Chapter 9 - in which GURRRL THERE BE DRAMA UP IN HERE
It was with a heavy heart that Roxas turned up to the club that evening - although seeing both Demyx and Zexion cheered him up, the guilt about his earlier insensitivity and poor choice of words hung like a black cloud over the entire evening. He had not given much thought to the pressure that was on Axel, nor his mental state after the bombshell of finding out that he was a Leech Speaker - which Reno had, in an uncharacteristically quiet moment, explained to Roxas was somewhat akin to being suddenly told you have a psychopath gene, but it comes with the ability to fly. The more he thought about it, the more rotten he felt about his thoughtless comments.
"May I have your attention please?" Xemnas called from one end of the gym. The club milled around him. He was not alone - instead, he was flanked by seven others of varying appearance - two women and five men - who hung back deferentially, silent. "Sadly, without Leon, your previous facilitators have chosen not to return, but I have managed, at great expense of effort, to acquire some new facilitators - please give them a warm welcome." There was an awkward round of half-hearted applause. "There is one more issue I would like to discuss with you. Out of all of the martial arts taught here, only one is weaponised. I would like to offer you all the chance to learn to use a weapon as well. I believe that is the reason that this club has traditionally not had that much success in the Struggle, so, to that end, I have brought some new resources with me, but it is up to you if you want to take them up - please take a moment to have a look at the rack behind me, there is a nice selection here. They are much like shinai - wooden practice weapons." Roxas froze. "If you see Xigbar here," he indicated the scarred gent to his left, "he will assist you in choosing a weapon for yourselves."
Half of the club started for the weapon rack, while the other half took up their usual places around the room, beginning the warm up without their compatriots. Zexion walked to the total opposite end of the room, ignoring the offer of weapons and burying his nose in a book labelled 'Fighting Forms', waiting patiently for the rest of his group to join him.
Demyx also ignored the rack, instead grabbing an armful of shinai and trotting over to the space usually occupied by the kendo group.
Roxas was on the fence. Should he take up a weapon, another? In the space of a month, he'd begun training in three different disciplines, and starting with a new one would be quite a stretch on his time. He followed his group over to their spot, picked up one of the shinai Demyx had trucked over and ran through several stances with the sandy-blond, who bore a casually inquisitive expression that hinted at quiet concern.
"Hey Rox, where'd Axel go?"
"He's got family stuff, he had to miss out this week."
"Oh." He seemed placated, but thoughtful. "Ok then."
The remaining session passed without incident or occurrence of note, although the kendo group facilitator caused Roxas to rethink his earlier assessment - he had thought their new facilitators numbered five men and two women, but the decidedly male voice emanating from the pink-haired individual who purred words of encouragement forced a quick mental recount. Afterwards, having watching the rest of the club file out quietly, Roxas lingered, mulling over the argument in his head once again. A quick check on his phone showed a disappointingly sad lack of contact from Axel, which Roxas took to mean that the redhead was still angry at him. Eventually, Roxas noticed he was alone, and walked over to the new weapons trunk, curious about the similarities between Xemnas' self-lauded new practice woods, and Vincent's self-crafted ones. Immediately, he could see they were inferior - Xemnas' were all carved from the same timber; Vincent's were made of different lumbar, to better emulate the weight and balance of the original weapon. Secondly, they were dented and not undamaged - Vincent took great care to regularly sand and oil his, leading them to always look in their best condition.
Then he saw it it. Tucked at the back behind all of the weapons, a poorly constructed keyblade, unevenly hewn and not very well sanded down. Obeying a compulsion, Roxas reached in and picked up the object, lifting it free and giving it a few test swings. It was not as badly balanced as he had assumed it would be. He began to move with it, unconsciously running through the stances and move sets he had been practising with Axel and Vincent. After a few minutes, Roxas laughed to himself and returned to its home, grabbed his gear bag and raced out the door, hammering out a text message as he ran. He completely failed to notice a set of golden eyes following his path.
Xemnas stepped out from his vantage point in the shadow of the door, a curious look on his face. He had recognised the move set Roxas had gone through immediately, but that the little blond had used a keyblade with obvious prior skill had taken him by pleasant surprise. Could it be...?
"My my, Vincent. Taken a little protégé?
Roxas ate hurriedly when he got home, and sent a brief mitigating message to Sora explaining that he needed to speak to Axel and clear the bad air between them. After sufficiently building himself up, he nervously dialled Axel's number and waited for him to answer. When the phone finally picked up, the voice on the other end was not remotely what he expected.
"Hey, baby." The voice was sultry, slow and deep. "You been thinking about me?"
"Wh-what? Axel?"
"Yeah, baby. You're sounding so sexy tonight."
"Er... right. Look, Ax, I just wanted to apologise for what I said earlier, I didn't-"
"No trouble, baby. Why don't you make it up to me now? What're you wearing?"
Roxas was stunned into silence. This was not what he had been expecting, and was creeping him out. "Huh? Axel what the f-"
"Sssssh, it's all good, baby. Just take those pretty little fingers of yours, and tiptoe them down your- fuck, OW!" There was a loud 'clunk', and suddenly the voice changed entirely, both in tone and volume, leading Roxas to understand the phone had been dropped. From afar, he heard "Fuck, Axel, that hurts, yo!" The fog lifted, and Roxas realised that Reno had answered the phone, and he almost slapped himself for not recognising the elder Valentine sibling. A fumbling noise told him the phone had been snatched up off the floor.
"Roxas, wait there a minute. Reno, get out before I burn you alive." There was an audible shuffling before a door slammed, and Axel sighed. "Rox. Sorry about that. Idiot."
"Axel, I'm so sorry about earlier, I don't know what came over me, i couldn't stop myself. I feel awful."
"...it's ok. I got a bit oversensitive, and I regret that." He sounded very calm, and Roxas was put at ease. "Did I miss much?"
"Yes. Something big, I think. Xemnas, he..." Roxas paused, thinking how to word it.
Axel's voice instantly became deadly serious. "What happened."
"Well, he's got a rack of woods, just like Vincent's. Except they don't look like they're made as well. There're loads, and there was even a keyblade."
"Roxas." Axel's tone took on a dangerous note. Roxas stopped short. "Did you pick anything up?"
"No. Neither did Zexy, or Demyx. Actually, only about half the club took any interest. I only looked at them as I was leaving." This was not technically a lie, but somehow, Roxas felt cautious about even mentioning picking up the poor-quality keyblade when no-one was around - he guessed Axel would not be pleased.
"This... seems kind of weird. Why would he even have woods? Vincent had to make his own, and he's been training people for so long... Xemnas took over the club last week, why would he have made or gotten a set of woods in a week?"
"I have no idea."
"We have to be careful around this guy, find out what he's up to."
"Yeah." A thought occurred to him. "Hey, Ax, I got an idea."
"Oh?"
"Well, I saw on the gym timetable tomorrow, it'll be empty in the afternoon because of the football game - we could bring our own woods and use the space. No-one would bother us, half the town turns up to the football games, and it's the first one of the season, so even less likely anyone will see us."
"That... sounds like a great idea, Rox. I've been dying to use that room properly, lots of room to run around. Ok. I'll bring our woods in the car, and we can grab them after the game starts."
"Ok. Ha!" Roxas let out a clipped laugh. "I just had the weirdest thought. Imagine Vincent teaching MA club."
"Oh god, not sure who would be worse, Xemnas or Vincent."
"Yup. See you tomorrow. Night, Axel."
"Night, Roxas."
The plan went off with only one minor hitch - the gym doors were locked, but Axel quickly took care of that, utilising the same method he had used to break onto the balcony atop the train station, then locking it behind him. Once inside they both headed immediately to the rack at the far end of the gym, Axel lifting out and testing various woods, scowling all the while. He smirked when he reached the small chakrams, unburdened by the set of spikes his own oversized set were decorated with. After laughing at the relatively poor craftsmanship involved, the two settled into a gentle unending duel, stopping every so often so Axel could grab a drink of water. On the fourth such breather, Roxas gave the older boy a mock punch in his arm.
"You're such a cheat," Roxas grinned, "with your cheaty two weapons."
"Huh!"
"I've only got one! Cheater. Such a cheat." He was still beaming, and his infectious smile caused Axel to snigger, too.
"Look, twink, there's another keyblade right over there, if you want to be such a little bitch about it." He stood, trotted over to the weapon rack, picked up the keyblade, and tossed it to the blond, who caught it easily, and raised both woods in front of him.
It was like a bolt of lightning had struck him - at last he felt balanced. The two keyblades in his hand felt perfect. He gave them an experimental flourish, and even Axel stopped short and gaped.
"Holy smokes, Rox, that... looks so right."
"It feels right, y'know? Wow. Come at me, I want to see if it makes a difference." Without saying another word, Axel ran at Roxas, chakrams raised aggressively. Roxas steeled himself, adopting an open stance, and as Axel reached him, he sidestepped slightly, bringing up the keyblades to first defend, then sideswipe Axel, striking him squarely on his bicep.
The redhead jerked awkwardly as he fell, but was on his feet instantly, and there was a difference in the set of his shoulders as his smirked again. "I think Vincent's gonna have to pop another one of those babies out. What do you think?"
It was so much better with two keyblades in hand that Roxas was almost angry at himself for not working it out earlier. He was enjoying himself more, as was Axel, who was clearly having to gimp himself far less now. An hour passed, until they were interrupted by the ringing of Axel's phone. He answered it, out of breath, sweat pouring down his cheeks.
"Hello? Oh, hi Dad, what's- no, I'm fine, just sparring with Roxas. No, it's fine. You- what, right now?" He looked at his watch. "Yeah, ok. I'll leave now. Ok, see you soon." He hung up abruptly, and look apologetically at Roxas. "My dad wants me to give him a hand loading up the van - he's got a big ball tonight where he's giving some prize to some benefactor, and Reno's still at college."
"It's fine. You go. I don't mind."
"You'll be around later, though?"
"Yeah, definitely. I want to tell Vincent about this!"
"Alright, see you around seven."
"Cool, see you." Axel grabbed the woods and ran off, giving Roxas a quick peck on the cheek as he did so, leaving Roxas alone to shower and change, which he did after slowly ambling along into the locker room.
The school was silent, and Xemnas took advantage of the quiet afternoon to reflect on where he was up to. He drew a gilt-edged journal from a locked drawer in his cabinet and opened it, pausing to cast a critical eye over the last few entries before putting pen to paper, detailing his thoughts on the previous night.
He was so absorbed in what he was doing that he almost missed the gentle pulling sensation at the back of his mind, but when he did, he immediately dropped what he was doing and left his office, listening intently for any sound in the deserted school. After a moment, he heard the edge of a clacking sound from the direction of the gym, and he took off in that direction, moving silently in the abandoned halls. When he got there, he took a tentative glimpse through the windows set into the doors. When it was evident he would not be seen, he leaned closer to get a better look.
Inside, he saw the tall, unco-ordinated redhead and scrawny blond from his English class, and the martial arts club, sparring using beautifully-built wooden practice weapons - the redhead with a customised pair of elegant chakrams, and the blond - Roxas, the name rose to memory (he had looked him up after the previous evening's discovery), though he was sure he had not noted the redhead's - with a wooden keyblade. They were so relaxed with each other that Xemnas knew instantly they trained together, leading him to further his understanding from last night that Vincent was training both of them. It was evident from their casual sparring that the redhead's skill level at the club was carefully engineered to appear far worse than it actually was - his stance was easy, relaxed, even when the blond put everything he had into the attacks he made. Xemnas watched them, fascinated, until they both stopped. He wondered if it was either of them who had alerted his Speaking side, but, just as he was about to send out a probing feeler to see if either of them had a larger-than-normal Will potential, they stopped fighting, and after some banter which he could not make out, the redhead walked towards the weapon rack and picked up Xemnas' own keyblade, then tossed it casually at Roxas, who caught it and immediately began to swing it, testing.
Xemnas' heart stopped, and he ceased breathing. Two. Two keyblades. The boy was easily wielding two keyblades. Although he could tell it was the first time Roxas had done so, his immediate skill was apparent, and the redhead noticeably stepped up his approach.
This was the one he had been looking for. There was a tight coil in the pit of his stomach, but a nasty smirk curling on his lips, as the full implication slammed into him. Xemnas wanted to cry and scream at once, but managed to hold his tongue in order to watch the two boys in their little scrap, and he hardly noticed an hour go by, until the a phone rang. The redhead answered it, and after a brief exchange, kissed the blond on the cheek, picked up their wooden weapons and ran towards the door Xemnas was watching through. Panicking, Xemnas hung back and hid himself in the shadow next to the door. Thankfully, the redhead's thoughts were elsewhere, and he did not notice the silver-haired man, who was not very inconspicuous. Conveniently, this left the blond alone. He watched the boy slowly walk into the locker room, before entering into the gym and taking a seat on the stands near the door.
With a gush of steam, at last the locker room door opened, and the small blond walked out, brushing his damp hair as he went. His gait slowed as he spotted his teacher sitting calmly, observing him.
"Quite a unique talent you have there. You've been holding out on your clubmates, I think." Flustered, the blond tried to respond, but Xemnas held up his hands placatingly. "Don't worry. I'm joking. Still though, Roxas, you have great melée potential. Have you thought about entering the Struggle after Christmas?"
"Well, no sir, not really. That's more-" He was cut off.
"What a dreadful shame - I should have very much liked to have seen a trophy with the club's name on it. Those lovely keyblades are great bludgeoning weapons - perfect training for the batons used in the Struggle." As he spoke, he pushed out with his Will, attempting to tease the primitive parts of Roxas' mind into compliance. He saw Roxas' eyelids droop, and his shoulders relaxed, and his heart soared as he won.
"...you think so?" Roxas answered, sounding tired and confused.
"Oh, I know so. Tell you what. Meet me here tonight at seven thirty, and we can run through a few drills, see if you're suitable."
"But I'm meant to be-"
"Nonsense - you can see your friend any time. This is important." The blond's face revealed inexplicable defeat, and Xemnas smiled benevolently. "Just yourself, mind; wouldn't want to let on what we're up to, don't want to get anyone's backs up. It's not every student I give special treatment to." Roxas nodded slowly and asked dreamily, as the force of Xemnas' Will took hold and his resistance melted away.
"Not even Axel?"
Xemnas narrowed his eyes, and suddenly a lot of things became clearer. "No, not even... Axel."
"Ok."
"Good. I shall see you here at seven thirty, sharp."
"Yes sir." Roxas walked off, trancelike, in the direction of the exit doors, and Xemnas sat down, ruminating on what had just been revealed. An interesting turn of events, no doubt - precisely the person he needed for his plans had fallen into his lap, but on top of that, someone completely unexpected - Axel Valentine. There could not be two tall, unnaturally flame-haired Axels within a hundred miles of each other. Xemnas smiled, before pulling his phone out of his pocket. Dialling slowly, he waited for an answer.
"I've got a surprise for you."
Seven o'clock came and went, and Axel started to clockwatch - Roxas was never late. Ten past seven ticked past, he started to worry. Twenty past seven stretched past, and Axel picked up the phone, but it rang and rang with no answer. Finally, it went past seven thirty, and Axel lost all sense of patience. He tried Roxas again, but to no avail. Slapping the phone shut, he drew in his Will gently so as not to alert his uncle as to his action, and softly reached out to sense where Roxas was, to find he was the same distance away he had been all afternoon, and in the same direction - Roxas had not left the school. On the way, Axel noted a potential pool of Will in Roxas' vicinity, and he immediately ran down the stairs, panic twisting his features as he hopped into his car and pulled out of the driveway, observed silently by a pair of crimson eyes.