Chapter Summary:
Ever wonder how Roxas gained a pet Heartless in the first place? You're about to find out.
A/N:
So today is actually my birthday and I'm excited! (Even if I am a bit under the weather.) So I decided to finish this chapter early than normal and get it out today! I hope you all enjoy!
Roxas never meant to gain a pet Heartless.
Scratch that, he never meant to get a pet in the first place. Actually, scratch that. He hadn't even known what a pet was in the first place until he asked Axel and by then it was pretty much too late to take Sora back. It was finders keepers.
Not that it started out that way.
The way he gained his pet Heartless was actually pretty funny. According to the others, at least. To Roxas, it was scary as heck; he almost had a heart attack! (Not that he knew what that was, he had to ask Axel and once he learned what a heart attack actually was, he thought it was a weird phrase. Why would you want a heart if it would attack you?)
Anyway, it wasn't that Roxas found Sora, so much as Sora found Roxas instead.
Roxas had been on a mission in a place called Hollow Bastion. Oddly enough, he wasn't sent there to kill Heartless, but instead he was to do recon. And he was sent alone this time around.
So there he was, wandering around without a care in the world (with his hood up, because Saïx would kill him if he didn't and Axel wouldn't be able to save him in time). It was honestly boring and, aside from attacking the stray Heartless dumb enough to try ambushing him (which wasn't much since he didn't even have a heart to offer), it was enough for Roxas to consider pulling a Demyx and play hooky for once. Which just about hinted how awful the mission was.
That's when it happened.
Someone was watching him. Roxas felt its gaze on him before he turned around, Keyblade out, and came face to face with…!
Nothing.
He blinked in confusion and looked around. That was weird, he could have sworn…
Then he felt it. A small tug on his cloak. Right near his feet.
So Roxas looked down and saw him.
A small Shadow Heartless looking up at him with cute yellow eyes and a wide stare. It was also still tugging at his cloak.
"...Hi?"
The Shadow, who couldn't talk back at all, tilted his (its?) head curiously at him. It (he?) leaned forward and rubbed his head against the bottom of Roxas's cloak.
"Okay…?" This Shadow has got to be the weirdest Heartless Roxas has ever faced. But it was so harmless, he supposed it couldn't do any harm to let it go. Right? He patted the Shadow on its head.
"Um, I gotta get going. Take care." And Roxas turned and walked away, never to see the Heartless again.
…at least that was how it was supposed to turn out.
He wasn't supposed to hear the small pattering of near-nonexistent feet and turn around in curiosity. And he definitely wasn't supposed to see the little Shadow standing right behind him
It was following him.
Roxas took a step back.
The Shadow took a step forward.
Roxas took another step back.
The Shadow took another step forward.
Roxas took another step back.
The Shadow took another step forward.
Roxas turned around and ran.
But he made the mistake of looking back.
It was still following him! Like literally chasing him down like a bull in red! (That's what Demyx told him at least.)
Roxas picked up his pace and sped up (maybe Phil had a point about increasing his speed). But when he looked back, he saw the Shadow has turned into a, well, shadow, and was speeding towards him!
Only one thing left to do!
Roxas threw his hands out, conjured a portal and ran inside.
Right as he stepped inside, though, he swore he felt a slight chill crawl up his spine…
Demyx, Luxord, and Xigbar looked up as a certain blond member of the Organization (who wasn't female and was still a teenager) came through a Dark Corridor. "Hey, kiddo!" greeted Xigbar, "How did the mission go?"
"...I don't wanna talk about it," muttered Roxas. "Where's Saïx? I have to give him my report."
Demyx shrugged, "Beats me. Maybe he's playing hooky today?" He plucked a few strings of his Arpeggio.
Xigbar rolled his eyes, "As if! He's probably here somewhere in the Castle."
"As a matter of fact, I recall seeing him heading to Vexen's office. Perhaps you can still find him there?" suggested Luxord as he shuffled his cards.
Roxas groaned and turned around to look for Vexen's office.
Which is why he didn't see the bewildered stares of the elder three Organization members glaring into his back until he reached Vexen's laboratory, at which point, much to Saïx's consternation and Vexen's intrigue, he found out the Shadow Heartless had stowed away in his hood the entire time.
And that's how Roxas adopted Sora as a pet!
