GUESS WHAT? I OWN EVERYTHING :D *is shot*
Warnings: This one's pretty tame... I've gone soft...
After finding another tree to stay in for the night, Sora had taken roost on a long branch, still angry.
Who did Riku think he was? The human – Axel – had been nothing but kind to him! He'd given him food, talked with him, called him beautiful, and he even liked his voice! When was the last time Riku had told him his voice pretty? Forever ago, that's for sure. He usually just told him to shut up, that he was interrupting his sleep.
The small golden bird squawked, 'Well, I don't need you, Riku. I have a new best friend, and he is prettier and way awesomer than you will ever be.'
Having been satisfied with his small inner rant, the small bird closed his eyes and finally allowed his tired body rest, thoughts of a strange red furred human and of what the next day would bring sending Sora off to a peaceful and dreamless sleep.
"My lord? Emperor?" Only silence answered.
The sound of an angry growl was heard before a loud, "Axel!" was shouted, causing the redhead to jump and yelp, hand immediately dropping to the beautiful, but very useful, dagger strapped to his thigh, hidden beneath the cloth wrapped around his waist.
The emperor looked up at his possible attacker, and let out a relieved sigh when he recognized the annoyed scowl that greeted him. Axel leaned back, yawning and stretching.
He glanced around before looking up back up at the one who had interrupted his nap.
By the looks of the sun from the window, it was still morning and he was still sitting on his plush pillow made from woven threads and the low table he had fallen asleep on still help many tomes and papers he needed to check over. The small personal study room he called his was often where Axel did most of his work, unless he felt a change of scenery was necessary, in which case he would go out and find a place to sit and work somewhere else inside the palace. This could have easily been in the middle of the hallway or a guest's bedroom.
"Hey Saïx." He chuckled as the scowl on the blue haired man deepened.
"Do not 'hey' me, Emperor." Saïx grumbled. The well-built male stood in front of his grinning lord, his golden eyes irritated. A large X shaped scar rested between his almost feral looking eyes, something he had gotten during conquest of a neighboring kingdom.
Their people were warriors, and even Axel had to prove himself before being accepted as emperor by fighting in many battles and conquering two neighboring cities, though he had gotten out of those battles with smaller, less dramatic scars then his old friend Saïx.
"Come on, now you're sounding like Xemnas. Stop changing Saïx! I want my buddy back!" He half whined, smiling teasingly at the man.
Saïx sighed and shook his head. "Just because I had decided to grow up doesn't mean we are no longer friends. Quit being so dramatic and childish."
Axel chuckled and stood up before wrapping his arms around his old friend. "Alright, fine, but you have to stop acting like a buzz kill. I know the ritual is coming up and we should be stressing, but we should also live our lives happily, as it is a gift from the gods. These are a times of celebrations, dear friend."
A little surprised by the show of physical affection, Saïx was slow to wrap his arms around Axel, though once he had he relaxed a little and gave the man a slight squeeze, which the emperor returned before smiling and pulling away.
"So, you had to come here for something. What's up, oh high-priest-in-training?" The redhead patted the man's shoulder, curiosity written all over his face.
The blue haired man shook his head before regaining his dropped composer. "Xemnas had asked me to come here and tell you to go check on the progress of the ceremonial masks."
Axel moaned dramatically, "Seriously? Why doesn't he send a servant or you to go check on them? He had me checking on the instruments yesterday. I honestly don't understand that man."
The priest's apprentice scoffed. "It is because we are all afraid you will become fat and lazier. You do not do as much as you should, Axel."
"What are you talking about? All I do is work. See? Look at how many stacks of papers I have on my desk." The redhead gestured to the table where there was indeed a lot of paperwork. "It isn't all about conquering other cities and collecting tributes and sacrifices, thank you very much. It is hard to run an empire, no matter how easy it looks."
Saïx hummed and picked up a paper from the table, ignoring most of Axel's rant. The redhead caught onto the fact he was being ignored, and he glared at the scarred man, who only smirked at the feeling of being glared at.
The smirk was replaced with a frown as he examined the paper more intently. "…Forty-seven blue, black, and white pillows, thirty red pillow, thirty-five yellow pillows, ten wooden stands, a golden bowl, a silver bowl, ten pounds of seeds, corn, and dried fruit, seven plants and a large stone bowl… All to be delivered to the palace by sunrise tomorrow." The blue haired man lifted up disbelieving eyes to stare up at the red head, who was looking away yet still trying to look innocently nonchalant.
"Axel… What the hell is this?"
The emperor held his hands up in surrender, "Okay, okay. You got me. This little bird keeps flying here lately, and I named it Roxas…. The stuff on that paper are things I'm going to be buying for the little thing…. You know, to keep him as a pet…"
Saïx stared at him for a minute, and things grew quiet. Finally, Saïx broke the quiet.
"I think... I think you've finally lost it, Axel…" He said quietly, with a straight face. "If you really wanted a bird so badly, you could have just bought one."
The emperor scoffed loudly and waved his hand. "I don't want just any bird. I want my Roxy."
Saïx groaned and slammed his palm against his forehead. "My lord, you must have gotten your strangeness from your father. I suppose we should all be grateful that you only inherited some of his laziness."
Axel started laughing, "I guess you're right. My father was an odd one. I hope he is living it up with the gods right now…" He looked down and his smile turned a little sad.
"Yes, Reno was a good king, and we were lucky to have him for as long as we did." Saïx rested his hand on his friend's shoulder and smiled at him gently, a rare thing as Saïx never let his composure down long enough for anyone to see him being kind.
Axel smiled back at him gently before sighing and taking the letter from Saïx.
"Well, I guess I should get going. I'd rather get this over with now. I have nothing against Xaldin, but he certainly isn't my favorite person…"
The blue haired man smirked and nodded. "Be sure he doesn't stab you."
Axel laughed before heading towards the exit. "It was good seeing you again, Saïx. Only a few more weeks and we'll all have a bit more free time. We should have lunch one of these days."
The high-priest in training followed the man out, nodding. "Of course, my lord. I look forward to it."
Axel grinned at the man before turning and walking away, Saïx going a separate way as Axel headed to the city once again.
He wasn't sure why Xemnas kept making him go out on all these errands, even if they didn't bother him as much as he let on, but he was still curious. His father had never been asked to go on so many of these errands…
He sighed, and straightened up as he passed the street vendors, many of the citizens bowing to him and offering greetings as he headed to the busiest part of the city to visit the mask maker's shop. He wished the talented man would have thought more like Demyx and Zexion, and would have set up shop in a quieter place besides the market place, but, of course, nothing could be done to change what had already been set.
"Oi, mi' lord!" A voice suddenly called for him, and usually Axel would have just ignored the voice except that this one held the strangest accent he had ever heard.
The emperor paused and looked off to the side to see a tall blond man sitting in a chair, small round table in front of him. Axel briefly wondered what idiot would set up a table and chair in the middle of the street. A look at the number of cups on the table, and the distinct smell of octli answered the man's question; A drunk idiot.
His curiosity got the better of him and he walked over to the man. "What is it?"
'The Gambler of Fate' was written on a card sitting on the table. The blond haired man had extremely short hair as well as a blond goatee. Odd piercings lined his ears and his drunken smirk made Axel want to punch him for an unknown reason.
"Thought you would like tah have your fortune told, oh mighty emperor." The man drawled in his strange accent.
The redhead raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? And what makes you think that?"
The question only seemed to encourage the drunken man to grin, and he slid a deck of odd looking cards from a pocket on his thigh. He talked as he began shuffling the cards. "But of course. It could only be the work of the gods that you should have walked down this path to head to the market place. Only fate could have made you stop when I called for you. Only destiny could have kept you standing here for so long while I rambled."
Axel sighed and rolled his eyes. "How much?" Even if it was nothing but stupid ramblings, Axel didn't mind the distraction, and anything was better than the awkward conversation waiting for him at the large mask maker's store.
A large white smile was flashed at him. "Two silver coins, sir."
The strange fact was that that wasn't much to ask, not even to regular peasant. The man was either incredibly cheap when it came to poorer customers, or the so-called fortune teller had no plans on raising the price to one as wealthy as he was.
With a hesitant nod, the emperor pulled two coins from the pouch that was hidden under the cloth around his waist and dropped them into one of the empty cups on the table.
"Alright then, let's see what the cards have to say to you, your highness."
The blond man then began shuffling his cards differently, in a bizarre manner, before laying them out onto the table one at a time. He laid seven cards down, some of them held oddly painted faces and characters, while others held strange symbols. Axel had never heard of anyone telling a fortune like the man was now. Usually the sooth sayer, or whatever they wished to be called, would have used bones, blood, animal sacrifice, and fire to see into the future and this man only studied the seven cards on the table as the emperor watched on with curiosity.
"Interesting... Very interesting future you have in store for you, my lord." The blond man looked up at him and Axel raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting how?"
The man pursed his lips and waited a moment before talking. "According to the cards… You will find love in the oddest of places – it will be true love, a rare kind of love the gods rarely bless on anyone… But…"
"But?"
"But there is someone in your way, yet that same person will be the one to thank for your love. They will do whatever they can to ruin it, and they could succeed… If you let them. One person shall have your best interests at heart, while the other only theirs. You will have to be careful of whom you trust, and tread carefully when meeting new people. If you make the right decision, you will spend the rest of your life happy, and if you make the wrong one… You'll either live miserably or die. It is up to the situation, and your decisions before them. The past should not be dwelled upon, and you should focus on what you are told." The fortune teller nodded his head and gathered the cards back up into his hands.
Axel blinked and frowned. "That's all?"
The blond scoffed. "Yes, that's all. The cards can only give so much information, and you still need to figure out your own path. Nothing is certain, my lord."
The emperor decided not to comment on the scoff, and simply nodded at the man before dropping seven gold coins into the cup, causing the fortune teller to pause and stare at the cup.
"Thank you for an interesting fortune." He nodded his head and began walking away.
"The name's Luxord, my lord, and it was a pleasure." The man called after Axel, who didn't respond as he walked away.
What did all that mean? He didn't completely believe in everything the man had said, but it certainly gave him food for thought. So he had to watch who he trusted? Interesting…
The tall redhead continued his walk to the mask maker's shop, only having an idea what had been set in motion for him.
CHAPTER FOUR! LOOK AT IT IN ITS GLORY! :D
REVIEWER RESPONSES:
Alphafangdemon:
Oh, dont worry I wasn't caught, and it would have been completly worth it to read your review :) Holy crap, I love you! XD I read this review and couldn't stop laughing. I even had to show my friends how awesome you are :D I'm not offended in the least, and love this type of review more often! Lol, I'm happy you enjoyed the last chapter and i hope you continue to lovee what i write :3 you're flippen awesome. As for Mr. Antagonist-Stalker-Sasquatch-In-A-Jumpsuit-Man, you'll just have to wait and see! MUAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH! P.s. I am so happy to see your reviews. They always make me smile. :) Thank you.
P5hng-Me-A'Wy:
*deep breath* I FREAKING LOVE YOU!
Okay, I feel better. :) Lol, yes the crazy stalker is incredibly important to this story, and you'll just have to wait and see what happens to little Roxy ;) And Mansex... Well you'll just have to wait and see his roll in the story :D Thank you so much for reviewing again!
Dolly-D-Mushroom:
NO. DON'T YOU DARE MAKE FAN ART! MY HEART WOULD EXPLODE FROM YOUR SHEAR AWESOMENESS! DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE? lol, at least i would die happily. I would love you forever if you drew me fanart, seriously, that's like a dream come true for me! I'm so happy you liked this story enough to want to draw for it... You're going to make me cry :'D Oh, and my story is whatever you want it to be ;) lol you'll have to wait and see who he is! Thank you so much for being so awesome! I love you!
Russiada:
Are you still alive? :) Lol, thank you so much for reviewing, and I'm so happy you like this story and my writing! It's thanks to people like you I feel so motivated to write! Thank you so much! And you mut wait and se who he is! MUAHAHAHA THE SUSPENSE!
Once again, I'd like to thank all of my reviewers for being so awesome, I am hugging all of you in my mind! :D PLEASE REVIEW AGAIN! IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY AND MAKES ME WANT TO WRITE MORE! DON'T YOU WANT MORE? COME ON! PUSH THE BUTTON! LOOK! IT'S SHINY!