Long fighting chapter~ Fun to write though ^^

I hope you feel the same ^^

Disclaimer: (Look in first chapter)

A Fight Lost, A New One Found

My eyes gazed upon Axel's presence, which only stood a few feet away from me. He gazed back, grinning, his arms at his sides and hands arched, ready to call his weapons. My mind was blank, but the emotions of confusion and fright were shown in my facial features, but Axel didn't even seem bothered by it. Dubiousness stammered in my speech as I finally called out to him, but at the same time, I felt I couldn't bring the nerve to even speak in the first place; I pushed that aside.

"Axel what are you doing! Wha- this has to be a joke right!" My heart raced with anxiousness, knowing only half the parts of what he might say. He gave me a solemn look as his eyes remained focused on mine with firm grit. He spoke back.

"Deonna, fighting at the Olympics is no joke; you should very well know that by now huh?" I gulped, my eyebrows curved still with uncertainty; my body felt warm from this realization. 'He's not joking…' I surpassed the urge to take a step back, not wanting to go through the last battle of this fighting tournament against him. I couldn't help the nervous and disappointed affairs I was in; the sun above went in tune with the hotness I was already experiencing. The crowds eyes were all on us with a hushed down chant, making me feel like I was in the spotlight. It seemed like weight of world was on my shoulders, and it felt heavy. My brows then arched, waving my hand in opposition to show him my view of things here.

"No! I'm not fighting you! Are you crazy! Why are you doing this!" His eyes closed, bowing his head down slightly as if to be recalling a thought to mind. He looked back up at me within a few seconds, his eyes relaxed as he gave me his final answer. "Ever since we last fought on that island, I've always wondered who would've won that fight…me or you." He paused, placing his hands on his hips. "Miraculously, I will be finding that answer here, today."

"What! You're still thinking about that!" He shrugged his shoulders, raising his hand in mid-air. "What? A guy can't be curious?" I huffed a sigh of mild rage. 'Guys…are so competitive…I guess a guy can't live it down, not knowing whether a girl could beat them or not…'

His brazenness showed in his speech, unaffected by my upset state as he gestured his hand in the air while the other was still on his hip. "But I really have to admit…you are a good fighter indeed. You should see this as an opportunity to prove yourself that you can beat me." I just glared at him, still feeling typical about this. Suddenly, sparks of fire lit up in his hands as he slouched his shoulders forward, making me brace myself for what could be the beginning of a fight. Two pairs of spiked disks spun out of the sparks in his two hands; he clenched them in his hands as he stood up straight. The voices of the crowds went in 'ohhs and ahhs' with amazement, then cried rowdy cheers, ready to finally see the action that they hoped for. His relaxed eyes appeared menacing with impishness, reminding me of my first encounter with him on that cliff. Dubiousness still pulsed my nerves, making me shake my head.

"Axel, don't do this…" Axel then started to swing his weapons in a sloped stance, eyeing me as he spoke. "Deonna, don't think of this as a bad thing…" He then said the word that my mind respected with a passion. "Think of this as a challenge…challenge yourself against me…fight me!" My eyes widened. 'Challenge?' My head dropped, sighing out loud in a defeated accomplishment. My brows arched.

'Challenges, challenges…challenge myself…' Knowing me, I could never pass up a good fair challenge, one that could challenge my mind, and my body. I finally looked up, accepting the existence of this fight, hoping the word 'challenge' would make me feel any better. I gave him a grim look, clenching my fist together in short-term reluctance, and then finally spoke. "…fine, I'll fight you as a challenge…" With that last sentence, he smirked intently, raising his arms from his sides in a crazed manner.

"Alright! Don't hold anything back, because I probably won't be doing the same!" I ruptured a groan as I called my keyblade into my hand. He brought his arms back down with hunched shoulders, swinging his weapons back and forth in his hands instinctively, his eyes narrowed like a killer. 'Can't believe this is happening…Axel you nut…' I separated my legs back and in front of each other and leaned over, holding my keyblade towards the right with both of my hands.

He hasn't made a move yet and so didn't I, almost like were having a staring contest. I decided to take the initiative for the ball was now in my court. My feet ran up to him with the blade in hand, sending Axel into a wake up call by him jumping back from my close aura. He threw one spinning disk at me as I ran, then the next one after that, trying to disturb my bold run. Seeing the first disk made me drop my left hand while my right held my blade alone, hoping to lean farther down to quicken my speed. My body spun around the spiked disk, avoiding a devising spiked cut to the arm, then summer salted to avoid the twin disk that followed. My feet sprung up into a jump as I was just about to slam my blade into his face, but was blown off when he disappeared, making me only strike the air. I landed on my feet into a small crouch and turned swiftly on my feet. A shot of fire came in my direction ahead, having me bring my keyblade up to dodge it. The fire hit my blade to form a fiery mist, bringing the feeling of a burning sensation to my finger.

"Ah!" My blade dropped from my hand as I put the burnt finger in my mouth instinctively to heal it. 'Wait the fight!' My mind focused back, ignoring the burn to pick up my blade before Axel did anything else out of the blue. I thought too soon when I saw Axel up to me, his right arm back with his disk about to strike me. I jumped back out of the way as he swung at me with the disk and with the other, turning my steps into a pattern of frightful jumps. Just as he was about to swing at me once more, I stopped his trance in a swift uppercut, making him stumble his steps as I hit the left side of his torso with my blade.

"Nngh!" Axel stammered, stepping back in stumbled steps. He sent the disk in his right hand away to hold the aching spot that was apparent on the left side of his torso. I brought my blade up at his direction from afar, wondering whether or not I should shoot a cast of blizzard at him. He was leaning over, clutching his side with his head down. He looked up at me, smirking as he breathed huffs of air. 'Mmmm what is he smirking about?' He finally spoke to me, making me eye him attentively.

"Guess you can be merciless when provoked."

"Hmph, I could say the same thing about you…" Truly, I didn't really want to hurt him at all, and I didn't really want him to do the same, but it's not like were trying to kill each other, that will mean that something was really wrong with us, liked we've gone psycho, but still… friends don't do this to each other right? Before I knew it, Axel's hands were occupied of his weapons, charging at me in my direction. He tried swiping his weapon at me, but missed me as I jumped back. He swiped again as I jumped over him to get behind him; from the air, I shot a cast of blizzard upside down, aiming at Axel as he looked above with eyes of puzzlement. He used his weapons as guards to block the cold cast as I landed behind him in a crotch. Axel muffled to himself as he warmed his fingers to break the ice off his gloves, popping the ice in all directions. I hunched over the side with my blade towards the right, contemplating my next move. A dripping sensation rolled down my cheek like water, but thicker than the sweat that was on my forehead. I wiped it with the back of my left hand to see the color red streaked on my black glove. 'Oh Axel you…' The wound stung even more when I touched it, though I ignored it.

"You already cast the first stone," Axel began, making me look away from my hand to see him sloped over, his disks spinning in mid-air as fire enveloped around them and his body. He formed sinister eyebrows, an evil smirk that made the more so worst, one that I've never seen his apply to his face. "Now it's my turn…"

My eyes widened, but not to show fear or spinelessness, but just out of disturbances of what this fight must be turning into. Axel grasped his disks from the air and swung one that was a flamed with fire at me. I brought my blade up for a block, but decided to hit it instead with hesitation. It flew back in the opposite direction, but just then another came at me right afterwards. The spinning fiery wheel was already to close for me to act. I tried moving to the side to my right, but it already struck my shoulder, cutting it partly open to form a red cut; I held the yelp. My brows arched, putting my blade in my left hand to grasp the bleeding shoulder with my right, not knowing how deep it was at the moment since my mind was all over the place. Suddenly, a ring of fire circled around Axel and me within seconds, for it was too late before I could even act with a turn. 'Wha-?'

The circle seemed big enough for us to fight in, but it's better to be cautious than sorry. It became hotter and hotter in this fiery heap before Axel started at me with a run. He was really starting to irritate me. 'Ugh!'

He brought his fiery disk into a swing at me, but I blocked it, as I did the other that he brought up on the other side. With my quickness, I pushed him in the torso with the fuller of my blade that made him stumble back only partially, catching his balance in a forward lean. Before I could hit him in the side, he dodged it and jumped up at me, shouldering me to the ground, only making me clutch my blade even tighter, not wanting it to fly out of the ring. Before he could act upon his mischievous ways, I rolled to my right, jumping up from the ground and turned, clashing my blade with his disks as he blocked himself. It was so much hotter that I felt I could melt in my black cloak, but Axel didn't appear at all bothered by it, for he was the real fireman. I gazed intently in his green-fired eyes while he did the same; it was weird to see him sweat, for he didn't look the slight amused like he was before or on the island. Within a second, I leaned back as I spun around, hitting my blade at his spiked disks to the side, making him appear to lose his grip on his weapons with all my force. It was hard enough for him to bring his hands down from his chest, giving me a clearer shot at his stomach with a blizzard cast, making his cloak glisten an icy frost in the air that was immune to the fire all around us. "Aahh!" He yelped, grasping his stomach to warm it to warmth.

Just when I was just about to hit him with my blade, a sharp razor edge cut through my cloak on the right side of my back, making me yelp out of shock. My teeth gnashed of hurt as I held the cut out of instinct, looking at it to see was it deep, but tried to stay focus on the fight at the same time. I turned back, seeing a half-blurred Axel try to slash me once more, grabbing the reflexives that came to me to jump back. I stumbled to the side as Axel tried to slit me once more, making me fall to the ground on my right side, the heat and the minor cuts overwhelming me. I looked up at him, brows formed in daggers and teeth sharp as razors. He was standing up straight with weapons at hand; he didn't appear all that ecstatic like I though he would, but a soft seldom expression of pity he tried to hide behind the emotionless face that appeared like a mist during this fight.

'Hmph!' With my sneakiness, I stuck my hand in my pocket that held the potion, grasping it out to pour on me as I finally got off the ground. I threw the container at him, hoping to hit him with it just do it out of anger. A grin then came upon his face, seeing the container go pass him on his right side. I missed, which made me only more irritable.

"Geez, I was right here and you missed?" Axel scoffed, making me retort in a run, hoping to make up for it with a hit of my blade. I swung at him, but he disappeared in a black ball. Aggravation was now developing inside of me, but I tried to tone it down, for anger in a fight will not help me win. My eyes closed for a second, remembering what my father said to me time and time again in the past. My mind replayed his words, 'Anger, diligence, self-control, effort and endurance is not the key. Take the anger out and you're left with diligence, effort, self-control, and endurance, that's when you will experience success …'

I chimed it in my head, feeling like it was only me in these tiny three seconds alone, not the fire and heat present that sweated balls down my face, neither the crowds cheers or Axel's killer presence, but just me, and it felt good. As my face relaxed, I spun on my toes with a dignified visage to meet Axel who was about to strike me with his spiked disk. With my known swiftness, I swiped my blade up to plummet it down on the disks that was about to hit me. Axel leaned to the right by the impact, but not dazed from it, for he caught his balance in spare time. But just when he stood upright, I held my breath, stomping my blade into the earth to use the weight in my arms to grasps and pounce off the keyblade, kicking Axel in the chest with the hidden strength that I possessed. He never saw it coming… "Nngh!" Axel winced, falling to the ground on his back with his arms spread out to the sides.

With blade in hand, I landed on top of Axel with my knees spread apart on the hard ground, for the gap that was filled by Axel's body. Our posture was sensual, but I didn't grasp that realization for the moment as I grasped his neck, holding my keyblade towards his face like I was about to hit him one final time. His breathing was heavy and hard, giving me the sense that the hit to his chests done it for him. My brows were furrowed, showing solemn clever wit in my unhappy expression. He was giving me a vague grin, trying to cover up his shocked demeanor of events. At this time, I raised my blade in the air, striking the ground next to his head on the right, making him close his eyes from the unpredicted struck to the ground, and not his face. My fingers loosened the grip on his neck as he opened his eyes, his lips forming a tiny smile. The fire was dieing down around us, which I failed to realize as Axel mumbled in a slow tone, high enough for me to hear. "Guess I'm down for the count…"

My lips pursed as my eyes glowered down on him. The air started to lose the heat of the flames, the fire flickering in and out as it sunk to the ground around us in smoked spats of fire. It left the smell of smoke and a heated platform in a black ashed ring, letting anyone know that there was a fire fight here. I lost my sight of Axel as I looked up, not looking at nothing really, just feeling less overwhelmed by the ending conflict that Axel produced. My ears listened to the loud cheers of the auditorium, not realizing that Axel was trying to get my attention as I began to look up at the bright-lit sky.

"You think of jumping off of me anytime soon?"

I looked back down at him, expressionlessness covering my face as I grasped my blade from the side of his head, placing my hand on the other side to roll to my left. My butt sat on the ground, my legs up to my chest as Axel sat up to dust himself, as well as clutching his chest like it was hurt. I eyed him from the corner of my eye, mad as all get out.

'…can't believe that he did this to me-I mean who does he think he is?'

My senses were on fire, infuriated by what Axel done to me; I just couldn't believe it, it felt like my face was stuck in the same upset expression, not trying to make eye contact with Axel as I turned away.

"Hey…" Axel began, but was interrupted by a boisterous shout from the crowds, then came a repeated shout after the other that echoed the entire arena. My eyebrows raised out of surprise from the sudden scared shouting from the seated people.

I turned to my right, seeing that they were all standing up in a panic, running towards the exits. My brows contorted in wonder. "What the…?"

"Deonna!" Axel yelled, yanking me up to my feet by grabbing my arms in a harsh manner. My brows frowned from the rough action that Axel took to get me up, but I found my way on my feet. Confused, I looked up at Axel who was staring ahead, his brows furrowed and teeth gritting in rage. "What is it?" I asked, finally turning to where Axel was looking at. I felt myself come from feeling upset confusion, to fear and above. I could feel my heart pulse in my veins as I gazed upon the monstrous black beast that was ahead of us.

"A-Ax-Axel…wha-what is that?" I sputtered, my eyes focusing on the three massive dog heads that were attached to a humongous black muscular body, walking towards us on four short legs and crushing paws in slow speed and a long tail, whipping back and forth like a black panther's. Axel was in a pause for a second before he said anything.

"I-It's a-a Cerberus dog…"

The heads of the black dog was looking ahead, probably at us with their red eyes, sharp teeth showing out of their red gums as it breathed a smoky dark mist from its mouth. My body began to crouch into cower as my mouth began to open in an 'ahh' form, wanting the need to yell out of conscious fright. Axel got in front of me, his hands out at the sides in a back curve like a shield to protect me. He turned back at me.

"Deonna go get shelter!" I looked at him, timid and shocked with my brows curved. "But-but Axel-"

"Go now!" He then turned back at the monster while I did the same, seeing how close it was, for it was only a few feet ahead from us now as it stomped the ground. Axel backed up, making me copy him from his cautious movement. The weapons that he used on me appeared in his hands in sparks. My eyes widened as I looked at him, knowing what he was about to do. Not turning to me, he spoke almost in a whisper.

"I'll take care of this mutt…"

It finally stopped in front of us in a big stomp. My feelings were in a big contradiction, not wanting him to fight and to leave him here with the beast. 'No, I can't leave him!'

"Deonna go!" Axel then jumped at the face, striking it in a disk that was ablaze. The dog backed up from the flamed disk in a roar, but not hurt enough for it to stop its horrific biting tactics. Scared and bare, I ran back to the entrance, not taking notice that the seats were now empty. My eyes focused ahead, seeing an armed figure running towards me; it was Aietoes in his brown golden armor, or one of the other guys who I met earlier. Surprised, I called out to the person, yelling the only name I could think of.

"Aietoes!"

"Deonna!"

We made it to each other; for I realized it was indeed he from the hearing of his voice. Aietoes grasped my left arm, pulling me to follow him to safety, speaking through the slit of his helmet. "Come on! Let's get out of here!" I nodded, running with him towards the exit. Just as we were about to past the brick door-post, my feet stopped in a halt while Aietoes advanced ahead. My eyes widened, turning to look at the shape Axel was in. I could see Axel jumping, throwing his disks at it as the many three heads tried to bite his head off.

"Axel…" My brows curved, wondering would he be able to take down the evil dog. Just then, I heard Aietoes voice, calling me to follow him.

"Deonna what are you doing! Come one, we got to get out of here!" Aietoes said running back to me to pull me with him. I turned back to him, struggling out of his grasp. "No wait! I can't leave him with that thing!" His grip loosened, staring at me in astonishment. "But Phil told me to help get you and your friend out of here, but your red-head friend already started fighting the thing!" I turned away from him to scan the fight, finding Axel getting up from the ground from a fall, and getting back up to fire ball the beast, only making the beast more agitated by stomping the ground. My head dropped, my conscious calling me to thought.

'I can't just run from this fight while I know Axel will need my help, I couldn't ever live it down if something happened to him because of my cowardice. Though it's terrifying, it has to be one of the first giant beasts I am now encountering right now and soon enough, later in the other worlds will there be more violent ones. I can't run!'

That thought flowed to my heart, making me act upon it in a run out of the dark tunnel, towards the fight that was asking for my help from Axel.

"Deonna!" Aietoes called from behind. I ignored him, calling my blade as a response to his called pleas. I could still hear my name being called, but I didn't even know if he was running after me.

I caught up to the fight in a hurry, but at this time I started to become tired, though my defenses were still on the alert. Axel was striking one of the heads of the beast while the beast itself was trying to eat Axel. That made my heart jump. My brows furrowed, pushing that feeling aside to go on with my sneaky attack from the side. My blade struck the giant's paw with a quick swift, then again and again. The pressure from the strikes seemed to have caused no damage to the paw, but it surely got the one of the beast's heads' attention, calling my ears to hear a rumbled growl above. My eye caught the head staring at me with tension, its red eye glowing the color of blood, causing me to gaze in fear. "Uhh..." Suddenly, it lounged at me, trying to get a bite of me.

"Whoa!" I screeched, jumping out of the way as it tried to bite me once more, making the other heads to follow along. My heart raced from my chase, not wanting to get chomped off of as I jumped out of the way. "Deonna!" My ears heard a yell on my left as I ran from the biting mouths, having me turn in the direction of the voice to feel a grasp on my body from the same route. It was Axel who grabbed me out of the way of an upcoming bite, flying over by the wall for better shelter. The turbulence of the wind breezed my forehead of coolness, but stopped as we landed out of the way of the giant dog that was searching for us, sniffing its way to us. Axel let go of my waist and moved to my right for deliberation of my motives; his brows were arched with disapproval and worry, and the sound in his voice said it all.

"Deonna! I thought I told you to get out of here! There's no way you could go against this thing!"

"But I can't let you go against it alone Axel!" He waved his hand, opposing my helpful gesture. "No! I can't let you risk you're life on this thing! Death is just begging for yea here!"

"Oh! And not you! As I recall it, that kick to the chest really made you hit the wind earlier during our fight!" Axel's eyes widened as he turned to the right, grasped my hand, pulling me away with him. My head spun as I ran, not realizing how close the giant dog was to us, but it sure did walk slowly as the mist of darkness came from their mouths. 'Whew that was close…'

We then made a stop farther away from our original stance, hoping to get a little chat with each other before the dog surprised us again with its near presence. Axel let go of my hand as he turned to me, a peeved look in his eyes as he spoke. "Please, don't bring that up right now…" My hands tightened in fists as I stood up for myself, pointing out my view. "Besides, I'm a keyblade wielder, and they don't run away from fights of monsters like these, I mean this is just the beginning for me. We challenge ourselves for the better!" His expression was blank after that, but still contemplating with a dubious mindset with his brows still in a serious frown. My mind then got the thinking of that huge statement. 'Wow, that felt good saying that!' Axel grabbed my hand again, pulling me with him towards the center of the platform, running like road runners. This time, I didn't look back, but listened to what Axel said as we stopped in the center, his back facing me, still with my hand grasped.

"…okay fine…you can fight, just watch yourself…hear?" A smile found its way on my lips. "Thanks Axel, believe in me okay? Like you did before." He then turned to me, letting go of my hand with a faint grin.

"'kay, sorry about that, I guess I just didn't-" he paused, looking ahead with his head tilted up; his brows twisted in an arch with a sneer.

"Alright, heads up! Here's you're chance D!" I mocked his posture and expression, seeing the giant beast about on top of us. It rumbled growls and barks, which screamed my ear drums, having my hands come up to my ears to cover them.

"Man that's loud!"

"Yeah! Just ignore it and fight!"

The faces lounged at us with their sharp teeth, but hardly even got a little snap at us as we jumped out of the way. Instead of getting the middle head, I ran towards the one on the right, the one I was fighting before, while Axel got the head on the left, striking it in bullets of fire and large swipes of his sharp disks. The head was a little slow to act by my hits of the keyblade, but that didn't stop it from trying to bite me, or stomp me with its giant three-clawed paw. The sharp teeth managed to grasp the end of my cloak, almost ripping it off as I leaped back. 'Shoot!' My breathing was getting a little heavy, for this fight was pretty difficult, so breathing from my mouth and through my nose would do me better. With that, my instincts told me to go for the eye; for I knew the eyes were one of the weakest vulnerabilities of any thing alive with eyeballs. When it lounged, I jumped on its jagged muzzle, shooting a fire cast in the right eye, the last one I had. My feet leapt off before it could roar in pain, running away to see what was it about to do. Just after shooting fire at the other head, Axel came over to me in a run, stopping on the side of me with a heavy huff. Suddenly, all three heads bowed their head towards the ground with their mouths open, as if about to vomit. "Uh oh, watch out now…"

"Huh?" I turned to him then back at the dog. Out came a swivel of darkness in a pond like texture from their mouths, then dark circles coming up sparsely in the ground towards us that gratified in an upward mist. "Jump or roll!" Axel warned, jumping from an incoming dark geyser. I did the same as one appeared right under my feet. 'Great!' With teeth gritted, my feet didn't stop this repeated action until they all disappeared from the ground; it left me tired and breathy, but for some reason, my left leg was killing me. I didn't know why, but that didn't stop me from going at one heads again.

'Ugh, how can I end this fight fast? It's so…annoying!' Suddenly, an idea popped in my head. My eyes gleamed from it. 'Hmm, maybe I can attack from the head, like pierce its skull or something?' I then smiled. A black streak crossed my path landing right in front of me; it was Axel who just catched his disks from the side of the monster. He turned to me as he spoke.

"Hey, I got an idea- I get on the heads of the dog and attack from there while you attack from the ground!" My eyebrows contorted from that weird similar thought. "Hey, I was just thinking the same thing!"

"Oh? Well great minds think a like." He smirked at me, heading towards the dog that was stomping its way towards us. The dog started to shoot large fire balls at us; my eyes widened as I dodged them as they flew over my head.

'Whoa they shoot fireballs!'

Axel made it on their heads, piercing his sharp weapon into their skulls like needles. They roared from the pain, giving me a chance to strike the middle head's chin as it went up. Suddenly, the feet of the monster went up into the air, making me more alert of what it was about to do. 'Shoot!'

I jumped from the shockwave, not injured from it from my clever thinking. 'Hmm, is that all this monster is capable of?' A smile came up on my face, feeling myself satisfied for this experience. 'Let's see; fireballs, bites, shockwaves, and black balls in the ground, mmm, I guess I can manage that…besides not dieing in the process.'

With a cast of my blade, a strike of thunder was what I wanted to try on its heads. With Axel on top damaging their brains, I could strike it with lighting, which should give us a better winning status. I acted on that idea, standing feet's away, finally doing a thunder cast at the heads. Unknowingly, Axel was still swiping at their heads, getting caught up in the middle of thunder shot of lighting. The heads yelped as Axel did the same, jumping off the heads in electric shocks. My brows curved as I covered my mouth. "Oops…"

Meanwhile, the heads roared from the shocking pulses, falling to the ground with their pink tongues sticking out, breathing heavy pants in defeat. Seeing the beast's defeated posture, elation spread relief throughout my mind and body, having me smile with bliss as to raise both my arms to punch the air of our giant victory. "Yes! We did it!" As I jumped for joy, I began to feel the pain in my left leg from earlier, which I ignored during the fight. My teeth gritted from the pain in my leg as I stopped my lively cheer, having me gaze at it by moving my cloak out of its way. The voice of Axel perked my ears ahead of me.

"That was definitely a 'shocking' win…" Axel began. My head shot up, ignoring the pain to greet Axel as he walked up to me with an electric presence in his step. My brows contorted from his funny appearance. 'Axel?'

His hair was up like a nappy troll's hairdo from the lighting cast I threw on the dog. My eyes squinted, covering my mouth in a smile to giggle as I held my stomach with my other hand. Axel looked at me confused, his lips twisted out of misinterpretation. "What?" Just then, an electric wave bristled his hair upward, having me to crack up in a laughing fit.

"Ha ha ha ha! It's y-your hair Axel! It's r-ridiculous!" His arms reached up to touch his hair, his eyes gazing along. "Wha- my hair-?" Leaning over with my stomach gripped, I looked up, nodding my head at him as I breathed in half laughs, and then finally standing upright in a shaky stance. He messed with the fluffed hair some more, finally realizing how it was positioned. His eyes closed, shaking his head in a mild chuckle, resting his left arm down while the other pointed at me. "And I owe this all to you." My shoulders shrugged, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Heh, sorry…"

He then smoothed his hair back to the way it was in graceful strokes. My eyes observed the careful care he took with his hair, though, subconsciously thinking about the pain in my leg that felt like a big cut. I looked down at it in wonder, not really wanting to show the pain I was feeling in front of Axel. My mind wanted to hide the complaint, though it would be better if he did know.

"You alright? Not hurt or anything?" I brought my head up, seeing Axel with a soft curious gaze with his hands on his hips. I replied with a small grin as my hand found its way to my left shoulder, rubbing ripped clothing. "Oh, I'm alright-just a little tired and…"

'Wait…' The constant rubbing on the tattered garment recalled the remembrance of the fight I did reluctantly, fighting against Axel as the final brawl. My brows formed a sharp arch from the lost thought and a sneer to complement showed in my face, making Axel appear dumfounded to my indignant display of emotion.

"Wow, what's cookin' you're grits?" Axel asked with unawareness, his hands stuck in mid-air wanting me to tell him what was on my mind.

"Hmph! Don't bother!" My nose stuck up at him as I marched passed his confused stance. My hands were going back and forth in winged fists, upset as I heard Axel's unquestionable answers to my piqued behavior.

"Deonna! Wait!"

The more I heard his voice, the more the nerves in my leg wanted to stomp the ground, but I knew that would not do me much help for myself, or my aching leg either. Axel was trailing me, grasping my right shoulder to stop for him and his puzzled unanswered questions.

"Deonna! Wait! What's wrong with you! Stop doing that!" I shook his hand off my shoulder forcefully, not turning to him as I gave an undirected shout.

"Leave me alone you dog!"

His hurried steps stopped, but I didn't look back, not caring if he stood that way forever like a contemplating statue. Within a few seconds, my burning ears heard a yell. "Wait, did you just call me dog!" My feet stopped at the questioned yell, turning my head along with my torso. His appearance was priceless, his stance just a few feet away from mine; a mixture of shock, surprise, and unpredictable mannerism coming from me, resulted in him looking like a troubled fool.

Gazing at him with a bleak look, the sound of my voice spoke with sullenness. "Did I stutter?"

With that, I turned, advancing my steps, but with those first steps, my leg began to feel worse, having me slower my pace almost in a leap. By then, I heard his voice again, running up to me from behind. "W-Wait Deonna!" My hand clutched my leg, finally forming a stop as my teeth gnashed from the pain. 'Great, no way of hiding it now…'

My body leaned over, breathing through my mouth to get extra air as Axel halted right next to me, placing his hand on my shoulder out of worry, bowing forward to get a good look at my face.

"Deonna! What's up with you! Wait- you not hurt are you!"

I moaned, closing my eyes. My hands opened my cloaked leg, now just realizing a red stain on my pants where a tear was left was open on the calf of my leg. My eyes widened from the epiphany as Axel voiced with anxious concern.

"Whoa Deonna! I thought I asked if you weren't hurt or not!" he said, kneeling in front of me to the ground to observe my leg. 'Man, I can't believe it really was a cut in my leg.' My eyes searched for the lying mutt, who was drooling from the exhaustion of the fight on the far right of us. 'Stinking mutt…'

I turned back to Axel, who was just now standing up to scratch his head with a dubious look in his eye, grinning, but not with a gleam. He then spoke. "Well, appears fixable to my point of view. Just use a potion, a high-potion, just to reduce infection and all that other yucky stuff," he paused, humming, "hmmm, just don't know why you didn't fix it earlier…"

I moaned once more, listening to his command, but not giving him an answer to the reason why I didn't tell him. My body leaned over, pulling up the wrinkles my pants featured, grabbing out a high-potion from my pocket and pouring it on the big, dried red wound, which seemed to stretch about six inches from the knee and to the middle of my calf.

'Man, I guess I should have told him…great, my lack of judgment is plummeting.' As the wound sealed to health, so did the other scrapes and scabs that was bestowed upon me in my last, two fights.

"Hey, are you'll alright guys!" A voice hollered from up ahead, sounding very much like Phil's voice. The worried heard voice had me look up, as Axel turned to follow through. Phil was running towards us in his short speed while his stomach appeared to jiggle from the movement, but Hercules surpassed him in his mighty lengthy pace while a bag was flying in the air by the wind on his back, making his way towards us in no time at all.

"Are you guy's alright?" Hercules asked anxiously, stopping in front of us in a pant, while the black bag stopped moving to appear attached to his back. 'Huh, my bag...' His blue eyes were widened, turning to the right to see the black dog lying on the ground trounced by us.

"Phil told me that Cerberus got loose again…but it seems that…you two already took care…of that…?" he asked, turning back to us in disbelief. My lips grinned sheepishly, shrugging to his typical discovery. "Uh, surprise?"

"H-Holy cow, you guys b-beat Cerberus!" Phil asked in a stuttered shout, finally stopping in front of us in a breathy huff of air as he bended on his knees to catch his stolen breath, gazing at us in alarm. This time, Axel gave a reply to the repetitive shocking statements, speaking as his rose his hand in the air as a gesture.

"Well, what you see is what you get, eyes don't lie." My eyes picked up a happy smile on Hercules face. "Well, that's really well done, both of you," Hercules applauds, gazing back towards the beast, "it's just really surprising that you guys actually beat Cerberus, the dog from the underworld…" My brows rose from that word. 'Wait, Underworld?'

"Heh, just don't be too surprised when you see the hidden tricks we possess," Axel said, clasping his hands together, "but unfortunately, we did our job here today, and I feel it's about time we get going on our way now." He then turned to me, expecting me to agree with him. "Right Deonna?"

I gave him a frown, crossing my arms as I looked a way, shifting my leg to the other, feeling bothered by his gaze. "Yeah, I guess so…"

"But wait, how about the trophy?" Phil asked, sounding distraught. 'Trophy?' I thought, turning my head towards him.

"Mine?" Axel began, his tone amazed with shock as he turned back to gaze at the little midget. "Oh it's alright. I don't need the trophy now I-" Phil interrupted him in a growl.

"Not you, Deonna's trophy!"

"Ah…uh…I knew that…"

My eyes went ample, bliss flying up my nerves from the words Phil spoke. "My trophy?" I asked, sounding amazed as I held my hands together in front. "That's really cool of you Phil, but perhaps you can hang onto it until I return for a visit huh? I mean, it'll probably make my bag more heavier to where I'm going." He moaned, rubbing his chin from my request in thought, looking away.

"Hmm, if you wish for that, I'll comply," he grinned, his eyes focusing back on me. My smile shone with a chuckle.

"Heh, thanks Phil."

"Oh, here's your bag Deonna," Hercules said, having me turn to him, smiling as I took it out of his outstretched hand. "Thanks…" I put it on my back. Axel then turned to walk to the side of me, waving his hand up in the air to call upon our secret dark portal of worlds; it came up on the left side of him, only just a few feet away. "Alright, let's go D."

Grasping my bag by the strap, my eyes darted a sneer at him. "You know, I'm still mad at you…" With that, I strode pass him, leaving him still confused about the weird behavior that has returned. "What are you mad at me about?"

"Hmph, you know what…the fight…" I said, not looking back. "Wait, the fight where we clashed up against each other?" Axel asked, dashing up to the side of me in a bend, trying to get a better look at me. Ignoring him, I turned to look at a startled Phil and Hercules, staring at us with blank expressions. I grinned at them, telling them a farewell.

"Bye guys! And tell Aeitoes I said bye and to the others!" They both hesitated, but waved bye as well.

"Bye, careful out there!" Hercules said, appearing a bit unease from the dark portal. "Yeah, show no fear during oppression or anything!" Phil hollered, waving me bye.

"Alright!" My body spun back towards the portal, walking ahead while Axel did so, peeved from my behavior.

Finally a new world their going to ^^ One that is original by me though.

Rate and Review is you please ^^