How to Train Your Keyblade
There are no warnings for this Chapter so Enjoy!
Lesson 2: Learn to Breathe Again
Three days since Hiccup and I sat there on the awning and now we're standing in the middle of their cove with Astrid and Toothless, their trying to get me to even look at Winner again but I just can't. I don't know how to deal with it; the dragon I thought was a dragon is my Keyblade!
"Roxas… at least look at him! He's devastated that you haven't even taken a single moment to give him a glance. Dragons have very high emotions and-"
"I have high emotion levels too you know! It's not my fault I don't know how to deal with it Hiccup! You met Toothless and he was a dragon! I've known my Keyblade for four-hundred and thirteen days and I just found out it's a dragon and it still can't give me the answers I want!"
Hiccup looks at me with that same blank expression for a minute before glaring and allowing his hands to dig into his hair. "Roxas! I'm not understanding a word your saying! I don't know what a Keyblade is and I don't know why you keep counting days… is something wrong!"
"Of course something is wrong. That thing has all my answers and it can't tell me."
"Alright Roxas. I can take so much, but not talking about a dragon like their objects. They are living, breathing, and feeling too! Now you get your ass off this rock and apologies to Winner before I-"
"What? Get your girlfriend to pull me off the rock?" I lowered my eyes from the surrounding trees and see the glare in Hiccup's eyes. I know I've said something wrong but there is no taking it back. "I'm sorry Hiccup… but there are some things that your perky innocence cant help." the fire in his eyes is steadily growing and I know that a fuse can only be so long, and I've been burning his fuse away for a long time.
"Roxas. Get off the freaking rock and talk to your dragon." I roll my eyes and stand up on the rock, hopping down beside Hiccup and turning my head towards the three dragons, not really paying attention and certainly not looking at Winner.
"Hi." I turn back to Hiccup and walk passed him.
"Roxas! You get back here and amend things with Winner or I'm not letting you in the house tonight!" Hiccup sounds flustered and I just shrug my shoulders.
"No problem… I like the roof anyways." the sound of Hiccup yelling in frustration was heard behind me. I roll my shoulders before starting my climb out of the cove and not bothering to look back as I hear Astrid and Hiccup conspiring against me, talking about binding my hands and feet- too bad that I'm good with hand to hand as well as sword combat.
I'm sure that Winner doesn't know why I'm shunning him; I don't expect him to know that I have so many questions that maybe only he can answer but cant for obvious reasons. But the fact that Hiccup and Astrid aren't just letting me deal with this is starting to get on my nerves.
Night after night I've spent on the roof of Hiccup's house, looking at the stars I know are worlds but just cant call them by that. I try and find my own answers, like how this has happened. When could a weapon turn into a living, breathing thing? And is it just the Keyblade or is it other weapons from outside the world too? Maybe it's just the special weapons like those who Organization members carry.
My hands are stuffed in my pockets and I'm trying to think of what I need, the X shaped buckle of my belt catching my eye as it glints in the bright afternoon light. The sound of leaves moving behind me catches my attention and I spin around harshly, no knowing what it is until I see the flash of grey and yellow.
"Winner! Go home!" I see him poke his head up, his bright blue eyes so wide that it looks like he's asking a question. "Go home, Winner." a sad expression crosses his face and he hops over the green bush he's been hiding behind. "Great… he was playing hide and seek." I roll my eyes and keep walking as he walks up beside me, brushing his head on the palm of my right hand.
"Alright Winner… answer me this: why'd you choose me?" I look down and realize that he's nuzzling his head into my palm with his eyes closed. "You know you're going to walk into something if you keep your eyes closed, right?" he opens his eyes and looks at me with the bright sapphire eyes.
He looks so innocent and child-like that I just roll my eyes and playfully push his head to the side and he nudges back when he 'catches' his footing that he never lost.
We reach another large bolder and I take a moment to wonder how many house sized boulders this world has before just shaking my head and gripping some hand holds so I can pull myself up to the top of the rock.
By the time that I get to the top of the boulder I let out a huff and smile. At Winner, already sitting at the peak with a smile on his face that looks so odd. I shake my head and pull myself up so I can think about how to deal with everything that's been going on. The wind is blowing lightly and I can feel my fingers slicing through it as I hold my arms out to the wind so the feeling hits my face as well.
I let a sigh pass my lips, wondering what I'm going to do. Winner walks up to me and lays down at my feet again, this is something he seems to like doing and I'm not too sure why. "Do you want to go flying Winner?" the thought of being in the air is welcome right now to be honest. I really just want to try and think of life in whole and not how crappy my life is right now.
Winner raises his head and gives me a surprised expression, as if he cant fathom the fact that I've just asked for something so absurd… though I suppose that after our last flight it's not all that expected for me to ask to fly.
His eyes close with a smile and he curls around so he's closer to me, the same spot I'd sat in last time we flew directly at my hip and an almost giddy expression on his face. "Alright Winner… we're going to fly, but I don't want you going crazy like you did last time, alright?" he rolls his shoulders with the same joyous expression on his face and I let out a sigh, unable to stop my chuckle as I climb onto his back, glad that the ridges on his back don't hurt me as I get comfortable.
Winner takes off at a run, jumping off the edge of the boulder and weaving in and out of the trees. I squeak when my head comes close to a branch, pulling myself down so I'm closer to Winner's head, our bodies becoming more aerodynamic as he picks up speed almost like he tried to make me lower myself.
My heart is pounding and it's all I can hear in my head 'thump thump, thump thump' the sound in ringing in my ears and it's getting hard to concentrate on the passing trees and the steady rhythm of his clawed feet hitting the ground.
Wings start to flap and I realize that Winner is starting to take off the ground and that weightless feeling it starting to return to my stomach. Winner hops and lands again; I realize that he needs more momentum with the added weight of my body. I lower my body so my chest is pressed against his back and my legs are curled under his legs to make our shape as streamline as possible.
Winner's feet leave the ground indefinitely when he runs off a cliff and allows his wings to open completely. "Ah!" I stifle the cry with my shoulder as I close my eyes and duck my head down as far as I can. Holly shit, we're falling. I can feel the loss of height as his wings refuse to tilt, even just slightly. We're falling, and I cant stop it… I cant help myself and I cant help Winner because of the rocks I know cover every inch of shore that Berk has to offer.
"Winner! Pull up!" almost instantly the falling feeling evens out and I open my eyes to see that he's steadily inclining now, just gliding on the air with his giant wings and allowing the air currents to raise him up. I catch the corner of his eye and see that he's look back at me as if for the next instruction.
"Uh… go right?" he leads with his head, I can feel it because my hands are still on the two yellow horns. "Rise higher." I feel him lead with his head again and tilt my own head in confusion, knowing that tilting his wings would be an easier thing for him to do; it looked more natural the first time we flew.
Eyes are stinging because of the wind in my face, and it's slightly hard to breathe until I lowered myself again and use his head as a bit of a block. The scenery is so gorgeous that I almost forget that I'm not breathing, so I hide my face in my shoulder and take a large lungful of air.
"Fly West?" I don't actually know where West is, but I know that if we fly as far West as Berk as we can go that we'll come across the Cove, and that's where I really want to go. Winner leads with his head again, forcing my hands to move before he tilts his wings.
A few moments pass and I'm looking around again, my eyes hurting less and my lungs being able to take in gasps of air if my head is turned. Wow, this looks so cool, huge cliffs and stones are everywhere and even taller Evergreen trees then the ones bordering Berk are all around us.
'In a word, sturdy' Hiccup wasn't kidding, this place looks like it can withstand the test of time and further. My mind's beginning to wander, but I don't mind, Winner doesn't seem frantic on this flight like he was on the last one, and I know that I could probably fall asleep if I'd just lay down again. I only slightly register that I'm saying "To Berk." as I lay my head down on the thick, smooth scales of Winners back and let out a relaxed sigh as sleep started to overcome me, the first time in two weeks.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I was so confused back then, back when I didn't let people mean anything to me, well… Axel always meant something. Nine times out of ten Axel was always in the forefront of my mind, it was just that one night, that stupid night when I had no idea what was going on.
Axel had found me in the dining room of the castle, I was sitting fairly far from everyone else as they ate and told their jokes, not caring about their numbered seats and all just sitting close to one another. I was alone- of course -and just picking at my food, I had no reason to join them; I had to eat then go back to hunting heartless and creating Kingdom hearts.
It was too big a responsibility if you ask me. One kid shouldn't have to do something like that on their own, nine times out of ten I was on my own for the missions that Xemnas would give me.
Anyhow, Axel had walked right up to me like he did every other night before joining the rest of the group down at the end of the table- always offering for me to join them as soon as he was seated or before he was done with the pleasantries with me.
I'd been mulling over a new attack I wanted to try on a Heartless, but I knew that I'd have to be a Heartless that was fairly strong since a normal Shadow only took one hit in the right place now.
"Roxie! I just got back from the best mission ever! It was so green, and huge! Everything was big and fresh. Man you should have seen it! The weirdest thing happened though, my Chakrams-" Axel was cut off as Marluxia strolled up to the red head and gripped his hair. I watched with wide, horrified eyes as Marluxia slammed their mouths together. I waited a moment to see if Axel was going to push the stupid Daisy-boy away but when nothing happened I got up and left.
I didn't need that, not when Marluxia knew that I didn't know my feelings for Axel, everyone but freaking Axel knew for Christ' sake. I could hear a moan behind me but chose to ignore it as I opened a dark corridor and stepped inside.
The Clock Tower, it was ever my only salvation from the world. I'd tried other places but it had never worked, no place had the same sunset and no place had the same memories as that one single spot to high up I felt like I was going to fall for a slit second before I was completely balanced in my sitting position.
I'm not quite sure how long passed, just me sitting up there and looking at the never ending sunset, remembering Axels words exactly and the annoying question I can called him a 'know it all' for: 'Do you know why the sun sets red, Roxas?'
"Hey… what's up Roxas?" I jumped slightly hearing the voice to my left. I turned my head to the side and saw Axel standing against the building, I'm not sure how long he'd been there, but he looked peeved about something. "You know, the least you could have done was to kick him for me Roxas." I noticed the fact that he wasn't using his pet name for me.
I just turned back to the sunset, not yet having memorized the exact shades of red and orange. I heard his feet move as he brought himself over to the ledge where I was sitting and he plopped down beside me, letting out a sigh of satisfaction.
"Y'know, I really shouldn't give this to you now… after all, you are the one who left me to get molested back there Roxie." there it was again, that stupid name that sounded so much like a girls, but I loved it… for some odd reason I begged internally to hear that name more then my real name from his lips. Maybe it was because it wasn't the name that Xemnas gave me, that it was a name given to me by a dear friend- by Axel -but I loved it when Axel called me Roxie instead of Roxas.
My eyes lit up as Axel lowered a Sea-Salt ice-cream in front of my face, I kept my smile hidden and turned my eyes to Axel to see what he was doing: sitting there on the ledge beside me with his own ice-cream in his mouth and his acid green eyes staring into the sun he loved just as much as I did.
Most days words weren't needed when one of us gave the other ice-cream, but it just felt like I actually had to say something this time, so I opened my mouth.
"Don't bother Roxie… I don't need an apology to know we're still friends." right, friends… that's what we are, just friends. I nod my head and take the ice-cream, savoring the taste as the cold cream slid down my throat.
That night when Axel had finally told me that I'd had enough sunset for one night we went back to the castle, him giving some sort of lame excuse that looking into the sun for too long would make me blind. But I knew the truth: his butt was numb.
We stopped outside Axel's room, since I was thirteen my room was at the end of the hall beside Larxine- not something I liked since Marluxia and I had to deal with the brunt of her monthly bitch-fest worse then all the other members.
"Alright Roxie… I'll see you in the morning." I nod my head after he spoke and we both froze for a moment, I didn't like walking away with his door still open, and I knew he didn't like closing his door on me. But his door wasn't even open yet and before that we'd come to a silent agreement that I'd turn to leave when he opened his door.
That stupid short fuse I have, it does and did me no good. Just standing there and looking at Axel's face had made my blood boil, everyone knew that Axel was my friend… it didn't matter what Larxine bitched about or flirted with, it didn't matter what Marluxia did or how he touched; Axel was my friend, and they couldn't touch him.
I wasn't thinking as I raised myself up onto my tip toes and pressed a rough kiss to his lips, feeling absolutely nothing like a kiss before, but I knew that what I was feeling were emotions- something I'm not and was not supposed to feel.
Before he could push me away I broke the connection of our lips and turned on my heel. "See you in the morning." my voice had been quiet but I hadn't heard a reply, and I refused to look back over my shoulder, my feet didn't stop moving until I was in my own room and pushed against the back of my door, wondering to myself what the hell I'd done.
I didn't get the opportunity to see Axel over the next few days, Xemnas had piled us both sky-high with missions and it was impossible for us to even step foot in the castle to get food let alone talk or sleep. I was up to ten missions a day and barely getting enough sleep to live.
But once I was done with all my missions, and Axel was done with all of his it just seemed like it never happened. I tried to apologies to Axel, or tell him why. He just cut me off at every chance and made some kind of joke about something completely unrelated.
It didn't take a genius to realize that he didn't want to talk about it, or had completely forgotten about it either way, I wasn't about to bring up the feelings I hadn't yet sorted through.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I open my eyes and realize that I was sleeping on grass, something warm and hard behind me, but also covering me; like I'm in a cocoon of warmth that is just the right temperature for me. A rumbling sound catches my attention and I look up, seeing nothing but Winner's yellow blaze in front of me.
"Alright boy… let me up." it takes all of three seconds to realize that I'm cocooned in his wings, laying out on the ground outside Hiccup's house. I'm not too sure how long I've been asleep since it's still dark out, but a harsh screaming sound catches my attention from the main part of the village.
Winner's eyes fly open and we both turn our heads in time to see Stoick rushing out of the house followed by his dragon. I can see the Shadows and Neoshadows convulsing and moving like their a beating heart as they move through the village, breaking stands and attaching houses. Crimson Jazz's let things on fire while many Hover Ghosts sneak up behind Vikings to possess them like I've seen done so many times. Artful Flyer's are kicking huge gusts of wind to blow the Vikings off the high bridges and path's they've created, they are kicking out at people and then quickly flying to the next person to kick.
"Common boy! We've gotta help!" I'm not too sure why I've decided that helping is what we need to do, but just seeing all these people running around not knowing what to do, it makes me feel useless for not at least trying to help.
I know projectiles don't help, so my bow and arrows do no good at all, that means that I have to find a sword… there's gotta be one somewhere on the- there! I turn to my left and lunge for the heavy sword I know I'm just barely able to lift.
Lifting it was hard enough, but holding onto it as Winner rips it from my hands is impossible. "Hey, Winner! What is that for? We have to-" he lunges forward and tackles me to the ground with a snarl. "Winner, get off me right!" I'm cut off as a large exploding sound catches my attention.
I know the sound well enough, I almost died because of a relatively similar attack, what happens is several Scarlet Tango's, Detonator's, Jumbo Cannon's, and a single Fire Plant, all get together to form a huge bomb that can be set off by anyone of them or any outside fire source. It had been a stupid move on my part, but seeing the fire rising from overhead, it makes my skin crawl.
"Winner, let me up, we have to help." he doesn't seem to have a problem anymore and he gets up, offering me the comfortable spot between his wings. I settle into place after grabbing a shield and steel myself for whatever lies in front of me as soon as we rush into the brunt of things in the village.
Winner gives a growl and I grab the horn on the right side of his head, using my right arm to shield me from the fire that most of the Heartless were still spitting and throwing.
Vexen had never bothered to tell me how to fight with a shield, to be honest I never asked. But man am I wishing I had right about now. Winner can feel my hesitation though and I see him looking back over his shoulder. "Common Winner! Let's go!" he nods his head once and rushing forward.
His body follows the path that my left arm guides him and I find myself getting into a rhythm: turn, block, push, yell. It feels so smooth that once I see Winner let loose a fireball that's bright enough to light the entire street and clear it of Heartless. My eyes are only allowed to be wide for a moment before Winner turns black and purple again. He lunges forward and shoots another fireball, this one just as powerful as the first and it looks just as deadly.
I have to let his head go for a moment and I see the hesitation in his movements and flex my left leg, noticing right away that he turns. We move in sync and I can feel my heart racing as we move, rushing about and killing Heartless. Winner pounces on one and it vanishes, releasing a heart I wish it wouldn't. since I'm gone I don't want Kingdom Hearts to be complete, but if it's an option between killing a few Heartless or having Berk disappear, I'll kill the Heartless.
I notice Hiccup and Toothless rushing about in roughly the same manor and flex my leg so Winner will take us in the same direction. "Hiccup! Arrows don't work! You have to use Magic- I mean fire!" Hiccup looks over at me, most likely noticing that I'm just holding a shield and nothing else.
"Alright… fire, you good with that Buddy?" he sets his hand on Toothless' head and we both notice the nod in reply.
"Another thing Hiccup: don't let people use projectiles, if you see someone using arrows, tell them to stop and pick up an axe." Hiccup nods his head and we both jump back into the troth of fighting.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
My arms hurt, my legs hurt and I can't feel my throat, in short I'm miserable. But holly shit was it fun. I have somehow managed to forget how fun it can be killing Heartless, watching their hearts fly into the air before disappearing and going to Kingdom Hearts.
Laying down on the cot in Hiccup's room I let a smile cross my face as my head rolls to the side to see Winner, he's just as swore as me and just as tired, but I can see it in his eyes that he had fun too.
Keyblades want to fight Heartless, so it's only natural that when that Keyblade turns into a dragon that the dragon will want to fight Heartless as well. We're both pretty banged up, Astrid has even been coming in with the twins to help change Winner's bandages for me. Hearing them bicker and argue reminds me of Vexen and Zexion: they always argued over the stupidest smart things. Even thought Rouffnut and Touffnut argue about anything.
"So Winner… want to answer a few questions I have for you?" I see the slight raise in his eyebrow and scoff. I know that even though we've gotten more in tune with each other he still cant communicate with me through the burrier of Language, and anything I want to ask involves words and spoken- or written -explanation, though I doubt Winner will ever learn to write.
"Never mind, just go back to sleep alright?" his wounds are more extensive then mine. He took a fire covered lance to his chest where the worse I got was a close call with a Shadow. Winner sets his head back down and I slowly raise myself into a sitting position; I need water and food. I'll bring a lamb-leg back up for Winner, but right now I just really need to re-fuel and move.
Winner raises his head and I catch the glare before answering the question he can't ask "Just going to get you food. I'll be back in a bit." he lowered his head again and I see the grimace on his face.
Toothless and Winner have been sharing the large circular pad of stones that are in the room, one of them will walk around in a circle breathing fire to heat them before they both curl up a lot like puppies. It's cute to watch really, Hiccup and I have often had endless conversations about their behavior.
"Hiccup, somethin's wrong. Why's it only he knows how to fight those things? Don' you think it's at least a little odd?" Stoick's voice is pretty hushed and I know he doesn't want me to hear him, but I can't help it.
"But dad… he's got nothing to do with this. They were showing up before he got here, doesn't that count for something?" Hiccup sounds a little distressed and I can even hear Toothless chirp in agreement.
"Hiccup, I want him gone."
"Dad… at least let him tell us all about them. He's told me a lot about them, how to fight them, how to avoid them, he's even taught me how to-"
"Fine. I want him in the Mess Hall in two hours so he can address everyone."
"But dad- don't you think you should give him a few minutes to-"
"What? Come up with a lie? No, two hours is enough to get him dressed and down there Hiccup." I grind my teeth together and finish walking down the stairs.
"Don't worry about it Hiccup, I'll head out as soon as I get some water. Think you could bring Winner a lamb-leg for me though? I don't think I can do the stairs again." I see them both look at me shocked. I give them a collective smile and move into the kitchen area to grab some water.
"Roxas! What-what are you-"
"Relax Hiccup… I'm fine with it. I kinda find it cool that I'll get to share some information I have with people. Especially if it means I can help you all with the Heartless problem." I shrug my shoulders and take a large gulp of water.
Keeping my smile on my face I ignore my shirt as I walk towards the front door. "I'm going to start walking… I don't think Winner will be too happy, but just tell him I'm fine." Hiccup nods his head and I grab the door handle, knowing that Stoic is going to be mad at me for eaves dropping.
Explaining what Heartless are is hard, but after three hours of answering a bombardment of questions and saying the same thing over and over again, I'm finally able to go back to Hiccup's house. Toothless is giving me a ride back because my ribs feel like their going to split open and my head is pounding after all the people who were yelling at me.
I don't even want to try using magic because now I'm scared that they'll call me a witch and burn me at a stake. The feel of Toothless moving under me feels odd, I try the subtle gestures that Winner knows so well and he just looks back over his shoulder at me with a questioning glance. "Sorry… never mind Toothless." he turns his head forward again and I feel my arms begin to slacken slightly.
Blacking out is very possible right now, my head is pounding and my body is convulsing every few minutes with pain. I can feel the chirping sound coming from Toothless again, but I just see Hiccup put his hand on the dragon in front of my face again. "It's alright buddy, Roxas is fine… right?" I nod my head a few times.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Hiccup gives a bit of a smile and I let out a sigh, wincing when pain shoots through my torso.
This makes me think of Axel, when I close my eyes I can imagine those stupid bright green eyes, when I went with him to Castle Oblivion and passed out, Axel had been there when I woke up and walked out into the Castle that Never Was my torso had been hurting like this. Axel had been there, throwing jokes at me and joking around that I was 'so cute when I slept' and a bunch of other comments like that. The rest of the Organization seemed to think it was funny and they all started it too.
"Hey Roxas, we're home." I open my eyes and see Hiccup standing there with Stoick just behind him.
"Alright… I think I'm just going to sleep outside tonight, I don't want to- whoa!" I'm clutching to Stoick now, he's picked me up and is walking me into the house as Hiccup moves behind us.
"No, not with those things out there. I'll bring you up to Hiccup's room." I don't know what to say so I remain silent, I don't know what there is to say really. Silence seems to work for Stoick though because he's never tried to push conversation with anyone but Gobber.
Stoick walks into Hiccup's room and he sets me down on my cot, allowing me to see Winner lying down on the stone hearth made just for Toothless that's being shared with him. "Alright Roxas… sleep well. Tomorrow you start light training; you need to learn how to fight with your dragon."
I nod my head a few times and Winner slowly moves over and sets his head on my lap so I can put my hand on top of his head. His eyes look so huge and worrying, but I just rub my hand a bit and allow him so bring half his body up onto the cot.
Stoick leaves the room and Hiccup walks over to his bed as Toothless moves over to his bed-hearth. "Alright Roxas… I guess I'll start you with some archery training in the morning, so you might as well get a bunch of sleep tonight."
"Heh, I doubt that… I'm going to be thinking about my old life tonight, I already know it."
Hiccup looks down at his hands before looking back up at me, his green eyes huge "Do you want to talk about it Roxas?"
"Nah, I'll be fine. You get as much sleep as you want… I think I'm just going to sit on the window though. If you don't mind that is."
"Of course not! If you want to talk, just wake me up, alright?" I nod my head and push Winner off my lap so he can go over and curl up with Toothless and get some sleep of his own.
I set myself up on the window ledge and look up at the stars again, seeing all the different hues of red, blue, yellow and purple. It's been so long since I've been to other worlds and I feel my chest tighten, I know that something is wrong though, and I know it's just with me.
I know I'm drifting off and the stars are starting to make the shape of Axel's head, two greenish stars turning into his eyes as I stare until my eyes slip closed completely.
AN:
Me: Alright guys, I like this one a lot! I hope you like it too!
Shika: it's good… it's got good structure and you're finally not writing chapters that are so long that people feel like your droning.
Axel: I'm coming in next chapter… right?
Roxas: she said Chapter 4... Common Axel, use those pretty red brains of yours and count. Do it with me: 1...2...3...4- ah!
Axel: come on Roxie… lets go teach you what happens when you try and be a smart ass with me.
Shika: shut up and get going so Elizabeth can finish her Authors Note.
Hiccup: here is Gaara!
Gaara: thank you all for reading and we love reviews. If you don't review… I'm going to be stranded in the middle of the country with nothing to do.
Me: at least we know that you'll be safe in the middle of the country.
Gaara: please… review. Have a good morning/afternoon/night and live life as swell as you want!