Comments: S'me 'gain, what's up? It's nearly midnight as I'm starting this, 1-6-7, and I won't be done with this for a few days… I guess I'll add little updates in here to keep you all informed:3
Final update (And only one): It's 1-29-07, and I'm finally done! It's a short one, it is….
Disclaimer: As stated in chapter 1, I don't own any of the characters other than my 5 originals, and technically, Xanthus is only half-mine. After all, he's based off of this fic's rabid fan boy—actually, he's probably the reason the poor boy IS a rabid fan boy. Thanks for the support, Mike. XD
Read and Review, please. ;; I may not stop writing for the lack of reviews, but it's still saddening… Thanks to Bit for reviewing, though. 3
All right, it's time to get this party started!! (P.S.: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HYDE!)
--------------------------------------------
Party time.
A portal opened in front of the open doors of the Auditorium, a figure walking through and gaining the temporary attention of the few people standing near the entrance to the dimly lit room. Music could be heard from inside, and a few of the members were dancing. The blond looked about into the dark, spotting everyone except Eryx, Maxwell, Xylia, Xanthus and Demyx. He wasn't worried about the new boys, but he wondered about Xylia and began to hope that Demyx wasn't locked in his room refusing to come out.
After a moment's thought about what had occurred earlier, he decided to turn his attention to something else in the room and away from the missing Xylia. He glanced around, spotting a flash of bright red behind a table. As he looked a little closer, he saw that this was the top of Axel's head. The older teen must have been reaching down for something, because in a moment he stood up straight and started staring off into space.
The blond moved toward the older boy, sneaking up behind him and poking him in the shoulder. Axel turned around jerkily only to freeze and turn the color of his hair. He examined the outfit Roxas was wearing. Oh so rarely did he get to see the boy in anything but the coat he was made to wear. And now was a real treat. A white, button-up shirt clung to his back, squaring at the shoulders slightly, the first button undone. A simple pair of khaki-colored jeans hugged his legs just right. All of this perfectly accented his light-pink cheeks and innocent smile.
As Roxas looked at Axel, he saw nothing short of awe striking upon the boy's frame. The redhead was dressed in a black jacket over a dark red tank-top-like shirt. He was wearing particularly baggy black cargo pants. However, everything fit his style. His eyes were brought out even more by the red shirt. He smirked, leaning on the table and speaking, since Axel obviously wasn't going to first.
"So, how's the party so far?" He asked, not exactly knowing where to start. The pyre spoke up.
"Eh, I-it's okay. Nothing's been happening, really."
As if on cue, the lights went completely off. Someone in the crowd screamed suddenly, but only for a second. A small light began to grow, seemingly in a line, moving in no set pattern, but in an entrancing way. Roxas had an idea what it was, and so did Axel. More than anything, it looked like a wire.
"Eryx…" They both muttered under their breath simultaneously. The boy on stage seemed to hear them, retracting the wire almost completely, then shooting it out at the crowd. It went over a few heads, but didn't touch anyone. They flinched and/or moved out of the way anyhow. And suddenly, the wire came back to the stage again, moving in that circle as it had when Eryx had first been introduced to everyone. It was an exact remake of the routine he'd put on earlier that day, but in the dark.
The barrier caused the room to light up somewhat, showing the figures of four others on the stage behind him. A bit of movement was seen with the one closest to the front. A soft melody began to come over the room, joined by the sound of background instruments. A drumbeat was slowly added, though it was light and slow. Lastly, the noise of a fiddle came out. The lights began to turn back on, and the wires holding Eryx suddenly burst out, retracting to a hand that was armed with a microphone.
The beat picked up, Eryx closing his eyes as he smirked, tapping his foot and bobbing his head along with it. The lights were on now, revealing Demyx playing his beloved sitar, Maxwell on his fiddle, Xanthus playing his keyboard and creating the sound of several instruments. Surprisingly, the one playing the drums was none other than Xylia.
Roxas stood up straight, turning toward the stage and watching as the opening to the song seemed over. Eryx began to sing, his voice being much more clear than one would've imagined.
A darkness inside me surrounds
Letting in no light or sounds
This place I can't escape from
Cementing me so I can't run.
I struggle and fight for freedom
But daylight just will not come
My chance is looking slimmer
My life is looking dimmer
And just as I'm about to give up
Something brings my weary head up
Your hand on my chin warms me
A light now shines before me
Your smile guides me toward the light
I can finally see
The light comes from you, shining bright
It pours down onto me
I'm taken from this endless night
I finally grow my wings
I jump into my first free flight
And I don't care if time flies by me now…
I'm free…
But now that I'm set into the world
I find it hard to steady myself
I need your help to get me
Walking on my own two feet again
And just as I'm about to give up
Something brings my weary head up
Your hand on my chin warms me
A light now shines before me
Your smile guides me toward the light
I can finally see
The light comes from you, shining bright
It pours down onto me
I'm taken from this endless night
I can spread my wings
I start my long-awaited flight
And I don't care if time flies by me now…
I'm free…
I'm free…
A little bit of music followed before the ending, the instruments slowly fading into silence. Nothing was heard in the room, not even breathing from the crowd that seemed to have grown while the lights were off. Now, Sora and Riku had appeared, bearing friends in large amounts from several worlds. It took one of those friends to begin the wave of applause.
Amongst the cheers, Roxas noticed a figure he didn't recognize. It was female, that he could make out by the shape of her black-cloaked body. She had something near her—a wolf-like animal, it seemed. But this was odd. Who was this? A smile curled onto her visage, and suddenly the animal was gone.
Roxas jumped, grabbing Axel's arm and causing the redhead to turn around and face him. Roxas looked pleadingly up at him. "Axel, who is that?" He asked, pointing to the girl—or at least where she was.
Axel gained a confused look on his face. "What're you talking about…? There's no one over there." Roxas turned to see that indeed, there was no one. He was beginning to wonder if he'd imagined it when the lights went out once again. Several girls in the now-large crowd screamed, and among them the blond picked out Demyx. This wasn't a trick of his.
The lights began to flicker, giving a sort of strobe-light affect to the auditorium. In the chaos that had taken over the room, Roxas spotted something odd. One of the lights above the stage was loose, dangling over the well-known musician of the Organization. The blond jumped forward, Axel dumbfounded by the sudden jerky movement of his friend, through the people just as the light began to come down.
Xylia turned to Demyx, noticing that Roxas was jumping toward him. She screamed instinctively, causing the sandy-haired boy to look up. His eyes widened, and he was frozen to the spot. The light went down, snagging on the wires and bouncing back up for a moment. This gave Roxas just enough time to take a dive at the musician and tackle him out of the way. The fixture crashed into the stage, shattering and sparking everywhere.
This apparently caused a surge, all of the lighting going out completely. There was panic and chaos in the crowd, and no one could see what was going on. Axel decided to fix this. He jumped up onto the table with the punch and snacks; surprised they were still okay after all the pushing and shoving in the crowd. He summoned his chakrams, setting flame to them. He held him arms in the air, letting the light from the fire shine throughout the room.
The light gave Eryx enough sight to use his wire without hurting anyone. It zigzagged through the air over the peoples' heads, creating a string of light over everyone. It worked efficiently enough, and soon there were people on stage and in the crowd running about frantically. Demyx was helped up by Maxwell, who brushed him off and checked to make sure he was okay. Xylia joined him, looking over the scrapes from the fall.
At the first chance he could, Axel put his weapons away and darted on-stage. His best friend had just nearly killed himself trying to save the hydromaniac, and suddenly he didn't know what he was doing anymore. He dropped to his knees, sliding to a halt next to the blond who was rubbing his knee. The wide-eyed redhead closely examined the knee and several other places while he freaked out. "Roxas, are you okay?! Are you injured?! You aren't hurt, are you?!" He moved the younger boy's hand off of the wound on his knee. "You're hurt. Can you stand? Roxas, what were you thinking?!" He took a breath to continue, but Roxas hushed him.
He looked at him for a moment to tell him it was his own turn to talk. "… Yes, I don't think so, not really, I don't know, and… I wasn't." Axel sighed, looking down and shaking his head. He reached an arm over, leaning to the side of Roxas and wrapping that arm around his shoulder. "What… Axel?"
Axel smirked. "Don't scare me like that…"
Roxas sighed, blushing slightly. "O-okay… I'm sorry…"
Axel got up, ending the embrace he'd started and reaching a hand out to his friend. Roxas grabbed it, pulling himself up halfway before a pain in his ankle shot up through his leg and caused him to fall on his knees. Axel caught him, a worried look coming over his face instantly. He hefted the boy up, putting an arm behind his knees, and the other around his back. "You're not okay… C'mon, we'll get you fixed up. You can't walk on that, so don't complain about my carrying you." The blond nodded in response.
As everyone ran about the room, picking up fallen chairs and tables, fixing up things, exiting and entering the room to tend to anyone who was injured in the chaos, time seemed to freeze for Roxas as he caught sight of the woman with her beast. He nudged Axel, who looked at his friend with a confused look on his face as he felt the boy tighten up. He followed his gaze to the woman, eyes widening as he stared.
She watched them too, waiting for a moment and grinning a sinister-looking grin. The boys couldn't take their eyes off of her, and didn't until she vanished as someone walked in front of them.
-------------------------------------------
-In Roxas's Room-
Axel pushed the door to the blonde's room and walked in. He set Roxas down on his bed and stepped back, glancing around. Roxas answered his silent question. "In the dresser, bottom drawer."
The redhead went to the wooden dresser and kneeled down, pulling out the bottom drawer by the brass handles. He peered inside, catching sight of a first-aid kit. He reached for it, pulling it out and setting it on the bed. He unlatched it, lifting the lid and looking about inside for a wrap. He caught sight of the light-brown material and snatched it from the kit, walking over to his friend and lifting his foot tenderly.
Roxas winced, hissing at the pain a little. Axel stopped for a moment, lifting a hand up to lightly touch his fingertips to the blonde's cheek. "I'm sorry if I hurt you..." He moved back to the ankle, moving it a bit more to get it a good angle. He unraveled the wrap, moving it to fit around his foot and ankle. Once it was on tightly enough, he put the clip on the end to hold it in place.
Ocean-blue eyes watched the redhead distantly, spacing out as he subconsciously asked. "Who was that out there…?" Axel looked up at him and sighed.
"I'm not sure, Roxas… But whoever it was… I'm pretty sure she's the cause of that accident," He replied, barely bringing Roxas any closer to reality.
"I know she is… I saw her before it happened, but she disappeared before I could show you…"
Axel finished treating the sprain as best he could, and then sat up on the bed next to Roxas. "Hn… We should warn the others soon…. After all, we can't have anybody else hurt, right?"
He nodded, still spacing out. Axel spoke up again. "Roxas. If anything happens to you again… I'm going after her myself." And with that, he got up and walked through the exit of the room.
Roxas could only wonder… What was going to happen to him? To Axel? To everyone else? He didn't have the answers to those questions, and he could only hope that somewhere along their days to come, he'd find them.
-------------------------------------------
Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Chapter 4 should be out sometimes soon. I just may get to work on it faster than this one… I hope to get more reviews next time, when our well-known characters get start getting into a heap of trouble! A rebirth will occur, a journey will begin, and a love will begin to appear.
Seeya next time!
Melodious Nocturne Stalker