As they walked down the carefully floor shined hallway, they reached a set of windows which gave a lovely view of the foggy..place below, Sora spun around as if he had a surge of enthusiasm. Roxas jumped back, not quite used to the kids hyperactive personality.
"So you did it huh?" he was beaming with happiness. "Your so thick I was worried." now Roxas glared. "Just keep your wits about you and ask me if you need anything, ok?" he then leaned in real close to Roxas and murmured in a whisper, "Xemnas' son Riku is my secret boyfriend you could say. We are real close."
And thats when Roxas decided not to tell him of earlier. "I'm dizzy.." he suddenly said, rather truthfully.
Sora led them back to the room of which they would be staying, and announced so as the maids slept over in different sides of the room. Sora didn't mind being rude, he guessed, since the boy turned the lights on. "Chow then bedtime is the schedule." he was opening a drawer and digging through it. "You wash your own apron. Trousers." as he said the name of the garmets, they were suddenly tossed into his hands.
He really didn't know what he was thinking when he said, "Um, Sora..Are there two Axels here?"
"TWO?!" the boy shouted suddenly, causing Roxas to jump. "I hope not. He's Xemnas' henchman. Watch out for him." he continued to dig for an appropriate shirt for Roxas, not noticing Roxas suddenly crouch down and start to shudder. His mood swings were due to the fact he was in fucking fairyland suddenly for sinners. "Hey, whats wrong?" Sora crouched down and began to rub Roxas' back.
"Hey Sora, what's wrong?" one of the maids asked, woken from her sleep.
"It's the new guy. Said he feels faint."
Axel was climbing up one of those spiral staircases with the most deadpanned expression on his face. He eventually arrived at the top and opened the door to see Xemnas standing there with an expectant look on his face. Axel merely propped himself against the doorframe and asked, "What?"
Xemnas didn't say anything, but opened the sliding doors to go to the balcony of the room. That is where the crow-like shadow creature waited that he and Roxas saw in the beginning. Xemnas clasped both of his hands together, and then let them out, suddenly gaining the body of a crow and launching himself into the air. He took off with his crow as well, leaving Axel with the hopping shadow creatures Roxas met earlier.
"So much for that." he sighed, clicking off the lights.
When the next day was beginning to show, for it was only way early in the morning, no one stirred yet except for the fiery redhead. Roxas was shivering in his bed, lined up on the floor with the rest of the maids. Sora was beside him in a seperate bed as were other maids. He was the only one who had stayed up the entire night, not fully accustomed to being in a fucking fairyland. He tensed when he heard the door slide open and the sound of feet following afterwards as they moved through the room. He felt a hand brush his face and a voice oh so sweet to him.
"Meet me at the bridge and I'll show you your parents."
And he was gone. Roxas slowly got up and put on his bottoms he had acquired earlier that night. He moved into the hallway, seeing the windows which were foggy from this mornings heat. In the distance, Roxas could see the sun starting to rise. He walked down a flight of wooden stairs and ended up going through the same hole to where the boiler room was when Sora showed up. Xigbar was fast asleep, but the soot creatures were not. They filed out upon seeing Roxas and had his shoes in tow.
"Thanks, guys." he said, slipping them on.
Roxas hopped across their pen and ran to the door, but turned when he heard the squealing of the little soot creatures and saw them all hopping around, trying to get a glance of him as he left. With a smile, Roxas waved before opening the door. He went up the stairs more calmer than before this time, careful to avoid the one he had broken. When reaching the bridge, he looked around before stepping into the open. And he was indeed surprised to see a shadow spirit still looming on the bridge. His mask was shaped differently than most. Like a kitsune mask.
Roxas walked right past the staring shadow and ended up on the other side of the bridge. He looked back to see if he was being watched or followed, but much to his amazement the whole thing was gone. While Roxas stared, he felt arms slip around his waist at about that time and that familiar voice grace his ears with a laugh. It was funny how Axel had sudden personality changes when they were in public, but it was to be expected.
"Leeeet's go." before Roxas could turn around, Axel was already walking away.
They wove their way through a lush flower garden filled with bushes of said flowers, which were gradually squishing the smaller boy. Axel didn't seem to mind and just walked forward, unaware at how romantic the scenery could have been. When they reached the edge of the field, he looked down to see about three shotgun shaped barns(meaning they are long). Axel didn't wait for Roxas and continued on. When they arrived at the barn, Axel nodded for Roxas to go and talk. And of course, he slammed into the fence.
"Mom, Dad! It's me! It's..Number Thirteen..?" he faltered.
"Can't say your name cause Xemnas owns it now. He gets high off that shit for some reason." Axel piped up behind Roxas.
"Well..are they sick?" he pointed to his parents.
"Nah, they ate too much. Sleeping it off. Its what pigs do." he paused. "They don't even remember that they were human."
Roxas' eyes started to tear. "Dad, Mom, I promise I'll save you! Don't get too fat or they'll eat you.."
Later outside, Axel was standing over Roxas who was crouched down shivering once again. He reached inside his kimono and pulled out a package. "Here ya go." Roxas looked up, and took the package in his hands. He tore the paper open to reveal his clothes from the human world, and inside, a card. "This was my farewell card. I don't remember putting it in my clothes.."
Axel shrugged. "You know, I don't remember my real name, but somehow I remember you." he reached into his kimono again. "Here, eat this. You gotta be hungry." they were rice balls, and oh did Roxas love those.
"I don't want to eat.." he spoke, sort of out of truth.
"Eat. I put a spell on it to give you back your strength." he shoved the food in Roxas' face, making it hard to resist.
And so he ate it, but with sadness brimming in his eyes. Before to long, his eyes watered and he began to cry. He made no whimpering or anything, just cried. Axel, in return, made them sit down on the grass as he held Roxas to his chest. He ran his bony fingers through Roxas' hair, making the younger boy eventually calm down and enjoy the smell of flowers that apparently had clung to his kimono.
When all was done, they went back through the little garden gate which led to the bridge. Roxas turned around to face Axel, and was taken back by the peck he received from the taller boy. "Can you find your way back?" he said with a bored tone, but the happiness showed on his face.
"Yeah, Axel, thanks. I'll work very hard." Roxas beamed, much to his surprise.
"Hah, I bet you will. Need to be.." Roxas watched as Axel's hand traveled down his chest and to..somewhere naughty. "..working on that."
"S-SHUTUP!" the blushing blonde yelled as he stomped across the bridge, fuming more as he heard Axel laugh behind him.
When he turned to yell, however, he looked up to see a thing line of black in the sky weaving through the clouds higher and higher. He guessed it was because of the distance that he couldn't makeout what it was, but still, even from afar whatever it was was truely beautiful. The sun shimmering off of its body proved that.
Roxas turned and went inside the bathhouse, unaware of the kitsune masked shadow from earlier stepping over the end of the bridge, following him, before dissapearing once again.
Back in the boiler room, Xigbar had woke up and grabbed the teapot from earlier. He drank whatever was in it and sat it down with a sigh. He looked over to see Roxas laying on the wooden floors next to the soot pen, which they were gathered around with the boys shoes, and was asleep. Xigbar teleported over to the kid, grabbed a blanket, and gently laid it on the sleeping boy before teleporting back.
Outside, it had begun raining and Xemnas was just now returning with his crow. He landed and walked to his room, knowing that the bathhouse was just now opening for business. And indeed it was. Attendants and maids filed in and out of rooms, going up and down stairs, and some even just waking up. The last category was Roxas and Sora.
"Geez, where have you bee?" the chestnut boy whined.
"I'm sorry." Roxas said in barely a whisper.
Both boys went and grabbed their check in cards and moved into a room where you scrub the floors by running back and forth across each end of the room with a wet rag. Roxas kept slipping and falling, feeling a little out of place since everyone was doing this at ninety miles an hour. Even Sora noticed his lame skill. "Is that really all you can do?" the boy said as Roxas was squeezing excess water out of his rag.
"Hey Sora." an attendant walked over to them. "You and Thirteen get the big tub as of today."
"What?! But that's frog work!" Sora said back, annoyed.
"Orders from the top. Better give it your all."
As Sora continued to gripe, Roxas carried his bucket of water over to the sliding doors where he and Axel parted in the beginning. He opened the doors and poured it all out, aware of the rain which was falling pretty hard. Cerulean eyes looked out to see the black shadow kitsune mask guy from earlier on the bridge. He was staring straight at Roxas.
"Hello? Aren't you getting wet?" Roxas said to the strange fellow.
"Thirteennnn. Where are you let's go." Sora shouted from inside.
Roxas smiled back at the shadow. "I'll leave this open." and indeed he did as he picked up his bucket and left.
The kitsune-masked creature walked forward and stuck its face inside, looked around, and then finally walked in. After doing so, he dissapeared from sight like before.
Sora and Roxas walked down the aisle leading to the baths. Each stall had a huge tub and was bordered by curtain like materials for privacy. This place was also full of steam. As they passed by a bath that was being filled back up hot water, one of the maids jumped out, surprising the boys both.
"On the big tub today Sora?"
"Lay off, Cloud." he replied with annoyance.
When they reached the big tub, grass looking things were clinging to absolutely everything. It was fucking disgusting. Sora voiced this when he said, "Jerks! They haven't scrubbed this in ages." As they went to work, Roxas felt like he would puke at any moment but Sora didn't seem to mind. Eventually they were scrubbing the inside of the tub which was caked with..shit. "This bath is reserved for our filthiest guests. Thats why its caked with sludge." Oh, its sludge.
"Sora we got our first customer!" Roxas heard an attendant yell.
"Right away.." Sora sang in mocking cheerfulness. "This tub needs a herbal soak. Get a tag from the foreman."
He held out his hand for Roxas to step on so he could get out, and ended up slipping. Next time, he had got it though and was out. But, he flipped and landed straight on his chin. "Herbal soaking tag?"
"Right."
"Got it." he ran down the hall but was stopped as he heard laughter above him. Roxas looked to see it was Axel. His pose made him look like a cat, and he was gazing at Roxas as if he was the next meal. This made the boy blush, but as much as he wanted to stay, he had work to do. When he reached the foreman who was passing out tags, he asked for one but to his dismay, the other just taunted and said to scrub with his hands.
"But..it needs to be a Herbal Soak.." he looked crestfallen.
"Go back to work." he picked up the phone as it rang and began talking.
Roxas glanced back at Axel over his shoulder, who was still eyeing him hungrily. But suddenly, his gaze shifted to look behind Roxas. He turned in response and saw the same kitsune masked fellow from earlier. He nodded to Roxas before fading back into transparency. All three people gasped as a tag floated up and landed in Roxas' hands.
"Uh..T-Thank you!" he turned on his heels and took off.
"HEY! Come back!" the foreman yelled, but was scolded out over the phone.
"What?" he said.
"Nothing at all.." he murmured.
"We have an intruder." Xemnas replied, unamused.
"Is it human?" the foreman asked.
"You figure it out. Axel's out today."
Meanwhile, when Roxas went to run back to the tub he saw Axel had dissapeared. Too bad, he would have really gone with..nevermind. Dirty thoughts be gone. When he arrived back to Sora, the other boy took the tag and walked over to a compartment on the wall. He clipped the tag on a purple strand of..string like material and watched it zoom up and out of sight.
"Those go to Xigbar." he explained. "Water'll be right up, it's not too busy now."
A thin block of wood dropped down from the wall and leaned over the tub. It had a string attatched to the front.
"You pull on that for hot water." Sora clarified.
And Roxas did as he was told, falling in the process. Sora laughed at him as he fell, but Roxas could tell it was a friendly laugh. "You can let go of the thing now. Just pull it again to stop the water when its all filled up. I'm gonna go get our breakfast." Sora hopped down and walked out of sight. Roxas let go of the string and watched in approval as he did such a good job. He turned when he heard shuffling of some sort. It was the kitsune masked guy, now in the corner of the room.
"Oh, hey." he approached the stranger. "Was it you who helped me out back there?"
The creature didn't say anything but instead held out its arms, revealing many more bath tags. He pushed his hands forward in a way of saying take them, but Roxas only shook his head. "I already got one. Its ok." when the shadow didn't back down, Roxas had to be a little less friendly. "I don't need that many." as if struck by lightning, the shadow faded, letting the tags clink onto the ground. When Roxas turned around, he saw the water was now overflowing.
"SHIT!"
Back in the lobby of the bathhouse, Xemnas had rushed down the stairs and was staring out to the bridge. "What is it?" he asked.
"A Stink God. Very stinky at that.." the foreman muttered.
"Funny, didn't seem like a Stink God." Xemnas murmured, his eyebrow raising.
Down on the bridge, the Stink God was moving at an unstoppable rate. The thing really just looked like an abnormally large pile of sludge. As it made its way through the town, the shadows closed the doors to their shops and the restraunts. Even attendants on the bridge who had been trying to stop the God have fainted from how bad he smelled.
"Just try to get rid of it as fast as you can." Xemnas waved it off.
Down back at the bath tub area, everyone was being hurried to their rooms. Everything was out of order and in chaos. However, one of the foremen came and approached Roxas' and Sora's tub. "Thirteen, Sora, Xemnas is calling you!"
When they approached Xemnas, he was bent over so he was eye to eye with Roxas. "Listen, this is your first job. You take this customer in the big tub."
"Um..Um.."
"One peep out of you and your coal, got that?"
Both turned to the door when attendants came running in with their hands clamped over their noses. Before he even got in there, Xemnas and Roxas both almost fainted on each other from the smell. Xemnas ground his teeth while Roxas just stopped breathing altogether. He clamped a hand over his nose, but was quickly growled at by Xemnas. "Don't insult the customer."
When it finally came in, Roxas didn't know how Xemnas could just keep breathing. Oh wait, he wasn't.. "Welggum to our bazzs.." the sludge pile extended a digusting hand to which Xemnas cringed even more. "Oh! Money! Thirteen hurry take it!" Roxas nodded and walked forward, his eyes not focusing on anyone but he had his teeth grinding now as well. When the sludge plopped onto his hand, he couldn't surpress the shiver that went up his spine. "Zhow him de bazz." he heard Xemnas fail the words.
"Follow me.." Roxas managed to choke out as he lead the Stink God blindy to the big tub.
When they arrived, he moved over to the fartherest corner as the big shit bomb threw itself in the water. Not much to his surprise, he emerged still a sludge thing. Up above, he heard Xemnas yell to open the windows. No shit, this guy stank like fifty thousand corpses. It seemed to examine its hands in confusion before looking to Roxas, obviously wanting more water.
"Smells like a dead animal doesn't it?" Xemnas laughed from the stairs above, overlooking the scene.
"This is no laughing matter.." the foreman beside him said.
"Let's see what he does.." Xemnas watched, intrigued.
"Oh, no, soiling the walls with those filthy hands!"
They watched as Roxas beat on the wall, trying to find the compartment. When he did, it opened fast. The boy digged around in the bucket full of tags for the appropriate one, and then finally reached to clip it on. When he was done, he pulled so it retreated up to Xigbar. The launch dropped down, and eventually Roxas made his way through the sludge to pull on the string.
"Did you give her all those tags?" Xemnas growled to the foreman.
"No! Its such a waste.." he responded.
But apparently not. Roxas plunged into the bath when he pulled the string, slipping on the sludge. When the water came pouring out, Roxas was stuck in the sludge at the bottom but was helped out when the creature pulled him out and held out Roxas in front of his water soaked form. Curious, Roxas reached for the Stink God and felt around, feeling the object of what the God wanted him to find. It was a stick of some sort.
"Thirteen!" he looked to see Sora now arriving.
"Sora! He's got a thorn in him!"
"A thorn?!" he moved to stand beside Roxas and feel for the 'thorn'.
"Did he just say a thorn?" Xemnas murmured from above. He suddenly hopped the railing and floated down to where the action was taking place. "Sora, Thirteen." he pulled both his hands apart and made a rope appear in front of him, wrapping itself in a bundle. "Here, take this." he tossed them the rope which Roxas caught. "Wrap it around the 'thorn' and pull it out. Help is on the way." And indeed it was. Once they successfully tied the rope on the 'thorn' they started to pull as did half of the bathhouses other occupants.
"Heave!" Even the ones who were staying at the bathhouse were shouting from upstairs and watching the scene. Eventually, they pulled hard enough the object came out a little bit to be.. "A bicycle?" Roxas questioned out loud. He saw Xemnas nod and continue to shout. Once the bicycle came, so did other human world objects and eventually the mess filled up the entire room, sending everyone sprawling backwards. The final object was a fishing line and lure to which Roxas pulled out with ease. When he did, there was a popping sound and a sigh of relief came from the God as his form shrunk down into the water.
Roxas shouted as water suddenly grabbed him from his spot and hoisted him in the air. He faintly made out Sora calling his name, but this was dorwn out as the withered skull of an old man appeared before him out of the water with sunken in eyes and an overall ghastly appearance. "Well done.." was what he echoed before fading and dropping Roxas on the edge of the bath tub. Cerulean eyes looked down to see a walnut shaped object in his hand.
"Whats this?" Xemnas peered down at the floor where all the objects were littered. As the water washed away and left dirt, the shimmer of gold was clearly seen stuck in the floor boards and lieing in the sand. Immediately all of the attendants and other workers jumped up and greedily grabbed at the gold. "Hey hands off! That's company property!" the foreman yelled, not gaining much attention.
"Be still! Our guest is still with us!" Xemnas snapped his head to look at the bath tub which was bubbling with some sort of strange liquid. Roxas stood, staring until Xemnas floated next to him. "Thirteen, you're in our guest's way. Get out and open the door!" he turned to the rest of the attendants. "Open the main gates! He's leaving!" as Roxas ran away, the bubbled up water rose and rose until it came out as a stream of water with the skull's face on the front. It laughed loudly at them all before bursting through the doors and out into the rain, flying off in the sky.
Lol I enjoy writing this. Thanks to everyone for the reviews!