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Notes:
If you're expecting some questions to be answered in this chapter, then you'd be right. If you were expecting it to answer some questions without posing even more, you'd be wrong. I'll figure out what's going on eventually.
This chapter is longer and has a lot more divisions, so just be aware of that.
Also, thank you to those who reviewed/followed/favourited this story last chapter. It really does mean something to know that you're enjoying something which just tumbled out of my head on a whim.
Chapter II
A Quiver of Cobras
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Of all the places to be within the Game world, the most dangerous was The World That Never Was. If you even managed to get to it in the first place (for it technically did not exist), it was riddled with some of the nastiest aegrotii in the realms. Your chances of survival were slim, if at all existent. Though that was only what some people believed.
Others believed it to be perhaps the safest realm of all. Well, if you managed to get within the walls of the Dark City. These people's reasoning was simple: The ruling faction of The World That Never Was was none other than Organization XIII.
Though, it was a stretch to call them a faction, and many scoffed at hearing it called that. A faction was supposed to be programmed into the game's system. Faction representatives were always NPCs. Each of the realms had their own residing factions, except for the few Wild Realms, which more often than not were reigned by a Perfugium – a city intended as a safe refuge to players of any and all factions. 'Reigned' wasn't really the right term, though, for Perfugium had no need for NPC leaders.
The World That Never Was had been a Wild Realm, and the Dark City a Perfugium. It would have stayed that way forever if not for Organization XIII, a coveted Collegium of only the most skilled Players. So coveted, they only allowed thirteen members at a time. Thirteen members, and yet they'd managed to gain so much strength and standing that they were able to convert a Perfugium to a Praesidium, conquer the Castle That Never Was (which had been until then heralded as the most deadly dungeon in the realms) and make it their headquarters, and essentially become the Game world's first Collegium faction, presiding over The World That Never Was.
Every Player, NPC and their pet cat knew the name of Organization XIII. They were infamous; notorious. Their members were recognised by the black leather coats they donned, and there were many who less-than-affectionately nicknamed them "Nobodies", in reference to the seemingly emotionless demeanour with which they carried out the unknown quests and missions their leader (Xemnas, the most heartless of them all) tasked them with.
The reputation was a bit harsh, in Roxas' opinion. He was the newest member, filling the position of thirteenth after the death of another member caused every other number above his to move up a rank and vacate number XIII, the Organization's lowest rank. Roxas didn't mind this so much. It was achievement enough to have gotten a position at all – Organization XIII may not have been popular for the most part, but there were plenty of Players within the Dark City who would give their left eye to be one of the thirteen numbers. That way they'd match Xigbar, and the Organization would finally have an even number of eyes, at least.
Being in Organization XIII was an accomplishment, sure, but the hard work didn't stop after initiation. The missions were not easy, not in the slightest. Well, they were easy in theory. Every day they were all sent out to different areas of The World That Never Was and various other realms to fulfil their daily aegrotus quota. Easy enough. Exhausting, and certainly dirty work, but easy enough, with his elaborate dual falchions and a forty-four magnum as backup. It was the chores at HQ that were trickier… particularly kitchen duty. As the lowest-ranking member, he had the honour of having the most chores to complete. Utter joy.
"Rooxaaas!"
With a sickening squelch, Roxas pulled a falchion free of its temporary sheath in the head of an aegrotus. Its thick, dark blood clung to the steel blade in strings and tendrils. Making a face, he gave the sword a shake. It didn't really help. Both of his swords were coated in the foul, sticky substance.
"Over here!" he called in reply to his name. He held both swords in one hand, and with some difficulty removed the desecrated glove of the other. With his newly-freed hand he pushed back the hood of his coat and ran his fingers through his illogical hair.
He wasn't the only one with illogical hair, however. He saw the bright red before he could even see Axel's face. Maybe insane hair was one of the criteria of being an Organization XIII member.
Unlike Roxas, Axel had managed to keep himself completely clean. Not even the tiniest splatter of viscous aegrotus blood. By the looks of it, he'd already sent his Chakrams back into the data cloud.
"Yeeeeeesh, how did you manage that?" his fire-headed friend asked, looking Roxas up and down with an amused expression on his face; one eyebrow raised, smirk firmly in place.
"Not all of us use throwing weapons, jerk," Roxas replied, rolling his eyes.
"Not all of you are skilled enough for them." Axel winked.
"Oh, give me a break. It's not half as bad as yesterday."
"You're right. It's half again as bad."
Roxas glared as he sent his falchions into the Collegium data cloud. "It is not."
"Trust me, it is. But don't worry about it. Here." The redhead chucked him a small purple spray bottle. Roxas caught it easily in his un-gloved hand and examined it.
"And this is…?"
"It's a new item Vexen's been developing. He named it 'munidor', but everyone just calls it insta-clean," Axel explained.
Roxas frowned. "And I never knew about this until now, why…?"
Axel laughed in a frustratingly exaggerated way. "Really? Shut up, thirteen."
Scowling, Roxas held up the spray. "It won't turn me into a lepus or something, will it?"
"Nah, only the prototype did that."
"What!?"
"Just use it, Roxas!"
So Roxas did. He aimed it towards his chest and pressed down the top of the bottle. Immediately he was encased within purple steam, and for a split second he feared for his life, before the haze cleared and he was greeted by the sight of Axel nodding in approval.
"Yep, now I don't want to puke when I look at you quite as much."
"Really? The sight of you still makes me gag," Roxas retorted.
"Ohoho, good one, Roxy. Maybe you should start doing comedy acts in your free time. Oh, wait, you don't have any free time, boot boy!" Axel laughed heartily at his own joke while Roxas simply stared at him, eyebrow raised. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go into town and get some ice cream."
"Ice cream? Shouldn't we be heading back so I can get on with my boot boy duties?" Roxas inquired.
Axel grinned. "I wouldn't want to keep you from your laundry, but as your superior, I order you to come into town and get ice cream with me, for I very much want ice cream." He winked.
"Oh yeah?" Roxas returned the grin. "Then I shall accompany you, O Glorious Number Eight."
Yet as they set off, Roxas could feel the apprehension setting in.
He hadn't returned to Twilight Town in over a year.
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"Give me a status report on server three, stat!"
"Up and running…."
"But?"
"Completely swamped with glitches, I don't understand it. It's as if a virus has gotten into the system, but that's not possible."
"It's completely possible. The virus has been there since the beginning. The whole system was built to accommodate it."
"The players!?"
"Who else? Who do you think keeps running these server attacks?"
"There's a whole host of outside forces who would love to shut down the servers! With millions of lives in their hands, they could get the hegemony to do whatever they liked."
"Oh, please. The outsiders barely have toothbrushes, let alone the kind of advanced technology needed to trump this system. The players are the only logical solution."
"Why would the players want to destroy the system that's been keeping them alive for so long? It doesn't make any sense."
"They don't want to destroy it, they want to control it! You just said it yourself!"
"How would they even know about the hegemony?"
"They could be like us."
"What, some of the old hosts? No way, they know better than to pull a stunt like this."
"Maybe. You know there's only one way we can find out."
"Right…"
"Come on, you knew it had to happen eventually. I'll beta the host software tomorrow to make sure this side is covered. We'll go in on Friday at the earliest."
"I'll… I'll tell him, then."
"I'll go with you."
"You know what he'll want us to do while we're there."
"Yeah. I don't understand why he doesn't want to go in there himself. It's… safer.
"It's not as safe as it used to be."
"There's really no hope, is there?"
"No."
"Hold on, there's some kind of interference..."
"Oh my gosh, is that...?"
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"When do you…going to…?"
"I…soon."
"…ra?"
"Sora?"
Light. Bright light. Painful light. His eyelids flickered, unable to stay open, before he brought a hand up to shield them. The light still wouldn't go away.
"Do you feel okay?" Kairi. Definitely Kairi.
"I… I think so."
The light suddenly disappeared, and he was able to open his eyes properly. The first thing he could see was his arm in front of his eyes. His right arm, bandage-free, his recent injury reduced to months-old scars.
"Holy… How long was I out?"
"Hour or two." Riku. Great to know his friends were… watching him sleep. Real great.
"So either you found a healer or I've been possessed by a demon for the past few months and can't remember anything."
"The former… I hope."
Sora laughed. It felt nice to not be in nauseating agony. He lowered his arm and pushed himself up into a sitting position, perhaps a bit too quickly. The world tilted before him and it was only after a few blinks that it came into focus. He didn't recognise his surroundings, and at first, was very confused at the concept of being in a bed in a plain, but clean bedroom. All he'd woken up to for so long was the canvas ceiling of their tent, the cold, thin blanket they'd shared, and the solid ground underneath the tent floor. They'd really been missing out.
The bed was a double, against the wall opposite the door. The only other furnishings in the room were a bedside table to his right, a picture of a vase of flowers on the right wall (not even an actual vase of flowers, just a picture of one) and an armchair by the window that was on the left wall. The armchair was currently occupied by Riku, who watched him with his usual blank expression. Kairi sat cross-legged at the end of the bed, smiling at him. They both looked cleaner than he'd ever seen them, and both were wearing clothes he'd never seen before. He was sure he'd memorised their whole wardrobes, since they only consisted of about three outfits, washed sporadically in streams and lakes they passed by. It was also odd seeing them without weapons. He supposed that wasn't really a good thing, that he was so used to seeing them always so ready to put a bullet or knife into any potential threats. It was bad that there were even so many threats in the first place.
"It's not as safe as it used to be."
The bright light flashed over his eyes again, but he blinked it off and shook his head, uneasily dismissing it as part of his vertigo.
"How do you feel?" Kairi asked gently.
"Surprisingly good, considering how I felt the last time I was conscious."
Riku smiled – an actual smile, rather than a sardonic smirk. Amazing. "That's the sana, for you. We're in Pence's parents' guest room, if you were wondering."
"What, they let us stay?"
"They couldn't exactly say no to someone unconscious in the middle of a Perfugium, could they?" Kairi chirped. Sora felt his cheeks warm slightly.
"Not my fault!"
Kairi's expression changed very suddenly into a frown and she hurriedly stood up from the bed, standing at its foot with arms crossed. "Well if you hadn't forced me to stay inside the tent, maybe this wouldn't have happened."
"And maybe it would have been you who got hurt instead," Sora replied levelly. "It's a good thing it was me."
"What, because you think I couldn't have handled an infection? You don't know that I would even have gotten infected at all!" Kairi's glare was at its usual intensity, perhaps even more so, considering that she was perfectly clean, her face free from the grime he was painfully aware of on his own face.
His retort burst out of him before he could stop to think about it. "You probably couldn't have handled it!"
"What did you say?" Her glare turned livid, fists clenched by her sides and cheeks flushed with anger.
"Oh, for crying out loud, you were sick just a few days ago!" He was sure his own cheeks were flushed, more with frustration than with anger.
"Ugh! You boys, you always have to act the hero, don't you? Both of you!" She briefly included Riku in her glare. "This may just be a game on some freaking self-sufficient mainframe system, but it's much more than just pixels and variables, it's our lives! If you aren't going to treat it like it is, then I don't think I want to be around to see you destroy yourselves."
And with that, she whirled around, wine-red hair flying behind her, and left the room. The door slammed none too gently in her wake.
"Kairi, wait-!" Sora struggled to disentangle himself from the bed's clean white sheets. He stumbled a few steps before vertigo and gravity got the better of him.
Even the thin carpet was softer than anything they'd ever encountered in the wilderness.
A pale hand appeared at the edge of his vision. He looked up.
Riku. Who else? He took the hand, and was pulled to his feet. Riku's cool gaze bore into him.
"I know what you're going to say," Sora said quickly.
"You should have just kept your mouth shut."
"I knew you were going to say that."
"Sora, I'm serious. She's just worried about you, okay? It's been a long day." Riku's logic and reasoning almost made Sora want to start shouting again.
"It's been a long day for me, too, you know. And holy shit, you could have… intercepted, or something!"
A silver eyebrow disappeared into its accompanying mop of silver hair.
"You could have tried, at least!"
"And had my head bitten off by both of you? I'll pass on that any day. Just give Kairi some time to cool off, man." He clapped his hand onto Sora's shoulder. "Come on, I'll show you where the bathroom is. No offence, but you really need a shower."
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By the time they'd finally got up to the top of the clock tower, it was nearly dark already. The sun wasn't even visible; the faintly orange glow on the horizon was the only evidence that it had ever been there in the first place.
Roxas lowered himself onto the ledge, barely able to see the ground in the rapidly fading light. He could hear Axel sit down to his right, the plastic bag rustling as he got comfortable.
"We're not even going to be able to see anything," Roxas complained.
"Well whose fault is that, slowpoke?" Axel countered.
"Not mine!" Even in the lacking light, Roxas could still see Axel's raised eyebrow. "Okay, maybe mine."
"You bet." The redhead offered him an ice-cream, which Roxas accepted with a mutter in thanks. He started on his own, all but demolishing half of it within a couple of bites. Roxas watched him, hardly having taken two licks of his own.
"Do you never get brain freeze?"
"Nope. Why would I?"
"Uh, because you're human?"
Axel cackled. "You sure about that?"
Roxas smirked. "Sometimes, not so much."
They lapsed into silence, staring out into the darkness. The view was still spectacular despite it. It was both eerie and peaceful, seeing the town shrouded in darkness as it was.
"It's been a while," Roxas said, finally breaking the silence.
Axel didn't reply for a while. Then, "Sorry."
Roxas blinked at him, surprised. He couldn't be sure in the darkness, but his friend's face looked expressionless. "What for?"
"I kinda… forgot? About this town, I mean."
"It's okay," Roxas sighed, shaking his head. "I have to admit, it's actually nice to be back. I mean, as long as I don't run into anyone I know, I'll be fine, right? And what are the chances of that at this hour?"
"Right," Axel agreed, clapping him on the back. "You'll be fine."
"Maybe we should come back when it's actually still light some time."
"How about tomorrow?"
"Seriously?"
"Deadly." He really did look serious. "Come on, we should be getting back."
So they left, with only a little difficulty finding their way in the dark. After all, they were quite used to darkness.
As it seemed, they'd missed something big at headquarters.
"A fourteenth member!?" Axel exclaimed.
"Sweet, someone I can boss around!" Roxas cheered.
Saїx harrumphed. "If you hadn't dawdled, you would have returned to the castle in time to see her induction. However, we were forced to proceed without you."
Axel straightened slightly. "I wanted ice cream. Roxas dutifully accompanied me."
Number Seven's glare was as cold and level as always. Roxas could see why some players got the idea that Organization XIII members didn't have hearts. "And what about your duty to the Organization, Number Eight?"
A flippant shrug. "Forgot."
"Of course you did." The glare intensified. "No matter, what's done is done. Just don't do it again." And with that, Saїx stalked off.
"I guess we're not getting ice cream tomorrow?" Roxas ventured cautiously.
Axel barked a laugh, but it was tense. "Of course we are. Don't worry about getting in trouble, I'll cover for you."
"I'm really not worried about that, I'm more worried about Saїx turning you into ice with his eyes," Roxas admitted. "Then you wouldn't be able to cover for me."
The next laugh was a good deal more genuine. "Gee, thanks. You'd better get on with your chores now, boot boy."
Roxas rolled his eyes. "Right, whatever. See you tomorrow, then."
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Axel watched Roxas' retreat down the hallway, made sure he was out of site before purposefully taking off in the same direction Saїx had gone.
He was leaning stiffly against the second corner.
"Beautiful," he remarked. "I might just cry."
Axel sighed, placing his hands on his hips an impatient fashion. "Alright, what's going on? We gonna rename ourselves Organization Fourteen now, or what?"
Saїx scoffed. "I highly doubt it. The registry is hard enough to deal with even when we don't all have bounties on our heads."
"We don't all have bounties on our heads."
"Two out of fourteen don't, and they're both too low rank for their signatures to hold any kind of legitimate power in the registry." Saїx pushed himself away from the wall, staring Axel levelly in the eyes. "And one will never have that kind of legitimacy, no matter what rank she is."
Axel scowled. "What's the superior playing at? You're his little pet; you should know."
Saїx's scowl had about five times the force of Axel's. "The superior's actions are for the good of the Organization. It is neither mine nor your place to question him."
"Since when did this collegium become an out-an-out dictatorship?"
"When has it ever been anything but? It's certainly never been a democracy, it's definitely not sovereignty, and the only resemblance of an oligarchy is the Organization over the people of The World That Never Was," Saїx reasoned, though it was more defence than reasoning, with the surly tone he took.
"A government within a government. Fantastic. Though I always thought we were more of a cabal, really," Axel said, reassuming his usual nonchalant tone.
Saїx's scowl momentarily deepened, before he said, "Well, are you going to come meet Number Fourteen or would you rather go tease your little boot boy some more?"
Now it was Axel's turn to reassume a scowl. He very nearly said that yes, he would like to go and tease his little boot boy some more, because Roxas was a good deal more pleasant to talk to. But he didn't. He could tell without even having met Number XIV that something was off. Organization XIII had its name for a reason, and for so long, Xemnas had refused to go beyond thirteen members. Why, after barely inducting a new XIII, would he suddenly decide to defy the entire principle of the Organization? And so, Axel said, "Lead the way, Moon Freak."
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"Where in the realms could she have gotten to? Dammit, if this side of town is this tiny and the trains don't run again until dawn, where the hell is she hiding!?"
Sora punctuated his words with a fierce kick to a rather solid wall. He only succeeded in hurting himself, of course, then hopped about, clutching his foot and cursing at the wall as if the poor bricks were at fault.
Riku sighed, finding it extremely hard to resist the temptation to facepalm. "Calm down, Sora. She might have already gone back to Pence's and we're just running a wild goose chase. You know what she's like."
Sora stopped hopping around, placing his food gingerly on the paving. Riku's practised night vision was good enough to make out the younger boy's particularly disgruntled expression, even without the aid of the white half-moon laughing at them through the black veil of night sky. "Trapped," it said gleefully. "Trapped in an elaborate piece of software."
He would have preferred complete darkness.
"Then what are we still doing out here?!"
"I said she might have gone back; don't expect me to know all of the answers."
He'd said it calmly, but with a slight jerk, Sora went from looking angry to looking hurt and confused.
"Alright," he said, sounding defeated. "Sorry, man." His eyes were fixed on a spot a few paces to the left of Riku's left shoe.
Oh boy. "Sora?" No response, no eye contact, not the faintest flicker of recognition that he'd even heard anything. "Hey, dude, come on." He placed both hands on his friend's shoulders, leaning down slightly to peer into his face.
Blink. Blink. Eye contact. "Huh?"
Riku sighed, giving Sora a single, gentle shake. "Don't freak out, but you need to forget about Kairi for now. Okay? She can take care of herself, if she hasn't already gone back to Pence's."
"Forget about Kairi? Wh-why!? I need to apologise to her!"
That time, with the direct hands-on-shoulder's contact, Riku was able to feel the jolt that ran quite suddenly from Sora's right collarbone to the tips of his right-hand fingers, causing a subtle spasm. He'd felt the electrical current passing under his hand, but the physical contact had neither broken nor interrupted or redirected the flow.
"Because I need you to calm down, Sora. I'm not kidding. You'll get to apologise to her later."
"But I-"
"Sora!"
Again, the jolt ran down Sora's arm.
This time, Sora felt it.
He yelped, and pulled away from Riku's grip, his left hand automatically flying to his forearm, the site of his earlier wound. "What was that?"
"The glitch," Riku answered. "It's not an ordinary glitch; I think its your SIR transplant glitching out."
Sora just looked confused, with one eyebrow raised almost comically. If anything, it was an indication that he was back to his normal self. At least for now. "…SIR transplant?"
Once again, Riku fought the urge to facepalm. "Yes, the Sensory Immersion Receptor transplant, it's what allows your corporeal form to exist within the game's software. It's the one physical difference between us players from the outside, and Game-born players like Hayner, Pence and Olette."
Sora quite suddenly paled. "Oh," he said. "That transplant. I wanted to forget about that."
Riku couldn't help but wince. "Yeah, sorry for bringing it up. But if not for your… experiences, I wouldn't have thought to suspect it."
"Nah, I appreciate it. A quick diagnosis means a quick cure, right?" Sora said, feigning cheerfulness.
"Sure, Sora," Riku laughed, though they both knew this wasn't the case.
Even Riku couldn't be sure of anything anymore.
"Let's go back, then. Kairi will probably be there and act as if it was us who ran off," Sora joked, and they both set off in the direction of Pence's home.
"We kinda did," reasoned Riku. "I did tell you we should have waited."
"Eh, the past few hours have been a bit fuzzy." He slowed slightly. "The whole day, really."
Riku smirked, and tried to lighten the mood. "Those cornices are getting way aggressive."
Sora laughed, giving his best friend a playful – but solid – punch on the shoulder. "Aw, shut it."
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"Twilight Town again?"
Axel shrugged. "The place is pretty much crawling with aegrotii. Well, the forest is."
Roxas frowned. "I guess, but we've never been sent to the same place twice in a row."
"Afraid of running into someone you know?" Axel teased.
"Not likely. No one willingly leaves the safety of a Perfugium."
"You did."
"Yeah, well…" Roxas set down his spoon and pushed himself away from the table. "I guess I'm just different."
Axel smirked, having finished his own breakfast several minutes ago. He stood up to join his friend and partner. "Careful, that's not always a good thing."
"Oh, shut it." Roxas pushed him, but made little difference. He was distracted partway through the act, his eye caught by something on the other side of the room. Axel followed his gaze. "Is that Number Fourteen?" Roxas asked in a hushed voice.
"Sure is," Axel confirmed. "Number Fourteen, Xion. Falling in love already, Roxy?"
Roxas rolled his eyes and dug a sharp elbow into Axel's ribs – it was about as high as he could reach. "Am I not allowed to be curious?" Axel could have sworn that he saw a faint tinge of pink on the boy's cheeks. "She just looks… lonely."
Again, Axel shrugged, ushering Roxas towards the door. "Nothing we can do about that right now. Plenty of time to be making friends later."
So they returned to the woods of Twilight Town, split up, and continued their work from the previous day, summoning their respective weapons from the Organization's data cloud.
As Axel's chakrams returned obediently to his hands, the blades coated with sticky blood from the aegrotus that crumpled to the ground before him, he heard footsteps crunching through the undergrowth.
Instantly, the redhead knew that it was not Roxas, for Roxas was a good deal more subtle. And anyway, Roxas didn't have six feet.
Curious, Axel edged closer to the footsteps, freezing as they stopped altogether.
"Hey, what's goin' on?" whined a voice. Axel used the sound to take a few further steps before pulling himself up onto a low branch of a tree.
"It's too quiet," said a much quieter second voice. Axel easily scaled the tree, then moved along the thick, interlocking branches in the direction of the voices. "We haven't seen any life the whole time we've been walking. No cornices, no aegrotii, not even any bovem."
Ah, thought Axel. My bad. By now he was right above the speakers, looking down on the heads of three kids who looked like they'd been in the wilderness a long time. They were armed, but not heavily. Two had guns, the silver-haired boy and the wine-haired girl, but the brown-haired boy had nothing but a rather blunt hunting knife. Hope he's not right-handed, Axel thought, noting the bloodied bandage on the kid's arm.
"Isn't that a good thing?" said the brown-haired boy.
"I don't think it is," said the girl, joining the conversation.
The brown-haired boy sighed. "So, what? We stand here and what until whatever's scared away all the wildlife comes and eats us? Hell, it was probably us. We probably stink of death and burning bird-brain."
Axel sniffed the air as quietly as possible. The three kids did, in fact, smell like they'd been near something burning. He wasn't sure about the bird-brain, part; it was something he'd never tried burning.
"Charming," muttered the girl. The silver-haired boy grunted and resumed walking. The brown-haired boy sighed again, wiping his good hand across his face before following suit, the girl close behind.
Axel waited until their footsteps had faded before dropping down from the branch he had perched on. I think that was the first time I've seen players in the wilderness since… yeesh, how long has it been?
The redhead frowned, and almost reluctantly returned to fulfilling his aegrotus quota, carving a path towards town.
Hours later, and he decided to go find Roxas.
"Lemme guess… ice cream?" said the blond, catching the insta-clean that Axel threw him.
"You got it!"
Roxas rolled his eyes (his usual reaction to Axel's suggestions) but agreed nonetheless.
They neared town, passing near the old derelict manor. They were taking the back way, using the hole in the wall of the tram commons, by Roxas' suggestion.
"Wait, why is there a hole in the wall of the tram commons?" Axel had questioned.
A nervous laugh escaped Roxas. "It's, uh… It's a long story."
Axel was about to open his mouth to ask again about the hole in the tram commons' wall when Roxas suddenly froze. Axel immediately understood why.
Voices.
"…old, rotting house, we'll probably fall through the floor!"
"It's private property, too."
"And that!"
"Not helping, Olette!"
"It's true, though!"
Through the sparse trees, Axel was able to see a flash of orange before Roxas seized his arm and pulled him with surprising strength behind the nearest tree.
"I don't know what your problem is, Hayner. We're going aren't we?"
"Hey, I'm just trying to understand why you don't wanna see any ghosts."
"So… you believe in ghosts?"
"What!? No! That's not what I…"
The voices trailed off momentarily. Axel and Roxas were crouched between the roots of the tree Roxas had pulled them behind, his grip still painfully tight on Axel's arm.
One of the voices – a girl's – spoke again. "Hayner? What's…"
Roxas's head whipped around to stare at Axel, eyes wide and… terrified? Of kids? Axel was confused for all of two seconds before it registered.
"Your friends?" he mouthed, as a fourth voice spoke. The voice of the girl that Axel had seen with her two companions earlier.
"Um… hi! We don't mean you any harm, we just, uh… We're looking for a healer."
This day just kept getting weirder.
Roxas nodded mutely. Axel nodded in reply, then looked around briefly for an escape. A line of large trees would be sufficient enough to cover their exit, as by the sound of their voices, the three players were in such a place that Roxas' friends' backs would be turned to them. As for the players… well, Axel hoped they would be too concerned with their own agenda to notice.
Axel used gestures to convey his plan to Roxas, who nodded again, face pale. The redhead counted down with his fingers: three, two, one.
Quietly, they dashed from tree to tree, until the voices of the six teenagers were faint murmurs, and they were well out of sight. They relaxed on the hiding, but neither said a word until they were safely through the hole in the tram commons.
"So…" Axel began.
"Once again, it's a long story. It… wouldn't exactly make their day if they saw me."
Axel let out a whistle. "Yeesh, what did you do to get that far on their bad side?"
Roxas said nothing, but Axel was sure he saw the boy's eyes flicker towards the crumbling rupture in the wall. The redhead decided not to pursue the subject.
As Axel purchased ice cream, he noticed Roxas staring towards the hole again. Taking the ice creams from the lady and handing one to Roxas, who absently accepted it, Axel followed his gaze. Five teenagers had just come through the unofficial entrance, three of whom being the kids Axel had spied on earlier. The brown-haired boy looked in considerably worse condition than he had earlier.
"Pence ran back through earlier," Roxas explained, before Axel could ask about the missing kid. "Getting a doctor, probably."
Axel peered at his friend out of the corner of his eye. Roxas looked uncharacteristically melancholic. He hadn't had such an expression on his face since his first few days with the Organization.
Naturally, Axel would have loved to find out exactly what kind of history Roxas had with the three teenagers and the hole in the wall. But while he was curious, he was respectful enough to keep quiet and hope that Roxas would spill the beans in his own time.
"Come on," he said, clapping Roxas on the back. "Let's go to the clock tower."
Roxas looked up at him and grinned. "Yeah."
New Terminology:
Collegium: A guild or clan of players, often united for a common purpose. A Collegium can help to greatly increase the reputation of a Player alone, or a Player alone can greatly help to increase the reputation of a Collegium. Ranking systems vary depending on the decisions of the Collegium founder, and some even choose to cast aside the hierarchical system and create an open, free-for-all, democratically governed Collegium.
Praesidium: The capital city of a realm, ruled by a faction. More often than not is the home to faction leaders, who oversee that the Praesidium is always fortified. Conflict is not banned and so there are very strict entry regulations in order to protect the city's inhabitants. For this reason, many less eloquent players refer to Praesidium as fortress cities.
Munidor: An item developed by the Lab of Organization XIII. Instantly cleans a player and their clothing of all mud, dirt, blood and other undesirable substances. Not recommended as a shower replacement. Side effects may include the spontaneous growth of lepus ears or tail. Organization XIII Laboratories take no responsibility for the appearance of any undesirable appendages and/or physical modification of pre-existing appendages and warn that the user may use this item at their own risk.
Data Cloud: A vault, of sorts, used by Collegiums so that members may call upon and store items that they do not wish to keep on their person. Permissions and storage allowances vary on the rank of the individual, and are controlled by the controlled by the Collegium's Data Master, an individual chosen by the leader or voted in by the other member's, depending on the Collegium's system.
SIR Transplant: Sensory Immersion Receptor transplant. A small device grafted into a small hole made in the player's right-hand collarbone. Allows the player to take corporeal form within the game software and thereby be completely immersed and able to interact with the game's environment via the senses. Not present in Game-born players, as they are born as a part of the software's code. SIR transplant failures are very rare and very dangerous, as they manipulate not only how the player perceives their environment, but how the environment perceives the player, and, most perilously, how the player perceives him or herself.
Notes (cont.):
Quick note about shipping: I basically ship everything. As a result, I ship nothing. I ship everything and nothing. That makes no sense to anyone but me, right? Doesn't matter, just know that whilst there are no 'ships' in this, per se, there will be hints of every pairing ever, probably in more of a friendship-like tone. I tend to prefer friendship moments to romantic moments, as far as most of the popular ships are concerned.
Quick note about the Organization: Normally I would spell 'organisation' with an 's' because I also spell 'colour' with a 'u' and 'speciality' with a second 'i'. However, for the sake of the fact that 'Organization XIII' is the name of an organisation, I will spell it with a 'z' (which I also say as 'zed').
Note about terminology: Each chapter only includes the new terminology because otherwise the list will get very long. If I get to chapter five I might do a 'terminology so far' section which will include all of the introduced terminologies as a handy point of reference.
Don't forget to review/follow/fave because, hey... motivation!
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