Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts

A/N: Hey, I'm recycling these old one shots to make this chapter of mischief to show the friendship between Axel, Demyx, and Roxas! Enjoy!

Chapter 14

The clock ticked over and over, counting the seconds as Xemnas sat at his desk. He was doing some paperwork, well, he was trying. He just couldn't seem to concentrate. The reasoning for this was simple, there was a never-ending pounding sound coming from somewhere in the castle. His brow furrowed as the continued still and finally, banged his fist down on his mahogany desk and stood up, furious.

He sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he wasn't going to get anything done until this incessant banging ceased. With that decided, he walked out of the room and listened for the sound. It was coming from down the hallway. He moved fluidly towards the source of this infernal racket. The door to the room was locked, and Xemnas now regretted sending Roxas out on a mission with Axel earlier that day.

Now, he had to walk all the way back to his office to get the master key, if he could even find it. Ever since they had added number 13 to their ranks, Xemnas hadn't had need for his master key; he actually had no idea where it was. After much searching, the leader of Organization XIII, finally found the key. He had also found an old pair of black bunny slippers that weren't his, a shadow heartless and, for some odd unknown reason, a dead turtle.

Key in hand, he made his way back to the room. The noise was still going on, it seemed louder now. His eyes narrowed with cold, cruel hatred that only someone as heartless as himself could produce. He inserted the key into the lock and turned it, the door creaked open slowly. And inside was, perhaps, one of the most bizarre things to ever happen in the Organization.

The scene inside was that of several small portals, big enough for a small cat, scattered all over the walls of the room. There stood numbers II and VII, Xigbar and Saix, with giant maroon colored rubber hammers at the ready. Suddenly, out of one of the portals popped a soldier heartless, well, the head of a soldier heartless. Xemnas just stood there, mouth agape, not sure what to do.

Should he intervene or should he just watch for a while, this was quite a predicament. After a few more minutes of the two other Nobodies trying to hit the heartless, Saix finally noticed the leader standing there, watching them. "Superior, sir, we can't get rid of these heartless, would you like to try?" Xemnas was shocked but took the proffered mallet and after a quick deliberation, slammed it down on one of the portals where there was a heartless.

It eluded him though and try as he might, he just could not seem to hit one. This almost had Xigbar rolling on the ceiling laughing but he figured it wasn't worth getting turned into a dusk to laugh at the Superior while he was still in the room. Xemnas, seeing he was not able to vanquish the heartless either, decided to call this to the attention of the rest of the Organization. The results of this meeting are still there to this very day, for every Friday night, the Organization all gather to play 'Whack-a-Heartless'.

Roxas sat up with a jolt, it was almost as if he was awakened by a bolt of electricity. He rubbed his arms, trying to will away the Goosebumps that were now adorning his bare arms. The young key bearer was more worried about his dream though and he realized that it was raining out side again. He portaled into Axel's room as the light drizzle became a copious downpour. The younger Nobody then crawled into the bed next to his friend as a crash of thunder was heard.

The Flurry of the Dancing Flames awoke to the sound of an injured puppy. Well, he had thought it was an injured puppy until he saw that it was just Roxas. The boy was crying and huddled against him like Axel was the last source of sanity in a madness-consumed world. There was flash of lightning illuminated the room; Roxas just whimpered again. So the kid was afraid of storms? This was a new one, even for him.

Axel chuckled, "Rox, you okay? You aren't looking too good." Roxas just shook his head, "I… don't like this… And… I had a bad dream." Axel just looked shocked. Roxas fought countless heartless everyday and never once had shown any fear but when a bad dream shows up, he turns into a scared little kid? "It must have been one doozy for you to be acting like this." Roxas nodded, childishly. Axel sighed, "You wanna talk about it then, shorty?" Roxas thought back to his dream.

-Flashback-

A boy with brown spiky hair was running up a flight of stairs. His blue eyes looked around the room, terrified for what he might find. And then his eyes rested on her limp form. "Kairi…" He ran over, and picked her up, terrified that she was dead. There was no heartbeat. But… a little voice inside him was saying, 'Her heart is inside you.' Without an ounce of hesitation, the boy cut out his own heart and was transformed into a heartless.

-End of Flashback-

Axel looked a bit shocked, "Well… That was one heck of a nightmare." Roxas nodded, "Can I stay in here tonight?" He looked up at him, hopefully. Axel sighed, "Sure, just don't hog the covers." The two boys then laid back down, "Night, Ax." "Night, Roxas." A few seconds later, the pyro heard, "Sora." He looked over at the blonde next to him, "What?" Roxas sound sleepy, he lazily said, "His name was Sora."

It was a bright an early morning in The Castle That Never Was. Well, that's actually more of a lie because it was just as overcast as usual. Everyone was at the breakfast table awaiting the appearance of Xemnas so that they could all eat. They all knew that if anyone started without the Superior, punishment would be in order. Footsteps came closer to the dining room as Xemnas walked into the room and took his place at the head of the table.

All the members then began eating in silence, as was their every day routine until from the end of the table where Roxas sat, a shout could be heard. "Ow! Superior, Axel poked me with his fork!" Everyone turned and stared at the youngest member of Organization XIII. "Did not…" Axel stated, his usual grin plastered on his face. Xemnas just stared at the two miscreants and went back to eating his delicious pancakes with paopu fruit syrup. Man, how he loved his syrup.

A few seconds later, another shout was heard from the end of the table, disturbing Xemnas' heavenly experience of his breakfast. "He did it again!" Demyx shrugged, "I was watching the entire time, Roxas. He was eating the entire time." Roxas looked over with his big blue eyes and pouted, "I know he did…" They all went back to eating, ignoring Roxas until it happened again. "OW! AXEL!"

It seemed that Axel wasn't doing anything and while Roxas kept persisting that it was Axel, everyone was thinking the same thing. "Roxas, you're crazy." Axel says, trying not to laugh and covering it up pretty well. "I am not crazy!" Roxas claimed he wasn't but all the disbelieving stares thought other wise. "I'm not…" He whined. "You must be." Demyx said this as fact. "I AM NOT CRAZY!" Roxas yelled at everyone while they were putting their dishes in the sink and pretty soon only him and Axel were left at the table.

That's when it happened, Axel smirked his one-of-a-kind smirk and jabbed Roxas in the side with his fork. But it was too late; everyone already thought that the thirteenth member was indeed crazy.

Roxas wondered who could come up with such a cruel idea of a joke. His mind automatically went to Axel, seeing as he was the prankster of the Organization. You see, all of Roxas shoes had been stolen and replaced with a pair of bright orange sneakers that were, in a word, hideous. He had tried to take off the ghastly shoes that had been placed on his feet but they were stuck, they were about a size too small. The atrocious shoes were actually hurting his feet and he couldn't do a thing to get them off.

This, of course, had put him into one of his irate moods. He went down the hallway, searching for Axel. Who, in turn, was actually searching for Roxas. When the two met in the hallway, Roxas noticed that his older friend actually had the same exact type of shoes on. "So, they got you too, huh?" The pyro asked him. Roxas shrugged, "Let's just find whoever did this and get back our shoes."

It was at that exact moment when the realization hit them both square in the face that there was a meeting that they were late for. The two boys shared a look that basically said, 'Xemnas is gonna murder us in cold blood,' as they raced off to the meeting room, forgetting that they could portal. They both rushed in breathless and Xemnas stared down at the two which brought the expression, 'If looks could kill,' to Axel's mind. "We're sorry we're late sir, we couldn't find our shoes." Roxas said, nervously.

Xemnas raised an eyebrow and responded, "And why could you not find your shoes, number XIII?" Roxas gulped, "Someone stole them, sir…" He said in a voice that was so timid, it almost wasn't there. Xemnas look around the room, "Who did this?" There was silence for what seemed like an eternity but in reality was only a few minutes until Demyx piped up, "I did, superior." It was obvious he was trying not to laugh. Axel and Roxas just stared, dumbfounded at their friend.

Roxas was walking down the halls of The Castle That Never Was when he heard faint sitar music coming from Demyx's room. Now, this in itself was not strange. The weird part was that it was less intricate than he'd ever heard from The Melodious Nocturne. The keyblade wielder stopped at the door, listening closer. Even if it was easy music, it still had the same incredible tone and faultless rhythms that Demyx was known for.

His hand rested on the handle as he debated turning it. Roxas knew that his friend's feelings came out in his music but he really didn't want to just interrupt him. As the next melody began, the blonde boy made up his mind and turned the handle. He was pretty much taken aback by what he saw. There was Demyx, sitting cross-legged in perfect sitar playing position, playing out of a music book. Roxas didn't know what to make of this, seeing as the musician would typically be playing one of his own compositions, not going through some lackluster exercises.

The sandy-haired boy still hadn't noticed the intruder until Roxas cleared his throat, "Ahem." Demyx looked up, teal eyes bright with what looked like happiness. "Um, Dem, what are you doing?" Demyx smiled, "Just going through exercises," Roxas looked at him, a blank, confused stare protruding from his countenance. The older Nobody raised an eyebrow as Roxas asked, "Why?"

Demyx sighed and patted one of the pillows on the ground, gesturing for the blonde to sit down. Roxas did and then Demyx chuckled, "It's simple, really. Even the best musicians in all of history had to start somewhere. This is just a way to progress and keep simple techniques, well, to put it bluntly, easy." Roxas nodded, "I think I understand." He got up, "I'll let you get back to your practicing now. See you at dinner." And with that, he left and simple music continued to be heard for a while that night.

Demyx was sitting at the kitchen table when the strangest thing happened. Not strange as in Nobody and Heartless strange, no, this was weird even by their standards. Zexion crawled into the kitchen, not in a way that was like he was hurt but on hands and knees. That wasn't the extent of the weirdness though. His eyes were glazed over in a hazy way and he was 'meowing' for all it was worth.

Demyx blinked twice, staring down at The Cloaked Schemer. He was trying with all his might to contain the laughter that was bubbling up from inside him but he lost just about lost it when Zexion raised up his hand and licked the back of it. At that point the laughter just flowed out, like a wellspring that was overflowing, needing to spill over somewhere else. Zexion looked up at him and clambered over, pawing at the bottom of his cloak.

The Nocturne had no idea who would be this cruel to Zexion but all he was thinking now was that if he ever got back to normal, he would probably have lost all of his dignity as the most anti-social member of the organization. Demyx heard the door to the kitchen open and watched as Axel and Roxas ran in followed by the sound of Vexen yelling at them.

When Axel saw Zexion, he just burst out laughing, saying, "It totally worked! Roxas, you did bring the camera, right?" The younger member nodded and took out the aforementioned device. With a click and a flash, a picture was taken and Zexion blinked a couple of times, confused. He stood up slowly, trying to get his bearings. "Uh oh…" came the slow realization of Axel at the fact that Zexion was more logically inclined again.

"VIII, IX, XIII, will one of you explain what just happened… Now…" The Schemer said in a totally desolate voice. Roxas stared at him and gulped, very jittery. "Um, well, Axel and I sorta stole a potion from Vexen and well… Snuck it into to your afternoon tea and it… Made you act like a cat…" Zexion raised an eyebrow and summoned his lexicon, "You both have five seconds to run before…" He trailed off as the two boys ran from the room, hoping to get far away enough to avoid Zexion's wrath.

It was one of those mornings, a morning where there's a haze of laziness filling the air and the cold, hard facts of this morning was that everyone, including Saix, did not want to get up and work. But Axel and Roxas, sadly, were the only two assigned a mission. They didn't know it though, because it was supposed to be a vacation day for the entire Organization. So, when Axel was awoken by an annoying and constant knocking at his door, well, let's just say, he wasn't pleased.

"Eight, report to The Grey Area immediately!" Axel groaned, pulling a pillow over his head as the room started to heat up a bit in his frustration. It was supposed to be his day to do whatever and be as lazy as he wanted to. These days didn't happen too often. He thought, 'Well, it could be important. Maybe.' So, with utterly no motivation what so ever, Axel sat up and slung his legs over the side of his bed. He ran a hand through his hair while trying to rid himself of the ever groggy feeling you get right when you awake. He slowly got to his feet and grabbed his organization coat off the coat hanger on the wall and put it on. He then slipped on his boots and gloves, leaving him in full uniform as he opened a corridor of darkness to The Grey Area.

When he arrived, he noticed that Roxas was already there and so was Saix. "So, what's so important you had to interrupt my day off, Saix?" Axel raised an eyebrow, hoping that his answer would satisfy. Saix, emotionless as always, answered, "You two will go on a search and rescue mission. Go, find Nine, retrieve him and make sure to eliminate whatever distraction is causing him to visit that world and miss his missions." Roxas looked up at the Luna Diviner, confused, "Which world?"

Axel chuckled, "Well, Demyx usually goes to his Somebody's home world for some reason, so we're heading to earth. It's like Twilight Town except the sun isn't always setting there." Roxas smiled, "Oh, okay!" Axel nodded and opened another corridor of darkness, "Come on, zombie boy. The sooner we knock this one out, the sooner we can get some ice cream." Roxas smiled at his older friend and stepped through, into the darkness. Axel followed after a quick nod to Saix.

The two arrived on a busy street corner on what seemed to be the hottest day in history for the state of Arizona. "Where do you think he would go?" Roxas asked, not sure where to even begin looking. The two were receiving extremely weird looks from their clothing; no one in their right mind would wear black leather in this heat. Axel, being the hot head that he is, was unaffected by the temperature, Roxas however, he was burning up. Axel shrugged, "No clue. Well, maybe some ice cream will help us think." He looked over at the building across the street labeled Coldstone Creamery. Roxas almost ran towards the building, needing to get in somewhere with air conditioning.

They entered the building to sound of someone calling out, "Welcome to Coldstone!" "Hey, isn't that?" Roxas looked up at his redheaded friend. Axel shook his head and waved thought away, "Nah, couldn't be." Oh, but it was. There was Demyx behind the counter. The two stood slack-jawed and astonished. It couldn't possibly have been this easy to find him. Their weakness for ice cream had actually resulted in helping them finish a mission. Demyx stared back at his two best friends, trying to act like he didn't actually know them.

The two approached the counter and Axel looked at him, smirking, "Demyx, what are you doing here?" The mullet-haired boy smiled, ignoring the question, "How may I help you sir?" Axel sighed, seeing only one way out of this, "Well, I guess I'll have a chocolate ice cream, Love-It size and my friend here will have sea-salt ice cream, a Love-It as well." Roxas was confused by what Axel was doing and apparently, so was Demyx. "Um, we don't serve sea-salt ice cream here." Axel faked astonishment and soon there was a large line forming behind him. It seemed the creamery was in its mid-day rush.

"What, no sea-salt ice cream! How can you not have that here!?" Axel's voice was raising and Demyx had no idea what to do, "Um, well, you see-" He was cut off by Axel's voice having risen to a loud yelling sound, "This makes me so angry!" And with that, he was surrounded by flames and all the ice cream in the case melted. Demyx looked horrified as the manager of the establishment came out to see what the ruckus was about. The manager looked from Axel to Roxas and back again and her gaze finally settled on Roxas. "What's going on here? Who are you two and why is he melting all of the ice cream?" Her quiet voice made the fury even more intimidating.

Roxas didn't know what to do, "Um, we're friends of Demyx and um-" He was then cut off by the manager, "Demyx, you're fired!" Demyx's eyes widened, "No, but I need this job!" And at this exclamation, Axel smirked; all had gone according to plan. He then turned off his flame powers and grabbed Demyx by the collar dragging him out and Roxas followed. The three boys then stopped at the street corner as Demyx sighed, "I just needed to make some extra money. Why'd you two have to go and kill the moment?" Axel shrugged, "Orders. Also, we know you hate to actually work." "Well," Demyx mused, "It was extremely stressful." "So, what should we do now?" Roxas asked, as Axel smirked yet again, "Anyone up for some sea-salt ice cream?" The other two boys groaned at the thought, they had had way too much ice cream for one day.

Roxas, Axel and Demyx stood in the kitchen in The Castle That Never Was. All the ingredients were laid out and the three boys were covered, head to toe, in flour. They were currently in the middle of a flour fight. The two older Nobodies were ganging up on Roxas and he was backed into a corner. He suddenly portaled away from the other two, "Hey, guys, look behind you, a rabid squirrel!" Axel and Demyx, however, were too smart to fall for that trick. What they hadn't noticed was that the pizza in the oven was burning.

A few seconds later, Demyx smelt smoke. It filled up his lungs and burned them like all hell was loose. Which, in a few seconds, it was. Demyx drenched the oven in current of water while Axel tried to get all the mist and smoke out of the room. Roxas just stood there in horror as a smirk came to his face. It was a very grinch-like smirk indeed. The next thing the two older boys knew, there were sardines down their pants.

Axel raised an eyebrow at Roxas and Demyx whined, "Roxas, how do you even like these things on your pizza?" Roxas shrugged, "They're good, they remind me of something from when I was my Somebody." The three friends started laughing as Axel took the pizzas out of the oven. Somehow, miraculously, the three mini-pizzas had survived hell and back and were actually edible.