This chapter introduces our two main characters, Roxas and Axel, as well as an important secondary character, Demyx. I hope you enjoy the story. beta-ed by Lady Chimera..
Disclaimer: characters belong to Square Enix, Disney, etc.
Level XIII-Part II
The Mojave desert sun can be merciless to the inexperienced traveler, but in the evening, when the sun descends slowly to the horizon, it can lend the most beautiful colors to the lonely earth.
Blue-grey eyes watched the sunset from the window of the hotel room they had obtained at the 'Awakening Hotel.' As far as hotels go, it was rather small and dingy, with items that used to be fashionable in the '60's era but looked trashy in the rundown hotel, but, considering it was a better option that spending a night in the car, it would have to do for tonight.
A quiet moan came from the lone bed in the room that Kairi had decided to stay in with Olette and their new companion; Hayner chose to sleep by himself in the room next door. Kairi had made the decision to watch the still passed-out girl, since there was no doctor in the nearby area to look into her condition.
Kairi hoped, as she had mentioned to her traveling companions before, that the girl was just exhausted and needed time to rest. Considering the sounds coming from the girl, it sounded like she was fine, to Kairi's relief. She stood up from her position sitting next to the window and moved to sit next to the blond girl on the bed.
The girl's honey-blond spikes lay in disarray about her head, an unusual look, but it oddly suited the pretty, almost heart-shaped face of the younger girl. She was a lot thinner-looking, laying on her back against the green flowered coverlet, but, in Kairi's experience, she has known men who unfortunately liked that anorexic look on girls.
Leaning closer she noticed that the girl didn't wear any makeup but had thick black lashes and tan yet soft- and clear-looking skin that made Kairi feel a little self conscious about her own looks. "I can see why Hayner thinks you're cute..." The girl's eyes slowly opened, revealing those large, brilliant blue eyes once more.
Kairi smiled, raising her hand a bit in greeting, "Hi."
The girl frowned a bit at her before slowly sitting up and looking around the surrounding room. "Where am I?" she said in a somewhat husky yet sweet-sounding voice.
"Well..." Kairi blushed a bit, rubbing a finger against her cheek in nervousness at the other girl's behavior, "When you passed out, we decided to take you with us to the hotel. It's a good thing you were only exhausted since there aren't any doctors around here..."
She was startled when the blond haired girl turned her head quickly to stare at her after hearing her explanation. "How far have we traveled?"
Kairi shrugged her shoulder a bit, "I guess it's been about fifty miles from where we last picked you up." She watched the girl turn her head and give a muffled curse that Kairi couldn't make out. "Are you in trouble?"
The girl turned to eye her suspiciously for a moment before opening her mouth, "I..." At the red haired girl's curious look, she sighed slightly, "It's nothing that more distance couldn't fix..."
"Jealous boyfriend?" Kairi didn't know why the thought came to mind, but it reminded her of a recent Oprah episode she had watched last week with Olette on cheating spouses.
It seemed to have the opposite reaction for the girl who started to laugh a bit, "Something like that..." She tilted her head as she stared at the redheaded girl next to her. The unblinking perusal was started to get to Kairi, and she started to say something only to be interrupted by the girl again. "I'm sorry... I'm not used to dealing with other people. My name is Roxas by the way." She held out her left hand in greeting.
"Roxas?" Kairi gave a short laugh, "That's an interesting name." She clasped the other girl's hand finding that she had a surprisingly strong grip. "My name's Kairi."
Roxas gave a small smile and stood up, "If it's ok..., I would like to use the shower." She turned her head to indicate the door behind her.
Kairi blushed a bit and scratched at her cheek again in a nervous habit, "I probably would too if I had been stuck out in the middle of nowhere with nothing... If you like, I can lend you some of my clothes." The blonde haired girl seemed surprised at the offer. 'She must not be used to people being kind to her,' Kairi couldn't help but think. "I'm a little bigger around the hips, but some of my clothes should fit you ok."
Roxas looked down, remembering the dress he had been forced to wear and sighed; it wasn't like there were any other choices, "Sure. I would appreciate it."
"Good!" Blue eyes watched the redheaded girl clap her hands happily before sitting up quickly and moving over towards her bright pink luggage. Remembering the pink Lincoln convertible they had picked him up in, Roxas was starting to second guess the decision to wear some of her clothes though, since she seemed to like a lot of pink.
Kairi continued to rummage through her suitcases trying to find something to fit Roxas, oblivious to the other person's thoughts. Without looking up, she waved in the direction of the bathroom, "Why don't you take that shower now, and I'll give you the clothes later, ok?"
Roxas nodded once before realizing Kairi wouldn't see the gesture, "Ok... I'll be inside."
Kairi waved her hand again in answer, not noticing as Roxas retreated to the bathroom. Looking through the luggage, she decided on lending the blond her black short-sleeved t-shirt with 'Bitch' in pink rhinestones on the front, navy clamdiggers, and black and white converse shoes with pink socks. She felt Roxas could always use whatever underwear she was wearing underneath the dress, it was better than what she had anyways.
Having found the outfit, Kairi stood up and walked over to the bathroom, noticing the hot water sending steam through the cracks of the door as she walked in without thinking about the other occupant inside. "I hope these are ok... I think they will fi–Holy shit!" Her blue-grey eyes widened in shock upon seeing the naked form of the girl standing before her, realizing she wasn't a girl at all. "You're a guy!" she almost yelled, dropping the clothes as she held up a shaking hand as she pointed in Roxas's direction, as he stared at her in an almost equal amount of shock at being interupted.
Roxas quickly grabbed one of the hotel's complementary towels and held it in front of his lower region. "Of course I am a guy..." he muttered angrily while trying to wrap the towel around his thin hips, finding to his discomfort, that it barely fit.
He watched the girl's eyes as they slowly trailed down from his softly muscled chest and rosy nipples, down to his flat stomach that sported a navel piercing–a little, square, gold charm on a golden ring with a keyhole-like shaped cut in the center of it–to the small bit of golden curls of hair visible just above the towel. "Will you stop staring at me!" Roxas yelled feeling very uncomfortable standing like this before the redhead, benefactor or not.
Blue-grey eyes snapped up to stare into his own in continued surprise, her mouth hanging open slightly before emitting a slight squeaking sound and snapping shut, "I...I'm sorry..." Her face turned a bright red and she dropped the clothes before quickly running outside of the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.
Roxas shook his head in bemusement over the whole situation before leaning down to grab the clothes the girl had brought him. He sighed slowly in annoyance at her choice but realized she had only thought they were appropriate since she had thought he was another girl.
Despite the feminine aspects of the clothes, they were surprisingly loose and comfortable on his frame. Looking in the mirror, he gave his reflection a scowl, thinking that his former fiancé would have liked the look, and almost considered trying to find something else, but he was again reminded of where he was and of the fact that, considering where he could have been, this was a fairly good–no, great–consolation.
Having put on the clothes, Roxas exited the bathroom and looked at the other girl where she sat on the bed facing away from him. She flinched upon hearing the door open, "I am so sorry. I..."
"Don't worry about it," Roxas reluctantly grinned, realizing that this girl had helped him in ways he couldn't even begin to think how to possibly pay her back for.
"No..." The girl shook her head, turning to face him with one leg up on the bed, "I didn't mean to insult you. You have your own preferences and all."
'She's probably thinking I like to dress that way considering the dress I was wearing earlier...' Roxas thought, watching in amusement as the girl's red face brightened again.
"How about we start over," she said, before standing up and walking over towards Roxas. Trying to ignore the fact that she was few inches taller than him, she held out her hand jovially, "My name is Kairi. And you are...?"
Her actions made Roxas give a genuine smile for once, "Nice to meet you, Kairi. My name is Roxas."
The redheaded girl nodded, putting her hands on her hips, "Good... I think we need food." She turned and started heading stiffly out the door, only turning once to acknowledge him a moment. "Aren't you coming?"
Roxas could feel his lips twitch as they threatened to smile again. He nodded in answer, "Sure... Food sounds good." She smiled and nodded again before leaving, expecting him to follow. 'I think I am going to like freedom,' he thought and followed her to the hotel's diner.
---
It was around 10:30 am when an Aquafina water delivery van pulled into the hotel's parking lot and parked next to the restaurant called 'Sunrise Diner.' A man with long, spiky red hair that fell almost midway down his back turned off the engine and got out of the van to stretch his arms up over his head. "Damn... Never thought it would take so long to reach someplace to eat..." His stomach seemed to grumble in agreement as he rubbed it absentmindedly. "Hey, Demyx, get your ass out here!" He turned bright, slanted green eyes towards the passenger side of the van where his partner lay back into the cushions of the front seat.
The front of his faux, dirty-blond-colored mohawk had fallen a bit in the heat and slightly covered his glazed blue-green eyes. "Piss off, Axel..." he grumbled from his seat, having crossed his arms and was acting generally annoyed with the whole world at the moment.
Axel rolled his eyes at the other man's actions. He would have considered his partner bi-polar if he hadn't known better; Demyx was only angry because he hadn't had his morning coffee yet and would no doubt be back to his overly-perky self once he had a pot or two in his system. "Fine, Mr. Sunshine... I'll go in and get your coffee. Just sit out here. I'll be back."
Demyx only mumbled his assent, turning to lay his head back against the seat again to catch a few minutes of lost sleep while the redhead was gone. "Stupid...insensitive...bastard," he yawned, missing the redhead glaring in his direction briefly for the comment before heading inside the diner.
The diner had a retro 60's feeling to it, which amused Axel as he stared at the out-dated fixtures, black and white tiled floor, and red cushy booths and stools. He walked over to one of the stools at the plain white counter and decided to order breakfast. Knowing Demyx was still sleeping in the van, he decided to bring him his coffee a bit later after he had satisfied his still grumbling stomach.
A woman with strawberry red hair pulled up into a beehive walked slowly over to him as though she had all the time in the world. 'Probably does,' Axel thought, "considering the lack of customers..."
He was surprised by the jingling sound of bells as the front door opened. A brunette girl came in with a boy with dirty-blond, short spiky hair, a girl with short red hair, and... 'Shit...' was Axel's response as his brain temporarily shut down at the appearance of what he thought was a girl at first, what with her short, spiky, honey-blond hair and large blue eyes.
"Sir?" Axel was brought out of his temporary stupor by the waitress tapping rather roughly on his shoulder. He wonder briefly how long she had been standing there. "Are you going to order or what?"
Axel found his face heating up and he grudgingly nodded. "Uh, yeah..." he coughed a bit in his embarrassment, "I'll have a hamburger with all the fixings, and if you have some jalapenos can you add those on?" The waitress looked at him like he was mental before roughly jotting down his order on a pad of paper.
"That all?" she asked, looking at him in an annoyed fashion, as she did so.
Axel tried to give her an reassuring smile. He normally didn't act so unusual, but he'd never seen anyone as cute as the blond that had just entered the diner either. "And a cherry Coke, thanks."
The waitress only shook her head, mumbling about annoying customers as she walked off, giving Axel the time to look over at the party that had entered after him. They had sat down in the booth nearest him and had started chatting. He found his eyes straying towards the blond who had caught his attention earlier and to his good fortune she was thankfully seated on the side of the booth where Axel could see her face. She seemed a little uncomfortable however with the surroundings but continued to give a slight smile towards her companions when they asked a question.
It seemed like the lone boy was talking this time. "So where are you headed?"
The blond girl seemed confused by the question; her blue eyes seemed to unfocus a bit, and she bit her lower lip slightly before answering, "I'm not sure, to be honest..."
The redheaded girl sitting next to her only smiled, placing a comforting hand on the blond girl's forearm, "Its ok... If you want, Roxas, you can come to Las Vegas with us."
"You mean to the wedding?" the brunette gasped at the offer. "But what will Naminé say, Kairi?"
The redhead only glared at her friend a bit at her attitude, "Look, I am not about to leave Roxas in the middle of nowhere... He doesn't have anything to his name..."
Axel was surprised to hear that the blond was actually a boy, but it was the name that caught his attention the most. 'Didn't Luxord say something about Xenmas's son, Seifer, marrying someone named Roxas...?'
"But Kairi..." the brunette whined a bit, sounding almost like a kicked puppy.
"Shut up, Olette." This came from the normal looking blonde boy, in Axel's opinion. "I agree with Kairi and think he should come with us. Naminé would be the first one to say Roxas should come. Besides..., maybe we can help him to get situated once we reach Vegas." Hayner had been as surprised as Kairi and Olette to learn that Roxas was a boy, but he realized it would have been very awkward if he had tried dating the other blonde, only to find out he had extra equipment down below.
Olette gave another sigh-like whine, "Fine, but just remember I said it was a bad idea..."
Kairi gave a relieved grin and turned to Roxas and placed an arm across his shoulder, "See? No problem."
Roxas smiled then, and it made Axel's heart jump a bit in awareness at the sight. 'He's really cute...'
Roxas seemed unaware of his audience as he nodded, "Thank you. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't met you guys..."
Hayner gave a light laugh, "Not a problem..., though I might have to lend you something else, unless you like wearing Kairi's girly clothes?"
"Hayner!" Kairi yelled, sitting up briefly to hit the other boy on the top of his head while the waitress walked over to take their orders.
"Where's my coffee?" an annoyed voice off to Axel's side said.
Green eyes turned to stare at his partner with an angry glare at the interuption. "Weren't you sleeping?" the redhead asked, trying to stem the desire to look at Roxas again.
Demyx's glare just hardened at the question, "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to come and see what was taking so long." He signaled the waitress over after she took the other kids' orders and quickly got a cup of his much-desired coffee, making the waitress agree to come back with the pot though she eyed him strangely at the request.
After a few cups and Axel's food had arrived, the redhead decided to ask his now normally-perky partner the question that had been nagging at him since he had heard Roxas' name. "Do you remember Luxord saying something about a celebration happening at 'The Organizations' desert complex?"
Demyx gave a huge smile and clapped his hands together in excitement, "Yeah. It's great news. We might even be able to sneak in with the whole complex being in such a happy mood!"
Axel rolled his eyes at his partner's enthusiasm, "What exactly was the celebration?" He took a sip from his cherry Coke.
Blue-green eyes twinkled in delight before leaning in as though whispering a secret, "The leader's son is getting married to another man."
The news made Axel spit out the drink he had just swallowed, "What!?" The redhead coughed, choking slightly on his drink.
The action made Demyx laugh, "Dude, you should have seen your face." At a quirk of Axel's red brow, he leaned in again, smiling, "Apparently the boy is about a year younger...around seventeen years old and hot..." He gave a wink, knowing quite well that Axel was bi-sexual and would no doubt wonder what this boy looked like. He pulled out a picture from his jeans pocket and lifted it to Axel's still shocked eyes, "His name is Roxas. He's the blond standing next to that punk Seifer."
Sure enough, as though lady luck was on Axel's side, his target, Xenmas's son, Seifer, stood next to the same blond that sat across from him in one of the diner's booths. He couldn't help but wonder though. Why had the boy left "The Organization?"
-------------------------------------------------(KH)
Well, that's it for Chapter II. Stay tuned for Chapter III. Please review.