The man at the head of the table wore a rather nice suit. A white blazer with long coat tails, beneath that was a blood red vest and a black button up shirt. On his hands he wore black fingerless gloves that cut off at the wrist. They were the only thing he wore that actually looked old. For pants he wore black slacks and large dark brown leather combat boots were on his feet with the pant legs tucked in. His hair was silver, coming to his shoulders in length, and his bangs hanging down over his aqua green eyes. He wore a rather nice white top hat on his head, with black silk fabric wrapped around the bottom. A card stuck out of the fabric, it had the queen of hearts on it, but a sword was plunged into her chest.
The man looking into his tea cup wore a midnight blue button up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a dark gray vest over the shirt. His slacks were a dark brown and on his feet he wore no shoes, apparently taking to walking around with them bare. His hair was a dirty blond styled straight up on the top as the back hung down, making a mullet style. Out of his hair popped out two scruffy looking rabbit ears that were the same color as his hair and his eyes were a dark oceanic blue.
The one sleeping on the table, Roxas couldn't really see all of him, but he wore a black trench coat with a black leather jacket hanging around his shoulders. He wore black slacks with that and nice black leather dress shoes. His hair was a slate color, cut short in the back and his bangs were long enough to cover his face from view, and the majority of them were pushed to the right side of his face. On the top of his head were two large gray mouse ears.
"Axel. To what do I owe this... pleasure?" The silveret said, not even glancing at them as they approached the table. He just seemed to know they were there without seeing them.
"Just an escort to a lost little boy." Axel said, grinning and patting said boy on the head. Roxas quickly swatted away the offending hand and shot a glare at the red head.
"I see. And who might this be?" He said, finally turning his gaze upon them. Some how, it gave Roxas chills. Not the good kind though, but rather the kind you get when something creeps you out.
"This is Roxy."
"Roxas." He quickly corrected, only to get waved off as Axel continued to speak.
"He's from above. Says Lux lead him down here then told him to come see you." Axel suddenly disappeared from beside Roxas and reappeared by the man, suddenly the same size as him.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you, Riku?" Axel asked, looking suspiciously at the newly named Riku.
"I would as a matter of fact. It's a plot against the red queen." Riku said as he nonchalantly took a sip of his tea.
"How could he possibly help? He isn't even-"
"Change places!" The rabbit eared boy yelled suddenly, interrupting Axel as he quickly stood from his seat, Riku following suit. They quickly moved down the table till Riku sat beside the sleeping mouse and the rabbit sat at the head of the table. He grinned widely as he crossed his legs and stuck his pinky out as he pretended to be a proper gentleman. Axel sighed, disappearing and reappearing again so he was by Riku.
"Anyways, how is he supposed to help?" Axel asked.
"We have to go speak with Vexen." He paused to take a sip of his tea. "He will know what to do."
"Oh god, why Vexen?" Axel growled out, a light hiss escaping his mouth.
"Oh, shush. He may not be the most pleasant man, but he's not that bad." Riku said, looking a bit irritated about having this conversation. Before Axel could respond Roxas tugged on his chain to get his attention. Axel looked down curiously to see a pissed off looking Roxas cross his arms over his chest and tap his foot impatiently.
"Oh, sorry." Axel paused to pick up the small form and place him on the table. "Make him big alright?"
"Don't!" The mouse said, startling Roxas as he suddenly woke up and making Riku stop mid reach for the cookie jar. His eye was a startling deep blue and under his eye was a dark circle. His button up was a dark blood red and he wore a black tie, tucked inside his black vest. In the pocket of his vest was red handkerchief with the letters DM embroidered on it.
"Zexion's awake!" The rabbit cheered as he hopped out of his seat to jump on said man.
"Not now Demyx!" He hissed, making the blond's shoulders droop as he suddenly became very sad. Zexion gave him an apologetic look, seeming to make a silent promise to him as he suddenly perked up and resumed his seat at the head of the table.
"Wait, what's going on?" Axel asked curiously.
"Smell the air nimrod, your a cat." The mouse snapped, shooting a glare at Axel. He then turned his gaze onto the forest before him.
"Troops. Six of them." His expression suddenly turned grim. "And the Knave of Hearts."
Riku quickly stood from his chair.
"Axel, you need to hurry up and run." Riku said, turning his head to look Axel directly in the eye. "If they get Roxas we're done for."
Axel stared at him for a moment, letting everything sink in, then he suddenly disappeared. When he reappeared he was on the table, but he was no longer human, he was a cat. Roxas only knew it was him because of the pink and purple fur and the red collar around his neck with a chain dangling off. He wasn't a very large cat. Normal sized for sure, but just as his human body was skinny, so was his feline body. It wasn't exactly the healthy weight a cat should be, but it didn't look like the body of a starving cat either.
"Climb on." Axel said, looking at Roxas with his piercing green eyes. Roxas stared at him for a moment before Riku grew impatient and placed him on Axel's fluffy back.
"Hold on tight Roxy." Axel said, looking over his shoulder at the blond with a grin pulling back his feline features.
"Roxas." He corrected sharply as he grabbed onto the collar. Axel ignored him though as he burst into a sprint, running off the table and into the near by bushes.
"Where are we going?" Roxas asked after a couple minutes of silence. Axel glanced back at Roxas for a moment.
"Well, we're sure as hell not going to see Vexen!" Axel growled. Roxas' brows furrowed.
"That doesn't answer my question." Axel sighed, and Roxas was sure that if he were in human form he would be running his long fingers through his fiery red hair.
"We'll go see the queen. She'll probably have a better idea than Vexen. And she's far more tolerable."
Roxas slowly raised a brow then leaned forward slightly to better see Axel's face.
"Wait, the queen? But I thought she was bad?" Roxas inquired.
"What? No, that's the red queen. See we have two queens. The red queen and the white queen."
Roxas was so lost. What the hell was going on here? He didn't really expect this place to ever make much sense to him, but seriously, why did they have two queens? Besides, so far it seemed the red queen was the one in charge.
"I don't understand." He said embarrassedly. He wished he could follow all of this a bit better, but nothing really seemed to make sense to him.
Axel sighed as he started to slow down to a quick trot.
"Okay, listen up cause I'm only going to say this once. This is Hearts. It was once ruled over by the white queen, but the red queen believed she didn't deserve to rule because she was so young. So she started plotting with this man named Xemnas, and they worked together to over throw the white queen, thus making them the king and queen of hearts. Then one day Saix, Xemnas' favorite, he disobeyed an order from the queen because Xemnas told him to. Saix was to be put to death for his transgression, but Xemnas wouldn't allow it. That was the first and last death he objected to. The queen had Xemnas take Saix's place and put the king to death instead. She started giving out many more punishments after that. Cursing Xaldin, Demyx, Riku and Xigbar... Killing Terra..." Axel explained slowing to a stop at the end of his tale.
"Who's Terra?" Roxas asked cautiously, noticing that it was obviously a sore spot.
"He was the white knight, and the only hope we had of ever over throwing the red queen." Axel said, a grim expression over coming his cat face.
Roxas was silent for a moment, staring down at the soft pink and purple fur beneath him.
"Come on. We should keep going, just incase they're following us." Roxas said, breaking the short silence. Axel looked over his shoulder with his signature grin.
"Aw, you don't like being alone with me Roxy?" He teased half heartedly.
"No. And my name is Roxas." Roxas deadpanned, making his smirk faulter.
"Aw why not?" He whinnied, ignoring the blond's correction.
"Cause I have this sneaking feeling that your going to try to rape me." Roxas said with a small smirk.
"That's hurtful, Roxy. Real hurtful." He pouted as he started to run through the forest again. Roxas sighed and moved so his chest was pressed against Axel's soft neck and he nuzzled his cheek against the back of his head. Axel glanced back at the movement, but didn't object.
"I just want you to know, your bare ass is the one riding on my back." Axel pointed out with a cheeky grin. Roxas' half lidded eyes widened as he remembered he was only wearing Luxord's jacket. A dark blush quickly covered his cheeks and he hid his face in the soft fur.
"Don't remind me." He whinnied, voice muffled by the fur. Axel chuckled at his reaction, but said nothing more on the subject.
After some time of running through the dead trees of the forest the two finally came to a clearing with a brick path way. Roxas looked oddly at the path. It seemed so out of place. It was basically a dead end seeing as it lead to the forest. And they hadn't been following a path in the forest when they broke free.
Axel just continued down the path, picking up speed as he knew they were close. Soon enough Roxas could see a large white mansion in the distance. From what he could see it was surrounded by white trees, oddly live rather than the dead ones of the surrounding forest. As they got closer he could see the more intricate details of the mansion. The whole thing was made of stone and there was three stone archways on the path leading to the large doors. He quickly found that the leaves of the trees weren't leaves at all, but rather small white flowers. The petals of said flowers slowly fell from the trees and floated through the air like snow.
"So that's where the white queen is?" Roxas asked as they ran through the falling petals.
"Yup. You'll meet her soon enough." Axel said, seeming more concentrated on where he was going rather than Roxas. It didn't really bother him that Axel's attention wasn't on him, it just seemed a bit odd. So far since he'd met the feline, it seemed like at least ninety eight percent of his attention had been focused on him, what with all the flirting and sexual innuendos, plus he seemed to enjoy sneaking little touches, so it just seemed odd now that he was so seemingly focused on something else. He'd barely even talked the entire journey to the mansion.
"Are you okay?" Roxas asked, biting his lip and looking a bit worriedly at the cat. Axel glanced back then slowly nodded.
"I'm good. Just a bit worried..." He said, turning his gaze on the forest. "Riku and I might not seem like the best of friends, but that's really not the case. Riku may be a twat sometimes, but he's really one of the only people I like in this god forsaken hell hole. The other two being Demyx and Zexion of course just makes this all the more worse."
Axel shook his head and blinked a couple times. "Sorry, didn't mean to be a total sap." He chuckled.
Roxas looked sadly at the cat. After a moment he grabbed the red collar and tugged on it hard enough to make Axel stop. He coughed a couple times then turned his head to glare at Roxas.
"What the hell, Roxas?!"
The blond said nothing as he swung his leg over his back and slid down the fur so he was no longer on the feline. Axel watched him curiously for a moment.
"What are you doing?" He asked when Roxas landed on the ground.
"I can get there by myself from here." Roxas said, slowly turning to look at the cat with a soft smile. "You go check on your friends."
Axel blinked a couple of times in surprise. After a moments thought he finally responded.
"I can't just leave you Roxas, now come on." He paused as he crouched low to the ground. "Get back on."
"I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own Axel. And I don't need an escort any more. I can see the mansion from here. Now go!" Roxas said, stomping his foot on the ground and pointing back at the dead forest. Axel looked worriedly at the forest then back to Roxas.
"Are you sure?" He asked cautiously. Roxas nodded once, then with a sigh and a sad look to Roxas, Axel disappeared. Roxas let out a sigh of his own and went to continue on his way when he suddenly felt two thin, but muscular arms wrap around his shoulders.
"Thanks Roxy." Roxas touched his hand to one of the arms, but almost as soon as he touched the warm flesh, it disappeared, and Axel was gone. Roxas was all alone again. He sighed once more and stared at the ground for a moment. He then turned his gaze upwards again, determination on his features as he gazed at the large mansion and started the long trek towards the massive structure.
Okay, Roxas would admit, he was missing that sex kitten big time. He'd been walking at least a half hour, and though his bare feet were now killing him, that's not even why he missed Axel. Within ten minutes of the cat being gone he started to realize just how eerily quiet everything was. But more than that, how creepy this place seemed. The mansion some how looked darker, and though he wasn't sure if the sun was out before hand, he found himself staring at the dark clouds above that made everything beneath dim and lifeless. Maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Yeah, that had to be it. He just wasn't thinking properly. All of this was completely normal.
Rustle.
What the fuck was that? He stopped walking, listening closely. After a waiting for about three minutes and hearing nothing, he started to walk again. His mind was definitely playing tricks on him.
Rustle, rustle.
He jumped when he heard the sound again and looked around curiously. What the fuck was doing that?
After a moment longer the sound persisted. Roxas stopped completely as he tried to look around for the source. Suddenly, out of the bushes, fell a disoriented Sora and a completely calm Vanitas walking out after him. Roxas sighed in relief at the sight of them.
"Hey, there you are!" Sora said, looking up at Roxas from the ground before hopping to his feet.
"We thought a hawk carried you away!" He said as he ran over to the blond.
"No Sora, you thought a hawk carried him away. I said he probably walked away cause of your stupidity." Vanitas said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You're both wrong." Roxas deadpanned. Vanitas resolved to just glaring at him.
"It was just a thought! Jeez." Sora said, pouting. He suddenly perked up though as he turned back to Roxas. "So what did happen to you?"
"I saw a cats tail, so I went to check it out and-"
"You met Axel." Vanitas finished. He looked none too happy about the information.
"Uh... Yeah." He didn't need to ask how he knew. He'd already figured out long ago that everyone here knew each other.
"Why do you say it like that Vanitas?" Sora asked, looking worriedly at his brother.
"Nevermind it Sora. So where's the fleabag now? Did he just ditch you in the middle of no where?" Roxas sent a deathly glare at the raven, and Vanitas, not really affected by it, narrowed his eyes back at him
"His name is Axel. And he didn't ditch me. I told him to go. He should be back soon." Roxas hissed in irritation.
"What, was he getting on your nerves? He tends to do that." Vanitas sneered.
"No. And it's none of your fucking business, so screw off." And with that, Roxas turned on his heel and stomped away from the twins. Of course things couldn't be that easy though as Sora quickly followed after him.
"Hey, don't mind Vanitas. He doesn't really like anyone! He barely tolerates me, and that's only because I'm his brother." Sora explained, smiling sheepishly at Roxas.
"Are you going to follow me the whole way?" Roxas snapped. He didn't mean to, he was just mad, and normally he had a hard time controlling that.
"I-I don't have to. I can leave if you'll like." Sora offered nervously. Roxas sighed and ran a hand through his hair, feeling bad for snapping at Sora.
"I don't care if you do. It's someone else that I have a problem with."
"He'll play nice! I promise!" Sora chirped.
"I'd prefer it if he was gone." Roxas muttered, kicking a random stone with his bare foot.
"What was that?" Sora asked curiously.
"Nothing. So what happened to you?" Roxas resolved to just ignoring the other presence and continue his walk. Things should be more peaceful that way. He wasn't ashamed to admit he'd punched several of his classmates when pissed off, but he had a feeling it wouldn't do him much good here.
"Oh, we took the left path and got even more lost. Ended up at Luxord's house. Lexaeus had to give us directions to the hatter's, but once the path cut off we got lost again. Then we ended up in the garden, but Kairi was the only one there. Said she was waiting for Aqua and Namine to get back. Then we got lost again and now we're here!" Roxas scowled at the mention of the garden, but said nothing on the subject.
"Sounds like a blast." He said, not sounding very enthusiastic. Sora seemed to ignore his tone, or maybe he was just oblivious to it, but frowned as he responded.
"Not really. Vanitas kept hitting me and threatening me with penalty games when we got home." Sora pouted. Roxas glared briefly at the raven behind them then continued to talk to Sora.
"Anyways, did you ever make it to the hatter?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, Axel brought me there. We didn't get to stay for very long though. The mouse guy uh... Zexion. He said there was some troops and the Knave heading for the hatter's so Axel and I left." Roxas explained. Sora's eyes widened in horror and he placed a hand over his mouth.
"The Knave of Hearts?" He asked quietly. Roxas could see the tears welling in the brunet's eyes as he slowly nodded in confirmation. He gasped then quickly turned around and started to run. Vanitas quickly grabbed him to stop him.
"Let me go Vanitas!" Sora yelled as he struggled to get out of his brother's firm grip. Tears were streaming down his cheeks in long lines.
"Let me go! I need to go see him!" Sora yelled again.
"I can't do that Sora." Vanitas said, his voice scarily calm and level. Sora seemed to turn on him at this point.
"Fuck you! Let me go god dammit, let me the fuck go! I have to go fucking see him, fuck off!" Sora screamed as he started to lash out at Vanitas, trying to hit him while still trying to pull out of his grasp. It was frightening to say the least. He hadn't known him for very long, but even he knew Sora was your every day, happy go lucky kind of person. The type you couldn't ever imagine doing something like this. Then again, even the happiest of people snapped when pushed too far right?
"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!" Sora screamed, finally getting one hand out of Vanitas' grip long enough to hit him in the face.
You know how they say if you ever want to know how someone's feeling just look into their eyes? Well Roxas was looking at Vanitas', and to be perfectly honest, he looked like he was in complete anguish. It was like his heart had shattered in his chest as he looked at his brother. Some how, he actually managed to keep his face completely emotionless.
"Please let me go. Please." Sora whimpered as all rage suddenly left him and he became a blubbering mess.
"No need Sora." A familiar voice said, but as Roxas looked around for the man, he quickly found he was no where to be seen. Suddenly though, Axel appeared beside Roxas.
"Axel! What happened?" Roxas asked as Sora looked over curiously. Axel was silent for a moment as he turned his eyes to the brick path. He took a deep breath and sighed before he answered.
"They arrested Riku." Axel said. Sora's eyes grew wide and he stared at Axel in bewilderment before everything seemed to process. He collapsed to the ground, burying his face in his hands. Sobs wracked his body as he shook uncontrollably.
"No no no. This can't be happening." Sora whimpered. "Why did she take him? Why?"
"I wish I knew. When I got there, they were taking him away. Demyx was gone and Zexion wouldn't tell me anything." Axel said, just barely loud enough for Sora to hear. He said nothing more, just sat there and cried. And they all watched for a moment until Vanitas finally decided to try and console him.
"Sora, it will be alri-"
"No it won't!" He snapped, cutting off his brother. He looked up angrily at the raven, and for a moment, Roxas feared he might attack him again. "It's not going to be okay! Don't you see Vanitas?! She's going to kill him this time!"
Sora paused and lowered his head again.
"She's going to kill him." He whimpered out. Roxas balled his hands into fists. He couldn't stand this. Hearing about all these dreadful punishments, wrongfully placed on the poor inhabitants of this world, about how this so called queen killed the only person actually on her side. And now seeing Sora have a complete break down. Though the times were strange in this world, he was sure he'd been here for at least a day, and from everything he'd seen in just a day, he was fed up. He quickly turned on his heel and started making his way towards the mansion once more.
"Roxas? Where are you going?" Axel asked curiously as he quickly followed the boy.
"To save Riku and put an end to all of this." He said.
"Really?" He heard Sora's quiet voice. He paused and looked over his shoulder at the brunet.
"Really." Sora's eyes lit up at that single word.
"And how exactly do you intend to do that?" Axel asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Sora's expression dropped for a moment and he turned his gaze back to the ground, but just before Roxas could respond, Sora got to his feet.
"He can do it. He may not know how just yet, but he'll figure it out." Sora said then slowly walked over to the blond.
"And I'll be there every step of the way to help you." He smiled, and Roxas found it quite infectious as he returned it. Just, maybe not with as much enthusiasm.
"Yeah, you got it." Roxas agreed.
"Now, let's go save Riku!" Sora cheered, only to be hit on the head by Vanitas.
"And the rest of Hearts doofus." Vanitas said, placing his hands on his hips.
"Well yeah, but I'm more excited about Riku!" Sora said as he moved past Roxas and started to lead the way to the mansion. Vanitas followed after him, mostly to argue with the brunet over Riku.
"You're sure you can do this?" Axel asked, looking worriedly at the blond. Roxas glanced at his counterpart walking beside him then looked back to Sora.
"Yeah. Like Sora said, I might not know what to do yet, but I'll figure it out. Plus," he paused and turned his eyes back to Axel. "I'll have you to help me every step of the way."
Axel chuckled, shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair.
"I'm not so sure I'm the best person to have by your side through this." Axel said. Roxas bit the inside of his lip as he pursed his mouth.
"I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have beside me through this all." Roxas responded. His words made Axel blink a couple times in surprise, then slowly a smile slid onto his face. And not his grin or a smirk, but a genuine smile. It took his breath away.
All too soon though, Axel disappeared for a moment, then came back in his cat form before the blond. He was crouched low to the ground and looking at Roxas.
"Climb on." He said, some how still managing to smile as a cat. Roxas grinned then hurried to climb up, straddling his back and holding tightly to his collar. Soon enough, Axel bolted down the path, right past the still bickering brothers and towards the white mansion that lay ahead.
Ahh you held up your end of the deal sweet cheeks, so I'll hold up mine ;) This should brighten your morning, and I wish you much luck for you know what (since I'll most likely just be waking up as it starts) I expect a full report when You get back mister!
Anyways, hope everyone else enjoyed this update, and I will try to get up the next ASAP! Much love to you all, and see you next update!