Ch. 7
First Impressions
Xemnas walked out the room leaving Axel lying on his bed. It had been the worst possible time this situation fall on him. All this time he had kept quiet about Axel, watching him day by day fall more and more for Roxas and knowing any attempt to try to seduce the man would be futile; Roxas had him in too deep. Despise all that, he thought with a sigh; Number VIII had been better than what he had expected.
He found Vexen,
Lexaeus and Zexion sitting on the empty dining room table. They had
an aura of seriousness around them, none of their usual childish
cheerfulness.
Xemnas took a seat in front of them.
"Who was it?"
he asked.
Zexion looked a little taken aback. "Larxene," he
said. "but-"
"Larxene, just Larxene?" he said
hurriedly.
Zexion shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "How do
you-?"
"Who else Zexion?"
"Marluxia," said Lexaeus
quietly. "Larxene and Marluxia, I'm sorry Xe-"
Xemnas raised a
hand to silence him. He seemed to hesitate for a moment but then
looked at the three of them in turn.
"Thank you for telling me
this," he said standing up. "Make sure no one leaves the
castle."
"Xemnas, there's something else," said Vexen
standing up. "There were rumors about this from the beginning. And
some of our members have already gone out. Demyx, and Xaldin and…"
Xemnas slammed
his fist against the table.
"Fine, fine," he said angrily. "I
trust you can take care of things around here."
"Where are you
going?" said Zexion standing up.
"I'm going to find Roxas,"
he said. "But first, I must find Number XI and XII,"
He
started to go outside, but turned to look at them. He stepped closer
and whispered, "Oh, and one more thing. If Roxas comes here, he is
to be captured, by any
means possible," he said, and turned to look at Zexion. "Zexy,
Axel can't know about Roxas, okay?"
Axel waited for a
few minutes after Xemnas left the room, and went after him. He had a
strange feeling about the Castle. He heard the footsteps go into the
dining room and easily followed, Xemnas sure could be loud. Xemnas…
Axel smiled. Who knew Number I could be so, so- when he was with him
he made it seem , everything, all right. Even Roxas, I mean they
could be friends, right?
A loud knock from the adjacent room waked
him from his reverie. He stepped closer to the door.
"Fine, fine,"
said a voice angrily. "I trust you can take care of things around
here."
"Where are you going?" It sounded like…
Zexion?
"I'm going to find Roxas," he said. "But first, I
must find Number XI and XII,"
Find Roxas..! Axel stepped away quickly from the door and hid behind the column. He heard Xemnas go out of the door in a furry and a few seconds later, Zexion, Lexaeus and Vexen. He waited until he heard them close the door behind them and opened a portal and went into it.
Axel opened his
eyes. Portal travels always made him dizzy, he hated them, and yet he
was the one that used them most.
He looked around; he seemed to
be in some sort of Arena, except it was too small to be an Arena.
That was odd, he had wanted to go to Roxas, but where was he? He
heard deep breathing behind him and turned. Roxas was in the middle
of the crowd battling some boy. He couldn't help some of his usual
mockery and making the time stop like it was nothing for a few
minutes, walked towards him, clapping loudly.
The boy turned around startled, which amused Xemnas even more. He gave a small laugh.
"Roxas! All right! Fight, fight, fight,"
The boy gave him a puzzled look. Axel stopped, "You really don't remember? It's me, you know," he said, taking of the hood covering his head with a swift motion. "Axel,"
"Axel?"
"Talk about blank with a capital `B'. Man, oh, man. Even the dusks aren't gonna crack this one," he said. He lifted his hands slightly and summoned his Chackrams. Roxas looked alarmed.
"Wait a sec'! Tell me what's going on!"
Axel looked around the buildings nearby. The closest ones were decorated with colorful banners and signs, the people around them were frozen in cheerful jumps and screams. So there had been a battle going on, but one for people's entertainment only. He looked back at Roxas.
"This town is his creation, right?" he said. "Which means, we don't have time for Q & A. You're coming with me. Conscious, or not; then you'll hear the story."
He flashed his chackrams playfully, but in a threat full mode. Roxas would know he was playing, but he looked scared and gripping the key tighter with his right hand he backed away slowly.
"Wh-?"
He suddenly felt the energy waves that could only
mean something.
"Oh-oh," he said looking around.
Roxas
looked around too, but then looked at the key blade he was holding
angrily and threw it hardly to the ground at Axel' feet,
"What's going on?!" he said. He looked upset at first, but then lifted his hand to the level of his throat and looked at it, surprised. The large key blade appeared there.
"Number XIII, Roxas," said Axel. "The key
blade's chosen one,"
He lifted his chakrams again and
positioned himself in a battle stance.
"Okay, fine!" said Roxas, also placing
himself. "You asked for it!"
Axel smiled; good ol' Roxas.
"That's the way I like it!"
He started battling Roxas, but didn't put a lot of effort into it when he saw Roxas fight. He didn't seem the same at all, his technique was terrible! Still, he let him hit him a few times, but stopped when he saw a flash of light from one of the corners of the square. Diz emerged from it. Roxas looked around quickly when he saw Axel stop.
"Huh?" he said, surprised.
"So, it was
you," Axel said angrily. He lit his chackrams and threw them at him
quickly. A shield appeared between the blazing weapons and the man,
who calmly ignored them. Instead he turned to look at Roxas, who was
still looking rather confused.
"Roxas, this man speaks nonsense!"
Axel was
furious; he turned to look at Roxas. "Roxas don't let him deceive
you!" he said pleadingly.
"Roxas!" they both shouted again, and again.
Roxas looked as though he might faint. He covered his ears with his hands and shutting his eyes tightly he fell to his knees. Axel looked angrily at Diz, but he didn't look as though he was going to budge. He met Axel's eye, and with another energy wave, he was gone. Axel knew better than to cheer victory, he knew Diz was gone on the condition of Axel's departure. Axel gave Roxas a last look and disappeared into a portal, again. He would have to hide between portals for a while, how annoying.
Axel heard movement outside. He thought to check it out, maybe though, it'd be safer to let some Dusks out first. He heard a familiar voice and stepped out of the portal.
"Look at what it's come to," he said, stepping out. "I've been given these icky orders to destroy you if you refuse to come back with me."
"We're… best friends, right?" Roxas said cautiously.
"Sure,"
answered Axel. "But I'm not getting turned into a Dusk for- wait
a sec! You remember now?!"
His eyes opened with glee and a smile
escaped his lips.
"Yeah…" answered Roxas.
"Great!" said Axel believingly. "But you know, I gotta make sure and all. So um…"
He considered something to ask him that only Roxas would remember, it couldn't be too hard though…
"What's our bosses' name?" he said finally.
Roxas remained silent, not meeting Axel's eye. Axel waited for an answer for a few seconds, but then knew it wasn't coming. He looked at the floor, heartbroken. The worst part was, it surprised him, he had actually believed for a second that his Roxas was back.
"I can't believe this!" he said. He looked at Roxas again, who now had his key in his hand. Fine, if it was going to be like that, he was going to have to take him by force and then, maybe in Castle Oblivion, with everyone, he would remember something. He took out his chakrams, but just as he was about to light them, he felt something stop him. He saw Roxas look around for a second, but then, without a backward glance, ran in the direction of the Mansion.
Axel saw him walk away. He put away his chakrams and stood in place for a moment. He still couldn't believe it.
"The Roxas that I know is long gone," he said to himself. "Fine, I see how it is,"
He opened a portal and stepped into it. It didn't bother him this time, the visit was going to be a short one.
Axel found Roxas trashing around in one of the hidden underground rooms in the Mansion. It seemed he sensed something though, because he ran away into the next room. Axel followed him, but sent some Dusks in before him. When Roxas finished battling them all, he walked into view.
"Simply amazing, Roxas," he said walking. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was avoiding at all costs looking at the boy. He was afraid the most minimum thing would set his anger off.
"Axel," Roxas started.
Axel stopped on his tracks.
"You really do remember me this time?" he said turning to face him. "I'm -so-flattered! But you're too late!"
The mere look at the boy triggered his senses. He felt furry like he hadn't felt in a long time. This is what it must feel like to be Saïx, he thought. One minute he was perfect calm and charming poise, and the next, this; he lit the room ablaze, the fire spreading quickly leaving him and Roxas on the middle.
Roxas looked alarmed for a second, but quickly took out his weapons, two keys, one of them that looked a lot like…
"Two?" Axel said.
He smiled again and bending his shoulders forward slightly took out his chakrams.
"Burn!" he teased him. They fought; but it seemed that with the newfound key, Roxas had gained the strength he had lost. He hit Axel hardly against the chest with one of the keys and Axel fell, slowly into his own flames. Then everything went blank.
Axel woke up confused he didn't know whether minutes or days had passed, but he opened his eyes. He was surprised to find himself standing up facing Roxas. It seemed he had only passed out for a second. He looked at the floor, gasping for breath, which was somewhat difficult due to al the smoke emanating from it. It seemed his fire had burned out. He looked at Roxas. There it was again, the memory of that dreadful night.
"You can't turn on the Organization! You get on their bad side and they'll destroy you!"
Roxas turned away. "No one would miss me." He let a few seconds of silence tick by, and when Axel didn't respond, he continued to walk away.
"That's not true...!" he felt all anger leave him. He breathed, defeated. "I would..."
"Axel!" said Roxas.
Axel was
breathing deeply, not because of the smoke anymore, which had seemed
to clear away the minute he looked at Roxas, but he couldn't let
the boy see how he made him feel. Not yet, not ever.
Roxas stared
at him, waiting for him to say something.
Axel looked up. He tried his best to smile, although in his opinion it seemed very weak.
"Let's meet in the next life," he said looking into Roxas' big blue eyes.
The boy nodded softly, "Yeah, I'll be waiting."
Axel opened a portal just below him. He couldn't stand being in the same room with Roxas for another minute. He had been very naïve to think Roxas could no longer thread any emotion within him, no matter how deep it was buried. He gave him a last look before the portal swallowed him completely, taking him back to the Castle. No doubt Xemnas would be going berserk right now. He wondered when he was going to see Roxas again; if he was going to… he smiled at the boy.
"Silly. Just cuz you do have a next life…"
