Fic: Social Suicide - Part 4
Title: Social Suicide - Part 4 - Part 3 - Part 2 - Part 1
Rating: PG-ish or T-ish, if you prefer.
Warnings/Pairings: Primarily Axel/Sora with implications of Axel/Roxas and Riku/Kairi. Spoilers for events in KH, CoM and the ending of KH2. Yaoi.
Wordcount: 2300+
Disclaimer: Square and Disney's, not mine.
Summary: Narrowly escaping a dreadful eternity by making a deal with Hades, Lord of the Dead; Axel gets a second chance at existence...if he doesn't screw it up first. Returning to working on this after a looooong hiatus.
That first night Axel dreamed, it was not about Roxas. As a matter of fact, it became quite apparent quite quickly that it was not in fact a dream he was experiencing, but rather a vivid memory, choosing to play itself out behind his eyelids in realistic detail.
Had Axel not seen as much of the world as he had, he would have entertained thoughts of hyperaware REM sleep or drug hallucinations (and by this point he mightn’t have put it past Leon or even, in a true fit of judgementalness - the duck - to have drugged him with something that would leave him in a weakened state.)
“You know, Red, the numbers don’t mean shit.”
Axel looked up from where he’d been dithering about by the fridge. The kitchen that Never Was he thought dryly.
“Also, it’s okay to eat.”
The then-new Number Eight had taken to Nobodyism well, but was not completely immune to the pitfalls that his seven predecessors and the others to follow would and had suffered from. The expression presently on his face was eerily reminiscent of a new corporate hire who had just been caught looking in the break room fridge for the communal cream to put in his coffee when his boss walked in. As a matter of fact that was exactly what he had been up to. Coffee and all.
“So…”
“Essentially, these people looked deep in your soul and assigned you a number based on the order in which you joined.”
“You mean we’re just here because of a sense of belonging?”
“That’s the no-fun way to put it, but yeah, right on.”
Axel hadn’t gotten the reference and gave up puzzling it halfway through the coffee. The important thing was that he had gotten the coffee. Later, Marluxia had gotten to that point faster, but Axel didn’t worry about that aspect of it. Not that he could if he’d wanted to. Still, it had been about that time that Xemnas had taken to fits of narcolepsy. “Sleeping” was what the Scientists were calling it, except Xigbar who had referred to it a “fucking around”. Whatever it was exactly, it marked the beginnings of the mutterings of dissention amongst them.
While Marluxia might not have required Xigbar to explain to him that the numbers doled out to the members of the Organization were merely a superficial system based on joining order, he’d also taken the next logical step and come to realize that the one that did matter was not infallible or perhaps seemed to know no more than they themselves did. He wasted no time in rallying his own troops.
“Larxene?”
“Yes, Axel?” Larxene had the habit of behaving like she was interested in you, in the same way some women liked to cozy up to men at a bar in the hopes of a free drink.
“Castle Oblivion? With Marluxia? Really?”
“Jealous? Or are you just interested to know why?”
That settled it. Larxene hadn’t figured it out - she wanted a number two spot in Marluxia’s Organization, for much the pettiest reasoning imaginable. Xigbar didn’t tease her to show rank, he teased her because he fucked around with everybody.
As to the rest of the neophytes, Saix and Luxord were loyal, while Demyx cozied up to whomever would provide him with the most protection - not of course, out of any weakness, but because he viewed the whole business as nothing more than a meal ticket and a bed to sleep in. Hence he stuck by Xemnas, who gave him the odd mission, but wasn’t around enough to know he didn’t really care to work much. Axel knew he’d gotten things right when Saix started to focus rage on him. Nobody, (pun not intended) could figure him out, and that was the way he liked it.
“Fence sitting bastard.” Saix growled and shoved his Claymore in Axel’s face, the tip scraping him and drawing a thin line of blood from his cheekbone.
“Ooh, are we posturing now?” Axel let one of his Chakrams spin idly in his hands, just enough darkness to have it take on form. He let his voice take on a somewhat pompous quality reminiscent of the Superior. “I’m of the opinion that being a fence-sitting-bastard is quite a bit more industrious and useful to my well being than being an ass-licking blind follower.”
Predictably, Saix took the whole thing as a dire threat. The ensuing fight was actually something Axel’s ego had tried very hard to forget. He might actually have to go on ahead and train himself up a bit before checking out the whole Oblivion mess.
***
Breakfast in Radiant Garden was an altogether tense affair. Donald had made it immediately clear that he wanted nothing to do with the Nobody, Leon agreed, and neither Goofy nor Aerith could deter them from roundly abusing the absent Axel.
“Maybe he took off in the night?” Leon suggested hopefully, gesturing to the empty seat at the table where much to his displeasure, Aerith had set a place at.
“Unlikely.” Donald scoffed. “He would have tried to take Sora’s heart if he had. You didn’t kill any Nobodies last night, did you?”
Axel was about to step forward and reveal himself, hopefully with some pithy remark or aspersion on Leon’s ability to kill Nobodies, but Merlin chose that moment to turn around, a mildly reproving expression on his face.
“Gentlemen, may I remind you of the sorts of problems other worlds have run into by segregating their population? Organization XIII was 13 out of possible hundreds of Nobodies. I’m sure that there were more than thirteen individuals who were strong-hearted enough to keep their human form after they lost their hearts, and those are people we should be helping, not suspecting.”
“But…”
“But the ol’ man’s right. Sit down ‘n’ shut up, Duck.” Cid interrupted. “I got some personal experience with these matters an’ there ain’t nothing worse than pre-judging someone only t’ find out you were all kinds of wrong later.”
Axel walked in before the conversation could continue. He already had a lot to think about.
“Shit.” Cid muttered, and Goofy gave him what was probably meant to be a reproachful stare for the cursing, but really just came off looking hang-dog. Axel pretended he hadn’t heard any of it.
“Good Morning.”
“Gawrsh. Good mornin’ Axel.”
“What’s so…” Donald jerked suddenly as though he’d been kicked. Sora was doing a horrible job of looking innocent, but the mage rephrased himself. “Good morning, Axel.”
Axel nodded and actually smiled when Aerith handed him a plate. “Looks like Radiant Garden is doing well for itself.” He paused. “I mean the fried steak. Haven’t had this in awhile.
“What’d they feed you in the World that Never Was?” Sora piped up.
“Don’t remember it from Roxas?” the words were out before he could stop himself, but Sora didn’t seem to notice and shook his head. “Oh, well, y’know - this and that. Whatever we wanted really. We could send Dusks out to worlds and get it for us.”
“That sounds an awful lot like stealin’.”
Axel frowned. “Guess it was, but there wasn’t a lot of remorse we could have felt.”
“I guess not.”
Donald appeared to be suffering an aneurism.
“So. Guess we’re all headed to Halloween Town.” Sora swiftly changed the subject. “You ever been?”
“Not at all. Xemnas never sent me out that way. Saix liked it, so I’ll try not to judge it too harshly.”
To his credit, Sora again didn’t flinch at the mention of the person who had caused him so much grief. “So who was it…?”
“Besides Saix? Luxord, sometimes Demyx.”
“Demyx?” Sora snorted.
“You’d be surprised. He made a fantastic zombie according to Luxord.”
The look on Sora’s face at that statement was so unbelievably reminiscent of Roxas’ that Axel nearly choked. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice.
“Ah, so you know about the form change. That saves some trouble.”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah”
“If I could ask a question before you four leave, Axel? I hope it isn’t too personal.”
“No emotions, not a problem.”
“Well, could you tell me, if you remember, what world it is your other came from?”
“Long destroyed. I’m sorry Merlin.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I’m afraid I can’t have any regrets about it.”
An uncomfortable silence passed after that statement, where Sora looked at Axel for a long moment and he wanted to feel something so badly. There was nothing, however. Had he been away from Roxas too long that whatever that weird bond had been was no longer working?
“…Axel?”
“What?”
“I asked are you ready to go?”
“Yeah…yeah I am.”
***
The ride over was uneventful, and speedy. Sora’s driving had improved dramatically over the years, and Axel figured he could get used to gummi ships, particularly when the trip wasn’t spent under Leon’s bed.
“Beats the hell out of portals.” Axel remarked. “Betwixt and Between was like watching a strobe light. Really irritating really fast.”
Sora had been to enough worlds now that he actually caught what Axel was talking about. “It was enough to have been there…once.” Again the awkward moment caught up with them. Axel was saved the trouble of having to come up with something to dispel it by walking out of the Gummi Ship and allowing the magic of Halloween Town to catch up with him.
“So what do I look like?” Axel gazed around. Sora seemed to be some sort of mini demon, with fangs and a death shade over his eyes. Donald appeared to be a mummy and Goofy a Frankenstein’s monster. The Nobody brought up one hand to scratch his… fuzzy ear? “You must be kidding me.” Craning his neck around the best he could confirmed it. He had a tail as well. He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be indignant. Either way, Saix would have shit bricks.
“Werewolf, I think.” Sora confirmed it. “C’mon. Dr. Finklestein is this way.”
The trio lead the way, leaving Axel to look around at the scenery. Creepy. He liked it. The Doctor in question was interesting - he had to sit in a wheel chair as he couldn’t support the weight of his giant cranium under his own power. Jack Skellington, who was also there, greeted all of them with such enthusiasm that Axel - had he met the…man? Skeleton? On his own, he would never have thought he could competently scare Children, or whatever his job was.
“We need you to try and make a heart for Axel.” Sora was explaining.
“Oh I can’t do that.” Dr. Finklestein waved them off immediately.
“What? Why not!?” Axel rather thought he might be touched if he could be at the effort Sora was putting in on his behalf.
“As usual, the biggest problem is Oogie. He’s stolen Sally’s Forget-Me-Nots. I haven’t the foggiest clue what he plans to use them for, but it’s something terrible I expect. We can’t make a heart of any kind until we get them back.”
Axel, having known Marluxia knew better than to question the power that blossoms could have. He remained silent.
“Haven’t we beaten him twice now?” Donald groused. “Why don’t you just kick him out!”
“Well, it’s just not a scary Halloween without the boogie man. Besides, he pays his taxes and so long as he does, the Mayor can’t do anything about it.”
“But you can’t try and make me a heart without these flowers of your girlfriend’s he’s stolen?”
“That’s the issue.”
Axel grinned a particularly fang-y grin and his eyes flashed yellow in the lamplight. “I’m pretty good at sneaking around. I think I can get your stuff back.” The fire in the lamps burned a little higher. “C’mon Sora, let’s see how much of that mission talent you remember.”
Donald started angrily. “Sora’s the leader! You can’t order him around!”
“Gee, Donald, I think Axel’s got a plan. Isn’t that right, Axel?”
“Uh-huh. But it’ll work better the less people go. Besides, if we run into trouble…”
“You wouldn’t run into trouble if me and Goofy were going with Sora instead of you.”
“If we run into trouble.” Axel repeated louder. “It’s better to have some backups.”
Sora cut Donald off. “It’s okay. I promise. We’ll be fine Donald.”
The mage folded his arms and sighed as Sora and Axel decided unspoken that while he was distracted by Goofy trying to smooth things over, they would get started.
“The guy lives here? And here I was thinking that Xemnas had a flair for the ostentatiously dramatic.”
Sora actually laughed. “You didn’t like him much, did you?”
“Like’s a difficult thing for Nobodies, but I preferred people who pontificated less.”
“You mean you liked to hear the sound of your own voice and he could talk louder.”
Axel shook his head in bewilderment. It was almost a good sign, he thought. Sure, Sora was probably like any guy, but he seemed softer-spoken around his other friends. Here he seemed more like Roxas had. “Smart-ass. Ready to go snooping?”
Sora nodded and they picked a door at random. “Ugh, kitchen.” Axel opened a few cupboards without closing them and peered inside a steaming cauldron. “The hell is this?”
“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you.”
“Well, this cookbook is informing me that it’s snake and spider stew. I’m really not in a tearing hurry to…”
“I dare you to try it.” The words were out of Sora’s mouth before he could stop them.
“Challenge accepted.” Axel laughed, and to Sora’s horror, he actually picked up a nearby spoon and ate a small bite. The effect was instantaneous. He gagged and spat it out.
“Disgusting.” Axel wheezed, while Sora laughed.
Then, everything went suddenly black.
***
When Axel came to, he was tied to of all things, a roulette wheel. He could look around and saw Sora next to him.
“Shit.” He muttered, gazing at the various horrible implements that lined the walls of the wheel.
“Axel, how are you at games of chance?”
The Nobody thought of the money he’d lost to Luxord over the years. “Horrible.”
“How did I know you’d say that?”
To Be Continued…
Rating: PG-ish or T-ish, if you prefer.
Warnings/Pairings: Primarily Axel/Sora with implications of Axel/Roxas and Riku/Kairi. Spoilers for events in KH, CoM and the ending of KH2. Yaoi.
Wordcount: 2300+
Disclaimer: Square and Disney's, not mine.
Summary: Narrowly escaping a dreadful eternity by making a deal with Hades, Lord of the Dead; Axel gets a second chance at existence...if he doesn't screw it up first. Returning to working on this after a looooong hiatus.
That first night Axel dreamed, it was not about Roxas. As a matter of fact, it became quite apparent quite quickly that it was not in fact a dream he was experiencing, but rather a vivid memory, choosing to play itself out behind his eyelids in realistic detail.
Had Axel not seen as much of the world as he had, he would have entertained thoughts of hyperaware REM sleep or drug hallucinations (and by this point he mightn’t have put it past Leon or even, in a true fit of judgementalness - the duck - to have drugged him with something that would leave him in a weakened state.)
“You know, Red, the numbers don’t mean shit.”
Axel looked up from where he’d been dithering about by the fridge. The kitchen that Never Was he thought dryly.
“Also, it’s okay to eat.”
The then-new Number Eight had taken to Nobodyism well, but was not completely immune to the pitfalls that his seven predecessors and the others to follow would and had suffered from. The expression presently on his face was eerily reminiscent of a new corporate hire who had just been caught looking in the break room fridge for the communal cream to put in his coffee when his boss walked in. As a matter of fact that was exactly what he had been up to. Coffee and all.
“So…”
“Essentially, these people looked deep in your soul and assigned you a number based on the order in which you joined.”
“You mean we’re just here because of a sense of belonging?”
“That’s the no-fun way to put it, but yeah, right on.”
Axel hadn’t gotten the reference and gave up puzzling it halfway through the coffee. The important thing was that he had gotten the coffee. Later, Marluxia had gotten to that point faster, but Axel didn’t worry about that aspect of it. Not that he could if he’d wanted to. Still, it had been about that time that Xemnas had taken to fits of narcolepsy. “Sleeping” was what the Scientists were calling it, except Xigbar who had referred to it a “fucking around”. Whatever it was exactly, it marked the beginnings of the mutterings of dissention amongst them.
While Marluxia might not have required Xigbar to explain to him that the numbers doled out to the members of the Organization were merely a superficial system based on joining order, he’d also taken the next logical step and come to realize that the one that did matter was not infallible or perhaps seemed to know no more than they themselves did. He wasted no time in rallying his own troops.
“Larxene?”
“Yes, Axel?” Larxene had the habit of behaving like she was interested in you, in the same way some women liked to cozy up to men at a bar in the hopes of a free drink.
“Castle Oblivion? With Marluxia? Really?”
“Jealous? Or are you just interested to know why?”
That settled it. Larxene hadn’t figured it out - she wanted a number two spot in Marluxia’s Organization, for much the pettiest reasoning imaginable. Xigbar didn’t tease her to show rank, he teased her because he fucked around with everybody.
As to the rest of the neophytes, Saix and Luxord were loyal, while Demyx cozied up to whomever would provide him with the most protection - not of course, out of any weakness, but because he viewed the whole business as nothing more than a meal ticket and a bed to sleep in. Hence he stuck by Xemnas, who gave him the odd mission, but wasn’t around enough to know he didn’t really care to work much. Axel knew he’d gotten things right when Saix started to focus rage on him. Nobody, (pun not intended) could figure him out, and that was the way he liked it.
“Fence sitting bastard.” Saix growled and shoved his Claymore in Axel’s face, the tip scraping him and drawing a thin line of blood from his cheekbone.
“Ooh, are we posturing now?” Axel let one of his Chakrams spin idly in his hands, just enough darkness to have it take on form. He let his voice take on a somewhat pompous quality reminiscent of the Superior. “I’m of the opinion that being a fence-sitting-bastard is quite a bit more industrious and useful to my well being than being an ass-licking blind follower.”
Predictably, Saix took the whole thing as a dire threat. The ensuing fight was actually something Axel’s ego had tried very hard to forget. He might actually have to go on ahead and train himself up a bit before checking out the whole Oblivion mess.
***
Breakfast in Radiant Garden was an altogether tense affair. Donald had made it immediately clear that he wanted nothing to do with the Nobody, Leon agreed, and neither Goofy nor Aerith could deter them from roundly abusing the absent Axel.
“Maybe he took off in the night?” Leon suggested hopefully, gesturing to the empty seat at the table where much to his displeasure, Aerith had set a place at.
“Unlikely.” Donald scoffed. “He would have tried to take Sora’s heart if he had. You didn’t kill any Nobodies last night, did you?”
Axel was about to step forward and reveal himself, hopefully with some pithy remark or aspersion on Leon’s ability to kill Nobodies, but Merlin chose that moment to turn around, a mildly reproving expression on his face.
“Gentlemen, may I remind you of the sorts of problems other worlds have run into by segregating their population? Organization XIII was 13 out of possible hundreds of Nobodies. I’m sure that there were more than thirteen individuals who were strong-hearted enough to keep their human form after they lost their hearts, and those are people we should be helping, not suspecting.”
“But…”
“But the ol’ man’s right. Sit down ‘n’ shut up, Duck.” Cid interrupted. “I got some personal experience with these matters an’ there ain’t nothing worse than pre-judging someone only t’ find out you were all kinds of wrong later.”
Axel walked in before the conversation could continue. He already had a lot to think about.
“Shit.” Cid muttered, and Goofy gave him what was probably meant to be a reproachful stare for the cursing, but really just came off looking hang-dog. Axel pretended he hadn’t heard any of it.
“Good Morning.”
“Gawrsh. Good mornin’ Axel.”
“What’s so…” Donald jerked suddenly as though he’d been kicked. Sora was doing a horrible job of looking innocent, but the mage rephrased himself. “Good morning, Axel.”
Axel nodded and actually smiled when Aerith handed him a plate. “Looks like Radiant Garden is doing well for itself.” He paused. “I mean the fried steak. Haven’t had this in awhile.
“What’d they feed you in the World that Never Was?” Sora piped up.
“Don’t remember it from Roxas?” the words were out before he could stop himself, but Sora didn’t seem to notice and shook his head. “Oh, well, y’know - this and that. Whatever we wanted really. We could send Dusks out to worlds and get it for us.”
“That sounds an awful lot like stealin’.”
Axel frowned. “Guess it was, but there wasn’t a lot of remorse we could have felt.”
“I guess not.”
Donald appeared to be suffering an aneurism.
“So. Guess we’re all headed to Halloween Town.” Sora swiftly changed the subject. “You ever been?”
“Not at all. Xemnas never sent me out that way. Saix liked it, so I’ll try not to judge it too harshly.”
To his credit, Sora again didn’t flinch at the mention of the person who had caused him so much grief. “So who was it…?”
“Besides Saix? Luxord, sometimes Demyx.”
“Demyx?” Sora snorted.
“You’d be surprised. He made a fantastic zombie according to Luxord.”
The look on Sora’s face at that statement was so unbelievably reminiscent of Roxas’ that Axel nearly choked. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice.
“Ah, so you know about the form change. That saves some trouble.”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah”
“If I could ask a question before you four leave, Axel? I hope it isn’t too personal.”
“No emotions, not a problem.”
“Well, could you tell me, if you remember, what world it is your other came from?”
“Long destroyed. I’m sorry Merlin.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I’m afraid I can’t have any regrets about it.”
An uncomfortable silence passed after that statement, where Sora looked at Axel for a long moment and he wanted to feel something so badly. There was nothing, however. Had he been away from Roxas too long that whatever that weird bond had been was no longer working?
“…Axel?”
“What?”
“I asked are you ready to go?”
“Yeah…yeah I am.”
***
The ride over was uneventful, and speedy. Sora’s driving had improved dramatically over the years, and Axel figured he could get used to gummi ships, particularly when the trip wasn’t spent under Leon’s bed.
“Beats the hell out of portals.” Axel remarked. “Betwixt and Between was like watching a strobe light. Really irritating really fast.”
Sora had been to enough worlds now that he actually caught what Axel was talking about. “It was enough to have been there…once.” Again the awkward moment caught up with them. Axel was saved the trouble of having to come up with something to dispel it by walking out of the Gummi Ship and allowing the magic of Halloween Town to catch up with him.
“So what do I look like?” Axel gazed around. Sora seemed to be some sort of mini demon, with fangs and a death shade over his eyes. Donald appeared to be a mummy and Goofy a Frankenstein’s monster. The Nobody brought up one hand to scratch his… fuzzy ear? “You must be kidding me.” Craning his neck around the best he could confirmed it. He had a tail as well. He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be indignant. Either way, Saix would have shit bricks.
“Werewolf, I think.” Sora confirmed it. “C’mon. Dr. Finklestein is this way.”
The trio lead the way, leaving Axel to look around at the scenery. Creepy. He liked it. The Doctor in question was interesting - he had to sit in a wheel chair as he couldn’t support the weight of his giant cranium under his own power. Jack Skellington, who was also there, greeted all of them with such enthusiasm that Axel - had he met the…man? Skeleton? On his own, he would never have thought he could competently scare Children, or whatever his job was.
“We need you to try and make a heart for Axel.” Sora was explaining.
“Oh I can’t do that.” Dr. Finklestein waved them off immediately.
“What? Why not!?” Axel rather thought he might be touched if he could be at the effort Sora was putting in on his behalf.
“As usual, the biggest problem is Oogie. He’s stolen Sally’s Forget-Me-Nots. I haven’t the foggiest clue what he plans to use them for, but it’s something terrible I expect. We can’t make a heart of any kind until we get them back.”
Axel, having known Marluxia knew better than to question the power that blossoms could have. He remained silent.
“Haven’t we beaten him twice now?” Donald groused. “Why don’t you just kick him out!”
“Well, it’s just not a scary Halloween without the boogie man. Besides, he pays his taxes and so long as he does, the Mayor can’t do anything about it.”
“But you can’t try and make me a heart without these flowers of your girlfriend’s he’s stolen?”
“That’s the issue.”
Axel grinned a particularly fang-y grin and his eyes flashed yellow in the lamplight. “I’m pretty good at sneaking around. I think I can get your stuff back.” The fire in the lamps burned a little higher. “C’mon Sora, let’s see how much of that mission talent you remember.”
Donald started angrily. “Sora’s the leader! You can’t order him around!”
“Gee, Donald, I think Axel’s got a plan. Isn’t that right, Axel?”
“Uh-huh. But it’ll work better the less people go. Besides, if we run into trouble…”
“You wouldn’t run into trouble if me and Goofy were going with Sora instead of you.”
“If we run into trouble.” Axel repeated louder. “It’s better to have some backups.”
Sora cut Donald off. “It’s okay. I promise. We’ll be fine Donald.”
The mage folded his arms and sighed as Sora and Axel decided unspoken that while he was distracted by Goofy trying to smooth things over, they would get started.
“The guy lives here? And here I was thinking that Xemnas had a flair for the ostentatiously dramatic.”
Sora actually laughed. “You didn’t like him much, did you?”
“Like’s a difficult thing for Nobodies, but I preferred people who pontificated less.”
“You mean you liked to hear the sound of your own voice and he could talk louder.”
Axel shook his head in bewilderment. It was almost a good sign, he thought. Sure, Sora was probably like any guy, but he seemed softer-spoken around his other friends. Here he seemed more like Roxas had. “Smart-ass. Ready to go snooping?”
Sora nodded and they picked a door at random. “Ugh, kitchen.” Axel opened a few cupboards without closing them and peered inside a steaming cauldron. “The hell is this?”
“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you.”
“Well, this cookbook is informing me that it’s snake and spider stew. I’m really not in a tearing hurry to…”
“I dare you to try it.” The words were out of Sora’s mouth before he could stop them.
“Challenge accepted.” Axel laughed, and to Sora’s horror, he actually picked up a nearby spoon and ate a small bite. The effect was instantaneous. He gagged and spat it out.
“Disgusting.” Axel wheezed, while Sora laughed.
Then, everything went suddenly black.
***
When Axel came to, he was tied to of all things, a roulette wheel. He could look around and saw Sora next to him.
“Shit.” He muttered, gazing at the various horrible implements that lined the walls of the wheel.
“Axel, how are you at games of chance?”
The Nobody thought of the money he’d lost to Luxord over the years. “Horrible.”
“How did I know you’d say that?”
To Be Continued…