Roxas was sitting on his bed, flipping through a book, when noises from the opposite side of the room disturbed him. He looked up and saw movement under the covers of Axille's bed and immediately, he dropped the book and ran over.
The blankets went flying as Axille jerked awake and sat up, almost hurting herself in the process. Her eyes were huge as she looked around, confused.
"Heartless! Where are the Heartless?" she exclaimed. She made a move to get up but found herself pushed back by Roxas, who gently eased her down onto her bed.
"Hey easy, Axille." he said, "The Heartless are gone. You were attacked on Twilight's View and knocked unconscious; it's been a whole day you were out. You need to rest."
"Huh...?"
Axille looked around, her eyes betraying her confusion. Surely she hadn't...she didn't remember...!
"But I...I don't remember being attacked on the View..." she murmured. Roxas smiled sympathetically and flicked some hair out of her eyes.
"You must have forgotten while you were out. Don't worry, I don't think you'd want to remember an attack like that anyways." he said.
But Axille wouldn't be discouraged so easily. "I only remember Axel yelling at me and then I ran off! I don't remember anything about an attack on the View!" she insisted.
Roxas' expression changed from sympathetic to stern as he frowned at the child.
"Listen, Axille, it was a rough day yesterday. Take it easy." he told her. Axille recognized the authority in his voice and settled back on her pillow; frowning, she crossed her arms in a pout but said nothing more.
Roxas relaxed and ruffled her hair affectionately, saying, "Why don't I go get us some breakfast?"
"No!" Axille said, sitting up abruptly, "I want to see everyone, and make sure everyone's okay!"
She jumped off of the bed but wavered upon landing, causing Roxas to put a hand on her back to steady her.
"See? You're in no condition to be running around." he told her.
"Roxy..." Axille whined, "Please? I promise I'll behave!"
Roxas sighed. Axille was such a child sometimes.
"Alright, alright." he said, taking her hand, "But if you keel over unconscious don't come crying to me."
He opened a dark corridor and led her through it, keeping one eye on the recovering kid at all times.
When they left the darkness, the kitchen was abuzz with activity. The entire Organization had convened in the large dining area and were talking amiably with one another, but right away Axille could sense the strained tension underneath the chatter.
"Roxy, what happened?" she asked, looking around confusedly.
Roxas was saved from answering by the loud calls from one side of the room.
"Hey guys, over here!"
The two partners looked around to see Axbrem, Axel, and Leixym and Demyx waving them over. At a nod from Roxas, Axille went running while Roxas waved at them and headed to the kitchen to get some food. Axel made some room for the fifteenth member to jump up onto the chair but she hesitated before him, looking up at him with wary eyes.
Axel sighed and reached out a hand to the kid.
"Sorry for yelling at you, Axille." he said, "Forgive me?"
Axille's golden-brown eyes closed for a moment before she opened them again and beamed up at the redhead.
"I forgive you, Axel!" she said, then pulled herself up onto the chair.
The momentary tension dissolved and Axille found herself, along with Xion and Xylle, bombarded with questions and statements as their comrades filled them in in all they had missed. Xion was very vocal with her opinions on the whole Neophyte/Nobody argument but Xylle and Axille were quieter.
"Wait...you said the Heartless in the second attack were only targeting us, as in the neophytes?" Xylle asked.
Axbrem nodded.
"Yeah." she said, "It was weird."
Xylle's brow furrowed in thought and she fell silent, thinking things over while Axille looked from person to person, catching everything but not quite sure about what it all meant. Surely her friends wouldn't attack each other like that? Surely it was just a dream, or something such?
Something clicked in the kid's mind and she suddenly broke out into a half-smile. The Trouper turned away to take in the scene of the room, hiding it.
But Leixym noticed her grin and asked, "What's so funny, Axille?"
Axille shook her head and said, "Nothing, Ly! I just hope everything can clear up soon!"
Her voice carried with it the slightest hint of condescending sympathy, but no one seemed to notice it as Roxas came back with two pieces of toast on a plate.
"Everyone's really tense." he said mournfully, dropping the plate on the table, "I wish we could fix this."
Axel shook his head while Axille took some toast and bit into it. The redhead looked around at his younger group and sighed.
"I wish we could fix this before someone gets hurt." he said.
Axille suddenly waved her hand, attracting attention to her as she finished her toast and stated her own opinion.
"There's nothing to fix!" she proclaimed, "Everyone was just tired out after all the attacks. No one was really thinking straight, right? It'll be fine, you'll see!"
Roxas sighed, wishing he could share in the child's optimism but he said, "You weren't at the attack yesterday, Axille. The big one. If you had been, you'd see that it wasn't just the exhaustion."
Axille shook her head, "Nope! It was just the exhau...exhaustion. Nothing more! Be right back!"
She jumped off her chair and ran over to the other side of the room before anyone could stop her, leaving her usual companions behind to stare after her in stunned silence.
"Is she serious?" Axbrem asked around, "Does she really think it wasn't anything more?"
"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't..." Xylle murmured. Xion looked at her sharply.
"What?" the raven-haired girl asked.
Xylle shrugged.
"Maybe it was just all of the Heartless, maybe it wasn't. All we can do is sit back and wait." she said.
"You mean sit and wait for someone to get killed?" Axbrem asked her heatedly.
"No, not wait that long." Xylle said carefully, "Just wait...and see what happens."
At that, Axille came bounding across the room with Saix coming along much more slowly. The young Nobody almost ran smack into Axel but Roxas managed to reach out and grab her in time.
"Number XV has just asked me when missions will begin again and I thought it fair to remind you all of the three-day leisure Superior gave you. But I hope that, when missions do begin again, you all will share in her enthusiasm." Saix said, before turning on his heel to return to the other Nobodies.
All eyes turned to Axille and she stared back, unafraid, as she asked, "What? I thought work would help people forget."
"Forget? Why would we forget what happened so quickly?" Axbrem asked her.
Axille's expression changed from cheerful to serious as she replied, "Because! It was all because of the Heartless, nothing else! I don't know why you're so worried over nothing!"
With that, Axille stood up, pried herself away from Roxas, and darted over to the other side of the room, leaving her friends and mentor to stare after.
"Alright, you know what? Let her delude herself. I don't care." Axel growled, before standing up to make a portal, "I'll be in my room."
He left quickly, and the small group slowly dissolved as everyone left to be alone with their own thoughts.
Axille found herself sitting next to Kyrox and Anix as the older members talked about the previous day's events. For some reason, Zexion kept sending curious glances her way, but she pretended not to notice.
"So what do you think about all of this, Saix?" Anix asked his teacher, who stood a slight ways away from the marble counter with his arms crossed.
"I think everyone is being ridiculous and we should get back to work as soon as we can." Saix replied, his voice its usual monotone drone.
"I dunno, Saix." Xigbar said from his seat across the counter, "I think the tension's too...tense. Maybe we should find a way to stop it, before someone gets hurt."
"And how do you propose we do that, Xigbar?" Xaldin asked snidely, "Or have you already thought of a likely endeavor?"
Xigbar glared at him before shaking his head, "As if. Just thinking out loud, man."
"Ideas or not, we can't sit back and allow ourselves to be slowly torn apart from the inside out." Xavier, who was sitting on Anix's other side, said heatedly.
Axille rolled her eyes at Xavier's comment and boldly stated, "You're all worrying over nothing. I agree with Saix; you're being silly and the sooner we get back to work, the sooner we forget this whole thing, and the better off we'll be."
Saix nodded and said, "At least the youngest among us has a clear head on her shoulders. You would do well to follow in her footsteps." Without further ado, he was gone.
Xigbar snorted as Axille sat down on the ground and leaned against the counter, obviously pleased with herself.
"Teacher's pet." he scoffed, but he didn't seem to be very mad.
"You shouldn't meddle in things that do not concern you, number XV." Xaldin told her darkly.
Axille stared after him as he stalked through a portal to his room and she shook her head, almost sadly.
No one else said anything has breakfast dissolved in the sounds of clinking plates and forks as each member put their dishes away. The population of the kitchen dwindled until it was only Xion, Xylle, Axille, and Roxas left. Xion, Xylle, and Roxas set to work cleaning the dishes (as part of their routine chores), leaving Axille to sit at the countertop to wait for Roxas.
"Roxas, you wash, I'll dry, Xylle puts away." Xion said as she picked up a dish towel.
"Heh...no. How about you wash, I dry, and Xylle puts away?" Roxas asked playfully, snatching the towel from her.
"No. I'm not getting wet this early in the morning!" Xion told him, making a move for the towel.
Xylle sighed heavily and watched the two go at it with soap and suds, getting into a ridiculous water-fight before she finally snapped.
"Enough! Roxas, you wash, Xion, you put away, and I'll dry." she growled, grabbing the towel and pushing the two apart to their stations. Roxas and Xion shook their heads but went to work, falling silent as the bucket-brigade-like system downed the amount of ware in the sink in a matter of minutes. All the while, Axille had been watching them with a puzzled expression. But it wasn't her friends that were vexing her.
Ever since Roxas had told her about this alleged "attack on Twilight's View" she had been trying to remember something of it, but there was just a big gap between running out of the Hall of Empty Melodies and waking up with Roxas over her. She didn't have the greatest memory, but she was certain she would at least remember being ambushed before. No, she knew that that big blank wasn't by accident. Then...what was it by?
"Hm...Hey Roxas? I'll see you later!" she told them, but she kept her voice down.
Roxas didn't hear her completely over the noise of the sink so he just waved and said, "Uh...yeah, Axille."
Axille nodded and got up, running out of the room before Roxas got a chance to see what she was doing.
Axille maneuvered her way through the abnormally crowded hallways to the Grey Area. With no work for a few days, everyone was busy doing things they usually didn't have time enough to. And with the numbers swelled to twenty-eight, there were a lot of people around.
Which was why she wasn't surprised to find the Grey Area one of the most crowded rooms of all. There were several people blocking the entrance but, using her small size, Axille pushed her way inside and looked around for someone in particular.
She found him, sitting on one of the armchairs with a book, trying his hardest to ignore the noises and chatter of the Nobodies around him. Zexion had been looking at her strangely during breakfast-maybe he knew something!
"Hey Zex, can I ask you something?" she asked, sitting down on the armrest of his chair. Zexion looked at her out of the corner of his eye and sighed.
"What do you want, number XV?" he questioned, not closing his book.
"I was just um...wondering! Where were you yesterday?" she asked bluntly. Zexion didn't reply for several moments before he sighed again.
"I was trapped in the basement with numbers IV and V. Why?"
"Because! Roxas said I got attacked by Heartless on the View but the thing is: I don't remember that! You were looking at me weird at breakfast so I wondered if you maybe knew something about that?" Axille asked innocently.
Zexion looked at her in a very annoyed way and she quailed, taking the hint and backing off.
"Uh...I'll just...go over here..." she stammered, dashing across the room and hiding behind Lexaeus, who had been talking to Axel.
Axel looked quizzically at the kid and asked, "What're you up to now?" He didn't seem upset with her anymore, which was a good thing.
Axille looked at him and relaxed, smiling as she said, "Just finding out what really happened yesterday!"
Axel froze and stared at her, before saying slowly, "And...what do you think happened yesterday?"
Axille put on a puzzled expression and crossed her arms with a pouty sigh.
"No clue! I can't remember at all!" she announced sadly, "And I don't know why!"
Axel visibly relaxed and said fairly, "Well, if you can't remember, it probably wasn't important. Why don't you go find something to do?"
Axille nodded and ran off to cause mayhem somewhere else, "Yeah, you're right Axey. Bye!"
Axel stared after and sighed, relieved, much to the curiosity of Lexaeus. The Silent Hero had been watching this exchange with a thoughtful expression on his face. He, like Axille, suspected much, much more than what everyone else was saying occurred yesterday.
Pretty soon, Axille found herself on one of the Hall of Empty Melodies balconies, listening in on a training session with Xiyak and Darxet. She kept herself flattened to the ground
as the two below talked.
"What do you make of all this, Xiyak?" Darxet asked as he ducked one of her iron-clad punches.
"I think we can't trust anyone who was against us yesterday." Xiyak said seriously as she swung another punch, "We need to do something to protect ourselves."
"And what do you propose we do?" Darxet questioned as he raised his hammer and swung it around at her, "We can't exactly fly under the radar in this place."
Xiyak stopped and Darxet had to brake to avoid smashing her head in. A slow smile crept onto her face as she said slowly, "Yeah...we can't fly in this place...too much surveillance."
As she said that, Axille suddenly heard a small robotic sound from behind. Looking around, she saw a security camera that had been studying both her and the Hall.
Well, she's right about that, Axille thought, turning back to the two.
"So...we find another place? ...Wait, why do we need to find a place?" Darxet asked, sitting down.
"Simple," Xiyak said, taking a seat beside him, "we can't trust anyone but ourselves. We could very well be attacked at any time, so we need to be prepared. We need a place to
prepare ourselves, and obviously, we can't use anywhere in this castle. I mean, unless there's a secret collection of unknown rooms somewhere, we're going to have to go under the radar to do what we need to do."
Darxet looked up at the ceiling for a moment before he nodded and said, "Oh yeah...now I follow you. So, got any place in mind?"
Xiyak nodded slowly.
"I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it'll work." she said.
"And?"
"Have you ever been to the Cave of Wonders in Agrabah?" Xiyak asked.
Darxet nodded, grinning, "Once or twice."Xiyak smiled and stood up, clapping her hands together. "Great then, we're settled. Get Amenxtthe, Syaxsal, and Cavex on board and we'll head out there tomorrow."
Darxet nodded, then stopped. He turned around and for a second, thought he had seen a flash of brown on one of the balconies.
"What the...?"
"Darxet, come on!" Xiyak said impatiently, "We have to get started!"
Darxet turned away and ran out of the room after her, leaving a startled Axille lying on her back on the balcony. She had just barely avoided being seen, and she wasn't ready to move quite yet. Her mind was whirling with everything she had just heard. Was Xiyak really that paranoid that she would need to find a secret place to prepare herself for an attack?
Axille shook her head with a sigh. She just couldn't see why everyone was so freaked out over a bunch of Heartless. There was no conspiracy in that! It was just a freak accident!
Then again...what was up with that big memory gap? Standing up, Axille decided that she would focus completely on remembering whatever it was that had caused that gap. At least she would remember being attacked.
"Wait...Xylle and Xion had that same memory gap too. Maybe they have a better idea!" she exclaimed, getting up and dashing through a portal to the kitchen.
"Axille, there you are!" Roxas half-shouted when she had tumbled out of the portal. He rushed over and grabbed her, as if scared she would run off again, "Where When I turned around to check on you, you were gone!"
"Hey Roxy!" Axille exclaimed as she was squeezed, "I told you I'd see you later! And then you said 'Uh...yeah, Axille' so I left!"
Roxas sighed and sat her down on a chair, glaring down at her.
"Still, Axille, you should have told me where you were going! And I barely heard you; I thought you were asking me a question! You had me worried!"
Axille sighed and shifted uncomfortably in the chair, "...Sorry, Roxy."
She looked behind him at Xylle and Xion, who were watching with awkward frowns on their faces.
"Oh! You two, I wanted to ask you - Hey!" she exclaimed as Roxas picked her up off the chair and opened a portal.
"In." he ordered, shoving her through. He looked back and waved goodbye to Xylle and Xion before he followed Axille through to their room.
Xylle and Xion waved numbly back before turning to each other.
"What do you suppose she was going to ask?" Xion questioned.
Xylle shrugged, "I don't know. I wonder what Roxas is going to do to her?"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Xion giggled, "I overheard Roxas talking to Vexen about her amnesia and nausea this morning. Vexen gave him some medicine or whatever to help
her out, so I bet that's what they're going to go do."
Xylle nodded as the two walked out of the kitchen, "Alright. Want to go do some training?"