi. The two don't seem like friends. Xion seemed dark and depressing while Kairi was bright and cheery, or least so he thought.
Before Roxas could say anything else a man with spiky red hair, triangle tattoos under his eyes which are hidden behind sun-glasses that match the two girl's walks in. He's wearing ripped jeans and a button down, plaid shirt. He grabs Xion by the elbow saying, "Sorry to interrupt – oh, hey Kai – but we've gotta go," with that the two disappear into the crowd leaving a baffled Roxas with a madly sweating Kairi. Who, in Roxas's opinion, had a lot of explaining to do.
~ x ~
A red light shines.
The red-haired male turns to Xion, who is sitting beside him in his flame-painted, red corvette, "What were you thinking!" he exclaims rather than questions.
Without looking up, Xion says, "It's green now," she pulls her sun-glasses off and examines them, "I'm not cut out for this, am I, Axel?"
Axel almost slams his foot on the brakes, but stops himself, "Oh come on! You were raised to do this!" he shouts at her.
She cringes at his tone. Axel was the only one that could make Xion show emotions; he was pretty much her older brother. Tears threaten to fall as Xion shouts back, "That's just it! People expect too much from me!" then she adds in a lower tone, "Maybe I should just resign."
This time, Axel's foot did slam on the brakes, "What!" he manages to get out before the two are slammed against the dashboard.
The car went spinning. Xion let out a high pitch scream, causing Axel to cover his ears. Axel turns as he feels a presence on his arm. He sees Xion hanging on for dear life when the car flips.
Axel snaps back into reality when his head hits the ceiling, lucky the impact is cushioned by his hair. His shaking fingers flip switches and press button. Soon he's watching the flame corvette fall off the side of the bridge with Xion crying into his shoulder as he holds her up. Axel grabs his phone, flipping it over and over in his one open hand; he finally gets to the page he's seeking. Pressing the center button that was on the screen he turns to Xion, "I'm guessing that the flame's been extinguished."
~ x ~
Kairi glances from Roxas to the door. Her palms are sweating up a storm and she knows that she'll never be able to explain. Her phone starts making beeping noises. Taking this as her chance to get the heck out of there, Kairi turns to the blond boy, "Well, I just have to take this call, so very important. We can talk later. Cool? Cool, sweet, awesome! Later dude!" as she says the last part she slips out the door, ignoring Roxas's calls.
Kairi runs through the club, shoving and pushing people out of the way, not even caring that Roxas is chasing after her. She gets into the parking lot, her hidden eyes search for her white bug. Kairi practically jumps into her car. She acknowledges that Roxas clambers in the passenger's seat. Not even bothering with a seat-belt, she zips out of the lot.
Looking over, she notices how Roxas has his hands against the walls, as if to keep himself steady. Kairi laughs at his naivety.
The two are almost flying down the road.
"Kairi! Where the hell are we going!" Roxas yells, trying to keep food in his stomach.
Instead of replying, the girl laughs like a maniac. The gesture only makes Roxas even more uneasy.
"Starting to regret coming along?" Kairi shouts at him as she makes a sharp turn, causing the boy to smash his face against the window.
His answer returns muffled, but sounds like a yes.
Soon the car skids to a stop. Kairi jumps out and runs forward. Roxas slowly falls out of the car, and then follows the girl on wobbly legs.
Roxas looks up to see Kairi standing beside the red-haired man and Xion, a.k.a. that crazy girl.
~ x ~
"What happened?" Kairi asks as she approaches Axel and Xion.
Axel sets Xion down as she tries to dry her tear, trying to regain all professional appearance she has left. She opens her mouth to speak, but the words don't work. She pulls on Axel's sleeve, a silent way of asking him to explain.
Luckily he gets the message. Wrapping his arms around Xion in a brother-comfort way he begins as Roxas walks up, "Xion was talking nonsense," he opens his mouth to say more, but at seeing Roxas he changes his mind, "and I slammed on the brake in surprise. We got hit. Luckily I remembered the button code, and got us out safely. The bad news is that the flames have been extinguished," as Axel pouts Xion laughs into his chest.
Roxas looks from Kairi, to Axel, then to Xion. He's surprised that the broken down girl before him now is the same tough, fearless-looking girl from not even thirty minutes ago, "Um. Can someone explain: a) What's going on and b) How you guys all just happen to know not only each other, but myself."
Both Kairi and Axel shake their heads, "It's not our place to explain," Axel says.
Xion, having gained enough composure, pries herself away from Axel, and turns to Roxas. Clearing her throat she says, "Classified information."
Unease vanishes from Kairi and Axel, their worry of what the girl would say is replaced by their faith in her.
Roxas frowns, not at all happy with his answer, "Can you at least tell me what 'The flames have been extinguished' means?"
Xion nods, poking Axel in the side. He runs a hand through his hair, sighing, "My car."
"What?" Roxas asks.
"My car had flames on it," Axel explains sadly, "It fell off the bridge, into the water."
Now feeling very stupid, Roxas soaks in the little information he's been given.
Xion turns to Kairi, "Can you drive me home?" her blue eyes are puffy from crying, and her voice cracks. All authority has vanished from the girl.
"Sure thing," Kairi smiles, leading the way back to her bug, everyone else following behind her.
Roxas takes a look at Xion. The raven-haired girl is walking next to Axel, holding his hand. She doesn't look like the same girl from earlier. She's sad instead of angry. She's fragile instead of tough. She's crying instead of slapping. Roxas almost wants to go over there and ask her the stupid question of 'Are you okay?', but he decides against it.
Xion gets into the back-seat with Axel. She leans against his shoulder and begins to fall asleep. Roxas and Kairi are sitting in the front-seat. The blond tries to calm himself down by turning the radio on, only to find that it doesn't work.
"Sorry 'bout that," Kairi says, though luckily her eyes don't leave the road. Plus she isn't driving like a maniac.
Thirty minutes later Kairi pulls the bug into a driveway. The house they're outside is small and all the lights are off. Instead of the normal wooden fence, there's a barbed wire, electric fence surrounding the backyard.
Axel leans forward, "I'll take her in."
"How will you get home?" Kairi asks.
Axel smirks, "I'll just get Larxene to pick me up. She can't resist the Axel charm. Got it memorized?" with that Axel exits the car, carrying a sleeping Xion in his arms.
Once he's got the door open, he waves goodbye to the car before walking into the house.
~ x ~
As the two are driving down the road, Roxas turns to Kairi as she tries to get him back to the night-club, though traffic prevents getting there any time soon, "So what exactly can you tell me?"
Since they're getting nowhere soon, Kairi faces the blond, "My name's Kairi, the other girl is Xion, and the man is Axel."
Roxas glares at the girl, She's smarter than what I give her credit for, he sighs, "Anything else?"
Kairi taps her chin in contemplation, "We know each other," she answers after a few minutes.
The car moves about an inch forward.
"Well, how?"
"We work together."
Roxas's eyes widen, "But, Xion can't be older than me, and I'm fifteen."
"Correct. She's only fourteen, but she's been working with us since she was born," Kairi turns to glare at the blond, "Now, that's enough questions."
~ x ~
Axel sets Xion on her bed, pulling the covers over the girl he smiles before walking into the kitchen. After leaving a note on the table he takes out his phones. Looking at the four contacts he has, Axel clicks on the one labeled Larxene.
It doesn't even ring before a voice shouts, "What do you want, Axel!"
Axel laughs, "Well, if it isn't my sweet little Larxene! I need a ride home; I'm at Xion's."
"Fine, I'll be there in a few," with that Larxene hangs up.
~ x ~
"Here we are," Kairi says as she gets out of the car, "I'll go find Namine, make sure she's still here."
"Gee thanks," Roxas grumbles at even the mere thought of the annoying blond.
Kairi then whispers in his ear, "Don't worry your stupid, little head. I'll tell her that your father made you leave and that I'll take her home," when she pulls away a smile is on her pink lips. Roxas smiles in return, if Kairi wasn't so much older he would've kissed her, but she's eighteen and he's fifteen. Plus, it would just make the whole situation even weirder.
Instead he mumbles back, "Thank you, Kairi."
"Anytime," she turns and starts walking away. She continues her walk but, turns her head to see him, "Not sure when I'll see you again, but I hope it's soon," with one last smile, she's gone.
~ x ~
Axel stands in Xion's driveway, his foot tapping on the pavement as he waits for Larxene's yellow, two-seater Riversimple.
The sleek car pulls into the driveway, almost hitting the red-haired man.
The window rolls down, "Get in the car, moron!" the ever pleasant voice of Larxene Laneer calls. Larxene is a tall, thin woman of twenty-four with electric blond hair that was almost always down, except for two strands that stick up a bit. Her green eyes shout with defiance as she glares at the red-head before her.
Axel sighs, but puts on 'charming' smirk. He gets his swag on as he struts to the automobile, "Hey babe."
The doors open in their unique manner on turning 90 degrees upwards, almost hitting Axel square in the jaw, "Seems like you're trying to kill me."
Larxene smirks back at him, "Just maybe."
~ x ~
"Higher! Higher!" a little girl with black hair pulled into two pig-tails shouts as she swings on swing-set.
"Okay Shi," a tall man stands behind the girl, pushing her on the swing.
A woman sits a little ways off, clutching her enlarging stomach, "Oh, Concarto, don't coddle her. She's a big girl. A tough and strong girl who will follow in our footsteps!" she says happily.
Concarto plucks the girl from the swing-set, "Marcell, Marcell. She needs to be normal, too."
"Normality will kill her instincts," the woman counter-acts.
"Well, you're pregnant and I'm not, so I'm in charge of Xion for the time being."
Concarto and Marcell glare at each other for a minute, before they smile at their daughter, who's trying to escape her father's grasp.
THE END
Okay, review, tell me what ya think! Thanks!