Okay, here it is at last. I'm so sorry for the wait, but my laptop broke. Anyway, this chapter reveals a lot of stuff, so pay attention! ...Okay, not a lot, but important stuff. Previous disclaimers and warnings apply.
Without further ado, CHAPTER 4!
"…Excuse me?" was all Roxas could come up with. Axel rubbed the back of his neck and pulled his mouth up into an uneasy grin.
"Yeah…maybe I shouldn't have told you that." Dropping his hand from his neck, Axel distractedly pulled at his glove while Roxas composed himself.
"I guess it shouldn't come as much of a surprise." Roxas grumbled after a few minutes. Axel quirked his mouth sympathetically and led Roxas out into the woods. There, in a clearing, he began teaching Roxas how to fight.
He was exhausted when he fell into bed that night. His head hurt from being schooled by Zexion, and his arms hurt from blocking Axel's attacks. Hopefully, he'd just be able to sleep tonight. Stripping out of his school clothes, Roxas changed into his pajamas and slipped under the covers, praying for restful sleep. But fate was not kind.
He didn't dream; no, it wasn't a nightmare that woke him. He woke to get a drink of water to find that his door was open. Strange, hadn't he closed it when he went to bed? Maybe Demyx had opened before he went to Zexion's room. He didn't think anything of it, that is, until he heard it. Drip, drip, drip… A sudden cold swept through the room. Roxas took his hand off the doorknob and slowly turned around. There, in the light cast by the window, was the man from before. Roxas didn't even wait to hear what he said.
Sprinting out of the room, Roxas headed for Zexion and Marluxia's room. He had no rosary of his own, but Zexion and Marluxia always had theirs. Frantically he pounded on the door, but he received no reply. Breathing hard he glanced back over his shoulder. The ghost man was rapidly approaching.
"Jonathan! There you are! I've been looking all over for you." Roxas stopped thinking; he just acted on instinct. He stopped knocking and forced the door open. Hysterically he searched the empty room. Where were they!? Why weren't they here!? A flash of silver caught his eye and without another thought he grabbed whatever it was and ran out of the room, down the hall. As he ran, he looked at what he had grabbed. A rosary?
Well, a great lot of good that did him. He had no idea how to use one! He chanced a look over his shoulder and ran faster. The ghost was almost there!
Taking turns at random, Roxas found that he was in a hallway he recognized. Pushing open the first door he came across, Roxas threw himself headlong into the…cafeteria? But it wasn't.
All around him people in colorful dresses and neat black suits twirled to music only they could hear. Without realizing it, Roxas had thrown himself into a room full of dancing spirits. He staggered into the center of the room and watched, wide eyed, as slowly, one by one, the couples stopped dancing and drifted toward him.
"Jonathan! What a pleasure to see you!"
"The lady's waiting, Jonathan!"
"Will you dance with me now, Jonathan?"
The people drifted past, touching his arm, patting his face, holding his hand. They passed, and disappeared, only to reappear on the floor with their partner. The cycle continued until Roxas noticed that there was blood on his hand.
He gasped and held it away from his body, reminding himself to breathe. He looked around and saw that there were smears of blood on the floor, and a constant drip, drip filled the room. All of a sudden, the dancing ceased.
"How could you do this to me, Jonathan?" The cry grew louder as more people took it up. "How could you do this to me, Jonathan?!" They began to close in, some whispering, some screaming, but all were reaching out and grabbing hold of his clothes. In vain, Roxas tried to push the hands away.
He clutched the rosary to his chest and stepped back again, back pressed into a corner. They drew nearer and nearer, blood mingling with each other's as they all attempted to pull Roxas closer to the mob.
Roxas couldn't move, couldn't speak. In a last act of desperation, or maybe it was just hysteria, Roxas squeezed his eyes shut, pulled the rosary to him and screamed.
"Help! Somebody help!"
--
Burning. …Burning. What was burning? Axel sleepily sat up and rubbed his eyes. Hissing in pain, he grabbed the rosary hanging around his neck. Damn, someone must really be in trouble. Leaping to his feet, he glanced down at the cross while he sprinted down the hallway. Demyx, 1D A. Demyx? What the hell was Demyx doing in the cafeteria?
--
Zexion blinked at his wrist, where a slight burning had started. Marluxia stopped mid-sentence and looked down at his chest where his own rosary had begun to heat up.
"Was?1" he asked, pulling it out of his shirt collar. Upon closer examination, it said, Demyx, 1D A. But that didn't make any sense. He glanced up at Zexion, who in turn, looked over to the blonde man sitting on the couch.
"Demyx?"
"Yeah?"
"Who has your rosary?"
--
By now, every exorcist in the school was running to help "Demyx" who had gotten himself into a fine mess. But all grumbling and moaning stopped when one, they noticed that Demyx was running with them to the cafeteria, and two, they felt the wave of dread that spread along the hallway.
"Demyx? What?" asked Larxene. "If you're here, who needs help?"
"Roxas," Demyx answered with certainty. "I left my rosary in my room. He's the only one who could have taken it." The pace quickened. An untrained exorcist at the mercy of who knows how many spirits? It meant death.
Axel arrived first. Flinging the doors open, all he saw was a mass of color in one corner of the cafeteria. In it, he could hear hoarse cries of "Help!" over the shouts of "Jonathan! How could you do this?" Jonathan? Who the hell is Jonathan? Axel didn't stop to think before he charged into the fray.
"Vergessen ist ewig!" he shouted, and the others followed his example.
"Vergessen ist ewig!"
"Vergessen ist ewig!"
Finally, it was safe. All of the spirits had either fled or been exorcised. With the threat neutralized, all of the Organization members turned to look at Roxas. The boy was shaking as Demyx and Axel sat down on either side of him. They each put an arm under one of Roxas's and pulled him to his feet, supporting him as his legs threatened to give out. Xigbar marched forward.
"What the hell do you think you're doing kid?" he shouted, and Roxas flinched. "You could've been killed!"
"Hey," Axel snapped, "lay off." Gently steering him into a cafeteria chair, Demyx and Axel lowered Roxas into it and instructed him to take deep breaths. Roxas did, and slowly color returned to his face.
"There," Demyx said, "all better." Roxas just nodded, still concentrating on breathing.
"So," Axel started when Roxas had calmed. "Want to tell me what happened?" Inhaling deeply, Roxas nodded. All of the exorcists gathered around.
"Well, I was in my room when I woke up and noticed the door was open. So I walked over to close it when I felt really cold and…"
--
Zexion didn't sleep that night. No, he stayed up researching the history of the house. The things he found did little to answer his questions. He already knew about the murder, he already knew about the remodeling grant. He already knew. Where were the new things he had never seen before? Where was the information he so desperately sought? Who was Jonathan?
--
Roxas didn't get much sleep either. He was so jittery while Axel and Demyx led him back to his room that Axel paused and offered an alternative.
"Hey, Roxy? Wanna sleep in my room tonight?" Roxas quickly looked up. Demyx made an inquisitive sound in his throat.
"Why?" Demyx asked.
"Because he doesn't need to be alone now, and you're planning on helping Zex research, right?" Demyx nodded sheepishly. "So, how 'bout it, kid?"
Roxas nodded. "Okay."
--
The night had been long, but Roxas soon beat himself into submission and forced himself to go to sleep. He had lain awake for two hours before he drifted off. He had no dreams, good or bad, well, not that he could remember.
And to make the situation even better, he was in Axel's room. With Axel. It was possibly the best thing had ever happened to him. But unbeknownst to him, Axel was thinking exactly the same thing.
--
His training doubled over the next week. Zexion quizzed him on what he learned (and some things he hadn't), Axel's attacks became more vicious, and now, Demyx had been assigned to help teach Roxas how to fend off multiple attacks. All in all, he was busy.
"Move your feet!" Axel snapped as Roxas's arm came up to block the punch sent his way. Doing as Axel instructed, Roxas pulled his left foot back, pivoted, and sent Demyx stumbling to the left with a well-timed kick.
"Well done!" Demyx remarked as he righted himself.
"On guard!" Axel shouted as he ran at Roxas. Roxas ducked and gave Axel a shove to the small of his back, continuing the momentum. Staggering forward, Axel laughed. "You learn quick, kid!" He didn't see Roxas coming until it was too late.
They landed on the ground with a crash, Roxas on top of Axel. They remained like that, bodies pressed together, until Demyx cleared his throat. Roxas's face turned pink and he quickly hoisted himself off of Axel. He held out his hand and the redhead took it. Axel chuckled as Roxas pulled him to his feet.
"Attacking a guy with his back turned? That's dirty."
"Well," Roxas said with a smile, "I learned from the best."
--
"What are we going to do about him? He won't be ready in time."
"Your right. How is his training coming?"
"He learns quickly. We've already passed summoning rituals."
"Impressive. Axel?"
"The kid can move. He's gonna be better than me soon!"
"That's not hard," laughed Larxene.
"Hey!"
The Organization was meeting, without Roxas. They had had many meetings that Roxas wasn't present at, mostly to discuss what was to be done with and about him.
"He is progressing rapidly. I haven't seen anyone cover so much so fast since we found you, Zexion." The blue-haired man inclined his head and silently accepted Xemnas's praise.
"But none the less, I wasn't ready for a year. We don't have that kind of time." Everyone agreed. Something had to be done, but what? They couldn't just throw Roxas into the field without proper training.
"Zexion, skip the history. He can about that later." Zexion nodded. "Axel, move on to incorporating a rosary into your lesson. And chants." The redhead nodded as well. "All right, I guess that's all we can do. Dismissed."
--
"All right, I've gotten a lower spirit for you to exorcise. Are you ready?" Roxas nodded. "Now, it'll feel kinda strange when you first stick your hand in, but if you do it fast you won't have to feel it for long." Again, Roxas nodded, clutching his rosary. He always had bad luck around spirits. Seeing his face, Axel slung an arm around the younger boy's shoulders.
"Wha—?" Roxas's face turned alight shade of pink.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you."
The spirit turned out to be that of a woman, sitting alone at the side of a decrepit well. From her clothes, Roxas could tell she was from the same time as the dancers and the man he had encountered. Breathing deeply, he stepped forward. Her head rose.
"Jonathan?" Axel looked a bit taken aback. Her too? But Roxas had already stepped forward and extended his rosary. She got up.
"Jonathan? What are you doing? What is—" she jerked backward and coughed. Blood spilled down her chin. Axel flinched and spared a look at Roxas.
The kid persevered and forced his beads into the screaming woman. Her screaming doubled in volume as Roxas gritted his teeth and spat out, "Vergessen ist ewig."
She disappeared.
--
Zexion had been up for nearly a week. No sleep, hardly any food. Demyx was worried and feared that Zexion was going to die. Despite protests, Demyx forced Zexion to go to bed by hiding his books.
"What the—? Demyx! Where did you put them?"
"Somewhere you'll find in the morning. Now, sleep." Zexion's objections fell on deaf ears as he was tucked into bed.
"Demyx…"
"Goodnight, Zexion."
He awoke at 7 the next day. 7 p.m. Needless to say, Zexion wasn't happy.
"Do you want food?" Demyx asked when the door burst open. Zexion stormed past, clutching his book. "No? Okay."
Page after page, paragraph after paragraph, sentence after sentence, Zexion studied. Until finally, when he had been just about to give up, he found it.
"Ah ha!"
--
The Organization met that night, where a tired and slightly moody Zexion presented what he had found.
"You all know about the murder here, right?" Nods of assent were given. "Well, the killer was never found, but there were a man that was a suspect. He was singled out simply because he was the only person on the guest list who didn't end up dead. Unfortunately, he was never caught. The anniversary of the murder is coming up, that's why all the spirits are coming out. But we need to be rid of them for good. Any questions so far?" No one said anything, so Zexion took that as his cue to continue.
"What I haven't been able to find out is why. Why now? What changed to make them reenact this year?"
"A special date?" suggested Larxene. "This had gotta be what, the eightieth anniversary?"
"Eighty-first, actually," Zexion corrected.
"Nothing special about that," Axel remarked.
"Wait…" Demyx said, slowly raising a hand. "I have a question."
"Yes?" Zexion inquired.
"What was his name? The guy, I mean. The one that got away?"
"Oh, I forgot to say? His name was Jonathan. Jonathan Williamson." Axel rested his chin on his hand. So that was where the Jonathan had come from. But why call Roxas that? None of the others had ever been mistaken for the alleged killer.
"Jonathan…Williamson? Are you sure about that?" a tight, rather chocked voice asked. Everyone turned to look at the owner of the voice; Roxas.
"Yes, why?" Roxas's face had begun the change from colored to chalk white that the exorcists were familiar with. Acting from past experiences, Axel and Demyx moved to either side of the boy.
"What's wrong kid?" Axel questioned, putting a comforting hand on Roxas's shoulder. Roxas swallowed and tried to speak.
"I—Jonathan is—What—" He closed his eyes, drew in a breath, and tried again.
"Jonathan Williamson was my grandfather's name."
1. What?
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