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I update pretty fast obviously.
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Eventually they rounded a corner and ended up in the garden behind the bathhouse somewhat. They sheltered behind a bush that was next to a stony path which led up to the sliding doors up ahead. Roxas clutched Axel's sleeves and tried not to lose his sanity as he gazed at the doors, making out the silhouettes of the attendants as they ran by.
"Master Axel! Where did Master Axel go?" one said.
"Find that human and catch him!" another shouted.
Roxas took in a shaky breath, causing Axel to turn and look at him with those amazing green eyes of his. Both of the boys looked up from their staring at each other when another attendant shouted to the others, "I smell humans! The stench of humans!" Roxas saw Axel narrow his eyes at the insulting words.
"Well, they know your here." he said in a lazy tone.
"I'm sorry I took a breath.." Roxas murmured, trying to sink lower.
"Nah Roxas, you did very well." he turned to look at Roxas again and brought his face only inches from Roxas', making the other boy think Axel was going to try and steal another kiss. "Listen and I'll tell you what to do. Stay here and they'll find you. I'll distract them in the meantime while you escape."
Roxas' mouth dropped and he grabbed onto Axel's kimono collar once again. "No, don't go! Stay with me, please.."
"Whats a matter kid? Enjoy my company?" Axel smiled as Roxas' face glowed crimson. "You have no choice if you want to survive here and see your parents again."
Roxas looked down at the ground when Axel mentioned his parents and murmured, "So they did turn into pigs.. I wasn't dreaming.."
Axel smiled at Roxas before brushing his hand against the boy's cheek, and then holding his hand against Roxas' forehead. Like before when he unbind his legs, the spot glowed a fiery red. "Be still." he said as Roxas' mind was clouded and images came to him. He saw a door surrounded by cherry blossoms, and the door looked secluded. "When things quiet down, go out by the back gate." he heard Axel say. The next image was a very long flight of stairs going down until reaching a blue, thing door. "Go down the stairs until you reach the boiler room, where they stoke the fires." the door opened revealing like Axel said, a boiler room. "Xigbar will be there. Look for him." and after that, Axel took his hand back.
"Xigbar?" Roxas replied, looking into Axel's evergreen eyes.
"Yeah, ask him for work." he paused for a moment and pulled out a pipe from under his kimono. "If you don't work, Xemnas will turn you into an animal."
"Xemnas?" Roxas questioned again.
"You'll see. He's the sorcerer who rules our world." he lit the pipe. "Xigbar will try to trick you and turn you away, but keep on asking him for work. It'll be hard, but it will give you a chance. Then even Xemnas can't harm you."
"Ok.." before Roxas could compose himself, tears started to slip down his cheeks and onto the grass. Axel's eyes widened, and he reached out a hand to wipe them away. When he did, Roxas looked up to find their faces inches apart once more. And it was Axel's doing, since Roxas could visibly see him moving closer and closer until he felt the other's breath on his lips.
"Don't cry Roxas. Your to beautiful to cry." Roxas was at loss for words there, and the breath caught in his throat as Axel suddenly whipped around to face the doors. "I have to go." he turned back to Roxas. "Remember, Roxas, I'm your friend."
He snapped back to reality upon hearing his name. "How do you know my name?"
"I've known you since you were small. My name is Axel. Got it memorized?" on the last part, he tapped his forehead and smiled. He stood up to his full height and looked back at the sliding doors, leaving Roxas behind the bushes. "Here I am!"
Roxas watched as he entered the doors, and then was only a mere shadow. He could still make out the mess of spiky hair, and how he was significantly taller than anyone else there. "Master Axel, Xemnas wants you."
"I know. It's about my task I'm sure." he said in a rather annoyed voice.
As his voice drifted away, Roxas paused for a moment before turning his cerulean eyes to look at the path Axel implanted in his memory. Silently, he began to crawl in the direction and ended up opening the door that led to the flight of stairs, then silently closing it behind him. To the left he could see lights from the bridge merely around the corner and guests still coming in.
As he began to slowly decend the stairs, he moved very slowly for they were made of wood and it seemed like they would break at any moment. This was proven as he stepped on the fifth step and it broke, scaring him and causing Roxas to run down the rest of the way and smack into a wall at the bottom. He heard a window open and turned to see a attendant leaning out the window and puffing out smoke from his pipe. Slowly, Roxas inched around the corner and continued to the boiler room.
When he got down to the door Axel had shown him earlier, he hesitated before turning the knob. When Roxas was inside, he passed by valves and other things that steamed. Up ahead he could see the shadow of a man turning different objects it seems. He peeked around the corner fearfully and gaped when he saw a huge boiler which spewed fire out in random spots. Looking down below, he saw what looked like little black balls carrying coal over their heads and were tossing it into the boiler. Positioned in a seat in front of the boiler was, Roxas assumed, Xigbar. The little black balls would retreat to what looked like mice holes in the wall after handing over their coal. Xigbar, on the other hand, looked to be mixing several herbs of some sort.
Xigbar had his hair pulled back and the color was black with silver streaks. He also had an eyepatch on. Looks like he had got in a fight with the boiler more than once. Roxas watched as he tapped the place next to him with some sort of hammer, causing all the little black balls to drop their coal and zoom into the mice holes. When they were all gone, Roxas stepped forward.
"Uh, excuse me?" he watched as Xigbar turned to him lazily, took a drink out of a teapot, and turned back to his work. "Are you Xigbar?"
"Hm?" he turned and leaned over his counter to look at Roxas, who shivered.
"Uh, Axel sent me here please let me work here!" he shouted all too fast.
Suddenly, tags on a purple ribbon dropped down in front of Xigbar from above causing him to turn back and look at them. "Lame, all at once." he grabbed the mallet next to him and beat on the counter once more. "Get to work you little runts!" he shouted, while looking behind him. Roxas looked as well, but was brought back to look at Xigbar when he spoke up again. "I'm Xigbar little dude. Slave to the boilers that heat the baths. Step on it boys!" the last sentence was shouted.
"Please let me..work here?" Roxas repeated himself.
"I've got all the help I need. The place is full of soot. Plenty of replacements."
Roxas turned and watched as the things he now knew were soot file out of the holes with the coal in their little bitty arms once again. Roxas stood in the corner of the pen which was leveled lower than the rest of the boiler room, and watched. To his dismay, a little soot guy ran into his leg and started shrieking to which others piled on top in distress.
"I'm sorry! Hold on a sec.."
Roxas moved over to the opposite corner and stared, woken by Xigbar's surfer guy voice once again. "Move out of the way." Roxas was startled to see Xigbar had somehow teleported over to where he was, opened a drawer, and grabbed some herbs before dissapearing and reappearing higher than before. He repeated his actions and put the herbs away into the drawer and grabbed a different set. When he was done, he reappeared over onto his seat again and started mixing herbs.
Roxas sat down on the ledge of the higher elevated floor and stared at the soot balls as they passed. One happened to be walking when the coal fell on top of it, making the little guy cry out in pain. Roxas stood up, looking to Xigbar who didn't seem to notice, and picked up the surprisingly heavy piece of coal, watching as the soot creature popped back into existence and ran away. The rest of the soot creatures continued to throw their coal into the boiler like before while Roxas stood there, bent over holding the coal.
"Finish what you started, brat." Xigbar shouted from his perch.
Roxas nodded and inched forward one step at a time towards the boiler. When he reached the front of the boiler, he watched as it opened and closed..open and closed.. He would have to time this right. And he did so as he hauled the heavy rock into the boiler and scurried away, flattening himself against the wall. Shit, he sure was jumpy since he figured out he was forever in DREAM LAND..
He looked down to see the soot balls gathering at his feet. They looked to one another before dropping the coal on themselves like the soot from earlier. He sighed as Xigbar turned to look as well and grumbled something he couldn't quite make out. "YOU LITTLE RUNTS! Get back to work before I turn you all back into soot." he then turned to Roxas. "And you! Watch it, you can't just take someone's job. If they don't work, the spell wears off. Got no work for you here, kid, look elsewhere."
The soot balls started to get angry and piled their coal around Roxas, only stopping at his knee's. He stared bewildered as Xigbar continued to yell at them, the two didn't notice a new stranger enter the room. "What? You guys at it again?" Roxas turned to see the person, and was amazed to see a boy who quite looked like him in the features. Same blue eyes and everything. Only thing that was different was his brown, more spiked out hair than Roxas'. He was carrying a basket.
"Your bowl?" Xigbar turned and handed the boy a empty bowl. "I keep telling you to leave it out.."
Xigbar turned and pulled a string before shouting, "Meal time! Take a break!"
Roxas watched as the boy walked over to the pit and sprinkled what looked like multi-colored spiky candies to the soot creatures. They all had dropped their coal and was running for the candies in a cheerful squeak. His blue eyes watched the others travel until they landed on Roxas. He saw the boy immediately tense up. "A human! What are you doing in here?" he was now standing and pointing at Roxas. "They're having a fit about you upstairs. Your in trouble.."
"He's my grandson." Roxas was surprised to hear Xigbar say something. He looked up for any emotion on the mans face, but saw none. "Says he wants to work, but I've got all the help I need." he was stuffing his face with a shrimp. "Would you take him to Xemnas? The boy can handle him I'm sure."
"Not a chance! And risk my life!?" the chestnut boy yelled.
"Take this, then. A roasted paopu." he held out a star shaped treat to the boy. "Real quality." he then looked to Roxas. "If you want to work, you'll have to make a deal with Xemnas. Might as well try your luck."
Roxas jumped when the boy snatched the paopu away and shouted, "Fine! You there, follow me."
Roxas maneuvered through the coals around his feet to stand next to the shorter boy. He was picking up leftovers of the food and putting it in his basket. "Can't even manage a 'thank you' or 'yes sir'?" he put his hands on his hips, but smiled at Roxas.
"Thank you.." he murmured, beginning to walk.
"What do you need shoes or socks for?" the boy put a finger on his mouth as if in thinking.
"Y-yes sir.." he kneeled down and took them off. He placed his shoes in the soot pen, to which they all crowded around once he left. "Keep those safe for me, ok?" he told them, to which they squeaked and brought them inside the mice holes.
"Aren't you going to thank Xigbar?" the boy asked.
"Oh, thanks Xigbar. Really." he bowed.
Xigbar turned and gave him a thumbs up and a smile. "Good luck, kid."
Roxas turned and watched the boy open up a secret compartment door which led to the bathhouse he assumed. He motioned for Roxas to come, and so he followed. He closed the door behind him and followed the boy. "So..whats your name?"
"Sora." he turned and smiled at Roxas. "And you?"
"Roxas." he saw Sora nod in approval before continuing on. It looked as if they were in a storage room.
"Xemnas lives way up at the top in the back." Sora walked out into the open, peered around, and then motioned for Roxas to follow. When he looked up, he saw a series of stairs and other kinds of loopholes leading to the higher floors. He watched as elevators decended and rose up and down.
"Get over here." he snapped to attention as Sora shouted for him. He stood next to the boy and braced himself as Sora pressed the button.