Chapter 39 – The 255th Day

I can't wait anymore, Axel arrived from his mission on Castle Oblivion a few days ago, but now Roxas doesn't want to come with me. He's being acting strangely since we went to that horrible Old Mansion, I've tried to talk with him but he insists he's okay. I haven't seen him or Axel on the Clock Tower on the last days, I even feeling we're starting to distance from each other…

The dreams are starting to get even more often than before, the girl with red hair who looks like me, that boy with spiky hair, and I've even had dreams of Axel on a strange place which I believe is Castle Oblivion, I have to know what's there, no matter the risk…

The three most important members of the Organization: Xemnas, Saix and Xigbar were together on the Round Room discussing the recent events from Organization XIII.

-I sent Axel to Castle Oblivion again last night on short notice, to help expedite the matter we spoke off. I also instructed him to clear out our facilities there too. He should RTC soon. –Saix informed, Xemnas nodded his head in approval

-And Namine? –Xemnas asked

-Still missing, sir.

-Missing indeed. Wherever she could be? –Xigbar laughed, Xemnas and Saix turned to him

-Why Xigbar, it almost sounds as though you know. –Saix told him, Xigbar simply shook his head while smiling

-What else? –Xemnas asked ignoring Xigbar

-Someone accessed our main computer without authorization. –Saix informed again, Xigbar laughed again when he heard this

-"Somebody"? Are we all gonna pretend we don't know who? Little poppet is turning into a problem, and I think you catch my meaning. –Xigbar laughed, but Saix simply shook his head

-Nonsense. I see no problem whatsoever. –Saix said closing his eyes, Xigbar laughed at this

-Well no, apparently you don't!

-Something you find amusing? –Saix said glaring at Xigbar, he simply shook his head

-If people see with their hearts, Saix, then you're even blinder than the rest of us. –Xigbar explained him, Saix simply ignored his comment

-Our plans remain unchanged. Axel, Roxas and Xion will play the roles Kingdom Hearts has chosen for them. –Xemnas talked again, Saix looked at him worriedly

-But sir, Xion, if we don't take steps…

-Take steps? How can you not see how perfectly this is? Xion is marching right into the arms of destiny. The only steps we need to take are to watch…and wait. –Xemnas explained with an evil smile on his lips.

Meanwhile on other place, Xion had taken the decision to explore Castle Oblivion by her own. She had insisted Roxas to go with her on previous days, but he always said it was a bad idea or some other excuse, so in the end she decided to go without telling him anything.

As soon as she entered, she couldn't help but to stare completely at the scenery, it was the same place of her dreams, she turned around to stare closely at everything, it was a simple place without much decoration, but still it was somehow beautiful, at least for her.

As she continued staring at everything, she felt a sudden pain on her head, the memories were coming back to torment her. She hold her head with one of her hands in an useless effort to ease the pain.

Suddenly on her memory, she could saw Saix in front of her, She was still on Castle Oblivion except she was wearing her hood up as she usually did before. Saix then turned to her.

-This is the last you'll ever see of these walls, Xion.-he said as he walked away being followed by her.

Xion fell on her knees as the pain slowly started to go away making her sigh in relief. Unfortunately for her, a dark corridor appeared in front of her, Axel appearing from it. He was surprised to see her there, but he didn't show it.

-Axel… -she muttered knowing he was going to scold her

-Xion.

-….What are you… doing here…? –she asked weakly

-Orders. Nothing to do with you. I'm not sure what you thought you'd find out in an empty place like this. –Axel lied trying to make her go back, but Xion knew when he was lying to her and glared at him.

-Don't lie to me! I know this is where I come from! The answers are here. –Xion told him angrily, Axel sighed not even staring at her

-Weren't you given some other mission? You can't just throw orders to the wind, Xion. –Axel advised her, the girl smiled with irony

-Or else what? They'll turn me into a Dusk?

-Not even a Dusk. They'll skip right past and destroy you outright. –Axel explained, Xion couldn't help but to feel bad when she heard this

-Because I'm useless?

-No, I didn't say that. Turn around and go home, Xion. –Axel said helping her to get on her feet. Xion stared directly at her eyes after this

-Axel, I'm remembering things…About who I was. –Xion told him. Axel couldn't help but to feel bad for her, obviously things weren't going like he planned. The pyro moved his head, trying at all cost to avoid eye contact with the girl.

-Well, stop remembering. Nothing good will come from it. –Axel told her, but Xion ignored him and continued talking

-I have dreams every night. You're in them, Axel!

-Then they sure ain't memories. How can I be part of your past? Use your head, Xion.

-You can't fool me. We've meet before, Axel, right here in this castle! –Xion told him once again, Axel knew he couldn't lie more to the girl, but he couldn't told her the truth either.

-Have not… Go home, Xion. Don't keep Roxas waiting.

-Please, Axel, just…help me! I need to know who I am! –Xion begged him closing her eyes, Axel stared at him and shook his head. Xion hearing no answer knew Axel wouldn't help her so she started running trying to get to the door on the next room.

-Hey, stop! Xion, stay out of there! –Axel told him following her. She opened the door and entered a room just like the other, Axel was about to catch her but on a last effort she managed to dodge him and keep running.

-If you're not helping me, leave me alone! –the girl shouted still being chased by his friend. Once again she entered a new room but used a dark corridor to go away from Axel. He was about to reach her when she closed the dark corridor right in front of him.

-Damn it, Xion! I just hope you went back home… -Axel muttered angrily

A few hours later, after a tiring day with Luxord on Wonderland, Roxas was glad his mission was finally over and couldn't wait to share some time with his best friends. However, he was somehow concerned because he hadn't seen too much Xion on the lasts days which was starting to worry him. He gave the first bite to his ice cream when he heard footsteps from behind him.

-You're early. –he heard Axel's voice from behind him

-No, you're just late. –Roxas replied making Axel laugh

The two guys stayed there in silence, enjoying the beautiful view of the sunset, and how it looked on the building of Twilight Town. It took them little time to finish their respective ice creams. After that, Roxas remembered what he wrote on his diary on the morning and couldn't avoid to say it aloud.

-Today makes 255… -Roxas said with a nostalgic smile

-What's that about?

-It's been that many days, since I first joined the Organization. Man, time flies.

-So, you got the number memorized do you?

-Yeah. Have to hang onto something, right? It's not like I have memories from before the Organization. Don't you remember? I acted like a zombie. –Roxas reminded him, Axel smiled and placed his hand on his shoulder

-Right, that first week you could barely form a sentence. But come on, you're still kind of a zombie. –Axel smiled hitting his back making him lose his balance a little

-Oh thanks! –Roxas laughed taking away Axel's hand from his shoulder.

-Hey Roxas, bet you don't know why the sun sets red. You see, light is made up of lots of colors, and out of all those colors, red is the one who travels the farthest. –Axel explained

-Like I asked! Know-it-all. –Roxas laughed hitting Axel with his elbow.

Roxas and Axel began laughing at their own nonsense and after that they stayed in silence, enjoying the view once again. As he was sitting there, he remembered the conversation about Axel he had with Xion weeks ago. He smiled as he recognized Xion was right, Axel wasn't a bad person. He recognized also Axel was sometimes…weird, but certainly not a bad person. He was sure he was just trying to protect them from whatever it is on Castle Oblivion, just that.

He noticed it was already late that day and he had no news of Xion. He sighed worriedly, maybe he needed to talk with her, after all she was eager to go and investigate Castle Oblivion and he always insisted her they should wait.

-Seriously, where is she? –he thought aloud, Axel who was lying on the floor sat up and looked directly at him, which actually worried him.

-Roxas…I'm not sure she's gonna show today. –Axel said sounding really serious, this definitely make Roxas worry even more than before.

-Did she collapse again or something?

-She… -Axel stopped as he saw at Roxas worriedly face, and somehow he couldn't tell him the truth, why did this had to happen to him?

-What's wrong? –Roxas pushed him, Axel stared once again at him and then looked at the sunset completely changing his expression

-What, didn't you hear? She got sent on a really important mission. Pretty cool, huh? –Axel said, Roxas stared at him, for some reason he didn't believed him

-And when she's coming back? –Roxas said raising his eyebrow, Axel stared at him grinning

-Well, I guess that depends on how well she does her job, right? –Axel said, Roxas laughed at his expression

-Fair enough.

On a distant world however, Xion managed to find what it appeared to be a laboratory on Castle Oblivion. It was similar to the one the Vexen replica had on "The World that Never Was" so it was normal she thought that lab was from the real Vexen who died in that same castle.

After some hours searching on the files and on the computer, she managed to find the information she was so eager to find on a small book with the name: "No. I – Xion". As she began reading, she couldn't believe everything she was reading there, horrified, she threw the book away from her as she sat on the floor, staring at nothing in particular.

-No…Then…I'm not…The person I was before…wasn't me. –she said resigned still not believing everything she was there.

She smiled weakly as she remembered how Axel insisted on her not to keep going into the castle, he knew perfectly who she was and was just trying to avoid her the feeling which was now tormenting her. She got on her feet and started picking up the mess she had done minutes ago, no matter what she had discovered, she couldn't let by any reason someone beside Axel to discover what she had being doing in there, she simply couldn't.

-What…what am I going to do now? –she said staring at the floor sadly


Here ya go, we finally get into Day 255! This is the part of the story where almost everything will be different from the game, so be sure to stay tuned to know what will happen! Thank you for reading and please read and review!