(no subject)
Title: Social Suicide
Author: lostscore
Rating: PG-13 ish. (T)
Warnings/Pairings: If you haven’t beaten KH2 or played Chain of Memories there could be some spoiler issues. I’m here to tell a story that isn’t necessarily a romantic one, but it does and will contain pairings of both a heterosexual and homosexual nature. Presently, Riku and Kairi are the only established couple. This chapter also contains speculation on the events of Birth By Sleep and the secret ending of KH2.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is the intellectual property of Disney and Square Enix.
Summary: Axel had only switched sides to see Roxas one last time but Hades doesn’t have to know that, as the consequences of helping save the world have afforded Axel one more chance to find his heart…that is if he doesn’t screw up first.
Author’s Notes: Yes, I do update and no I’m not dead. I’m preparing for a move to Scotland (and I currently live in Canada), so I write when I can get the chance. I hope you’ll enjoy it anyway and find it in your hearts to Review. (If you’ve got ‘em that is.)
Chapter Five:
When his head had cleared enough for him to determine where he was and what he was doing tied up, Sora quickly came to the conclusion that he and Axel had foolishly made more than enough noise for anyone to come creeping up on them. He supposed it was fortunate that in spite of previous dealings with them, Oogie had never lost his penchant for dramatic flair in his choice of torments.
Next to him, Axel’s face had become nothing more than a blank, emotionless slate, so Sora couldn’t tell whether he was worried or bluffing about his thoughts on their current predicament. Either way, the important thing to do was try to stall whatever ‘game of chance’ was in store for them as long as possible.
“This guy loves the sound of his own voice.” Sora mumbled out of the corner of his mouth, watching as Oogie lumbered around above them, poking at levers and buttons. “Gotta keep him talking.” The Keyblade Master snapped his lips together the moment Oogie turned around, but their captor didn’t seem to have heard his whispered directions.
“Well, well. Seems like I’ve caught a couple of unlucky trespassers.” The monster locked his eyes with one prisoner, then the other as he continued to pace. “…and what might you be wantin’ in my kitchen, boys?”
“Hmmm. Now isn’t that interestin’.” Changing tacks, Oogie leaned over the rail of the wheel and Axel’s nostrils were assailed with an earthy rotting stench and the smell of damp burlap as their faces were pressed close. He gazed back impassively. “Trading the usual parasites in for a newer model?”
“Something like that.” Axel’s lips quirked up in the first display of anything resembling responsiveness since they’d been captured and the words were out before Sora could snap an indignant reply of his own.
The only reply was a seemingly disinterested shrug, which was a good thing in Sora’s books. It likely meant that Oogie’s actions were of his own volition and he wasn’t working for anyone, particularly someone tied to some remnant of Maleficent or the Organization. Both of whom would have directed anyone in their employ to seize on any opportunity for their favorite tactic, namely causing a rift between Sora and his companions. It didn’t make their situation any less of a threat, but it did ensure that this was more of a setback than a clue that an evil of epic proportions had been revived.
“Why’d you steal from Sally?” Sora blurted, halting Oogie’s ‘hand’ in its march towards a particularly dangerous-looking skull-topped lever.
In response, the laughter that followed Sora’s question went off like a atom bomb explosion in the cavernous chamber. “Is this what this is all about? They’re so pathetic that they have to send in you just to get the stupid flowers back?”
“If they’re so stupid, why’d you take them?” It was getting childish, but Sora was thinking as hard as he could and still didn’t see a feasible way of getting them out of the mess. Not with his hands and feet tied and his keyblade discarded far out of his reach. He certainly didn’t want to be killed over a ridiculous error. Just what had possessed him to even think that it might be a good idea to pal around with Axel like they were best friends, anyway?
“Unless…” The wide flap that comprised the mouth opened wide, taking in a deep rattling breath. A particularly fat cockroach crawled out. “Now, this couldn’t have anything to do with creating a heart for your poor heartless friend here, would it?”
Even Axel’s eye twitched at that. For all that the creep came off as a self-absorbed blow hard, it was easy to forget just how shrewd Halloween Town’s longtime antagonist could be.
The silence lasted about a second too long before Sora and Axel spoke at the same time.
“Not a chance.”
“Something like that.”
As Oogie laughed at them, Sora had reached the end of his patience.
“Nice job you jerk.” He immediately wished he hadn’t snapped as the Nobody’s green eyes lit up like the flames the Organization had nicknamed him for. Sora had only about a split second warning before the entire place erupted into flames. For a brief terrifying moment, Sora had the impression that Axel had done a repeat performance of his kamikaze blast but very quickly he found that he had more immediate chaos to worry about.
“My eyebrows!” Sora wailed, clamping his free but rapidly blistering hands to his face that was now free of most of his facial hair. Not the most pressing of his worries, but it certainly stung like a bitch.
“Fucking flowers!” was Axel’s cry, ignoring Sora’s wounded pride and watching helplessly as the dead forget-me-not blossoms tumbled from Oogie’s burning burlap fingers into a long tongue of flame. Naturally, they were incinerated instantly like so much tinder.
“Forget them! Let’s get out of here!” After recovering from the initial shock of pain and embarrassment, Sora fortunately had not had to look far to locate his keyblade, propelled along the ground by some unfortunate beetles who seemed to want nothing more than to get out of the blaze. Once free of their burden, they did not attack but rather scuttled into whatever dank cracks and hidey holes they could still find.
Axel didn’t need to be told twice, but he grabbed Sora and pushed him behind him. Before the shorter man could protest, the flames parted like a curtain before Axel and they closed behind him too, leaving the evil domicile and its master to crumble to a smoking crater yet again. Sora had little doubt that the Master of the darkest parts of the world would rebuild himself in time but although he wouldn’t admit it to Axel, right now he was merely relieved.
“At least Jack will be happy that he won’t have to deal with Oogie Boogie for awhile.” Sora commented, more for himself than Axel’s sake. He always felt badly for the things he defeated as a Keyblader, even if they were cruel, evil and would probably rise again without a lesson learned.
“So, I guess there’s no way to get more of these special flowers for this heart I was supposed to be made, huh?”
Sora looked over at Axel. He had been planning on saying something like ‘And whose fault is that, hm?’, but what came out was: “I really don’t think it would have worked anyway.”
Axel said nothing and he could have been imagining it, but he thought he saw the Nobody frown out of the corner of his eye, after he thought his back was turned.
***
“Garwsh, what are we gonna do now?” Goofy gave Sora an expression that could only be described as hangdog.
“Stupid Nobody.” Donald groused. “Lazybones should be out here helping us.”
Sora had explained what had happened when they’d arrived back, making it sound as though Axel had had no other choice but to burn the place down in order to facilitate their escape. Thinking about it later, he decided that he probably had. It had not deterred another argument from breaking out but fortunately with Sally and Jack around it had not lasted long.
When they had returned to the ship, Axel had headed off to the quarters he’d claimed as his own and a general sullenness had fallen over the remainder of the companions. They were presently floating in Gummi space with the trinity napping in shifts. Nobody wanted to bother antagonizing Axel, so he remained locked away in his cabin doing whatever it was he was doing. It was Midnight in Radiant Garden and Merlin and the others would be asleep anyway, so they planned to orbit Halloween Town while they whiled away the hours.
Sora’s mind had travelled back briefly to the earlier events, wondering how he’d been so careless around Axel. For a few moments he had wondered if Donald had been right and Axel was working on some master plan to separate Roxas from him, but after a few moments of silently yelling for ‘Roxas’ to ‘come out’ in his head, he felt stupid and stopped. Roxas was as much a part of him as he’d ever been since they’d reunited.
It was when Donald was asleep that Goofy broached the subject.
“You know, I think Axel seems a little different.”
Sora glanced off towards the closed door of the cabin, replaying the events of the previous action packed few hours in his head. Axel had limited his displays of “emotion” when he had been around others to large, open displays of grandeur that made sure everyone knew exactly what he felt he was supposed to be experiencing. Sora wasn’t sure why he did it, but he imagined it was probably an attempt to try and quell lingering suspicions about his motives. However, more recently he’d caught little private moments where the reactions had seemed more natural, not thought out. Perhaps even human. “Maybe.”
“Maybe you should go talk to him.”
Sora heaved a sigh. Goofy never threw fits like Donald and he often couldn’t remember simple names or phrases, but when he made suggestions out of the clear blue like this, you learned to listen. He wasn’t sure he wanted to talk to the Nobody right now though, but he didn’t exactly want to put it off either. When he knocked on the cabin door, Axel’s drawl floated through almost immediately.
“C’mon in.”
***
Sora sat cross legged on the only patch of available floor space in Axel’s “room”. The Nobody had been aboard the Highwind for less than a day and already his living quarters had become a total disaster area. That wasn’t even counting the time they’d spent locked in Oogie Boogie’s dungeon in Halloween Town. After getting over the eyebrow thing and focusing on the part where he’d escaped with his life however, Sora was feeling somewhat more charitable towards the redheaded shell of a man than he had previously.
“So that puts you in my debt twice.” Axel grinned and to his surprise, Sora found himself returning the grin, the tension between them breaking down. Goofy’s words echoed in the back of his mind. Maybe it was his imagination, but that smile did seem more natural than it had before.
“Yeah, saving the worlds from your crazy ex-boss counts for nothing.”
Axel replied by moving some of the clutter off the small single bed and taking a seat, holding a small item between his fingers. He seemed to be contemplating it quite intensely, a frown creasing his features.
“Here.” He said after a moment, holding it out to Sora.
“Where…did you get this?” The Keyblade master turned the keychain over in his fingers as it dawned on him that this ‘clutter’ that Axel kept was not just a mess. It was a hoard. His first thought was that Axel had stolen it from Halloween Town, but this was not the kind of keychain that belonged to a world. This keyblade had the feel of Oathkeeper or Oblivion to it; it was clearly a weapon that had been of great significance to its user. “It belonged to another Keyblader, didn’t it.”
Axel nodded, his tone careful. “It did.”
“Was it Roxas’?”
“No. It was a Keyblade Master who I…”
“You killed him?”
“Her. And you could say that, though it was officially Xigbar who delivered the finishing…”
“Shut up!” Sora snapped, his mind reeling. Riku and Kairi had keyblades too, so that part wasn’t a big surprise. Nevertheless, despite the fact that logically it made perfect sense that there must have been men and women before him who had taken up the post of Keyblade Master, hearing that in some cases the bad guys had been successful against them shook him. He wondered what else Axel’s past was hiding. “Was she important to you?” he asked, thinking of his relationship with Kairi and Riku.
“No.” Axel didn’t seem to care how cold it sounded or how much more that simple answer had unnerved Sora, but he did continue. “She was my bodyguard. His bodyguard. Whatever.” His face took on the same expression it had a few moments ago. “She wasn’t like you or Roxas though.”
“Xigbar…” Sora repeated. “He was the one with the eyepatch, wasn’t he?”
“Uh-huh.”
“He told me that ‘the keyblade picked a dud’.” Sora shrugged. “I thought he was trying to psyche me out.”
Axel pursed his lips. “You weren’t like the others.”
“Well?”
“It’s a pretty standard story. Kingdom starts training up strong and celebrated zen warriors, someone wantin’ a little more glory figures out Darkness is pretty powerful stuff, they go bad, people die. Like I said, pretty standard stuff.”
Sora made a face. “Still don’t get what the big difference is.”
“You ever had military training?”
“I…did a little bit in the Land of Dragons. With Ping, er, Mulan and Mushu.” Sora was beginning to feel a little foolish, the way he had used to when Riku bested him at something when they were children.
“That’s a negatory, good buddy.”
Feeling a deeper twinge of inadequacy that was completely unwarranted (He had been the one to restore light to the worlds, right?) Sora made a face. “Yeah, so what?”
“So, I’m saying that Keybladers used to be a thing. Like an army.”
“Like what Riku and Kairi are doing?”
Axel’s expression did not fill him with confidence.
“But Riku knows that the Darkness…he won’t let anyone be…”
Axel shook his head. “The Darkness is a funny thing.”
***
“Intelligence states that the five research scientists who fled Radiant Garden are indeed on other worlds.” The Keyblade Master Terra’s apprentice Una sat quietly, listening to the briefing with an unreadable expression and the knowledge she was only the latest addition to a string of ill fated companions of the once celebrated warrior “The whereabouts of the Princess Kairi are unknown, but she is believed to have been kidnapped by the entities we are now calling “Nobodies”. Yen Sid has since expanded the definition into two subcategories: low and high. The High is what you will be debriefed on today. Their shapes have evolved into shapes resembling anatomically accurate human beings and they have successfully used this disguise to infiltrate our ranks. ”
“Sir, reports have been circulating that the Apprentice Keyblader Sai was indeed kidnapped and had his heart artificially removed. Several of the cadets in the maw state that a man resembling him was spotted with the Nobodies calling themselves Xemnas and Xaldin as they fled in the dark portals.”
Terra sighed. “I hear he is now calling himself ‘Saix’. He was the only one we know of to have survived the procedure. After Ven and Aqua, it truly compounds our terrible loss.”
Both the Keyblade Master and his apprentice allowed their gazes to drift over to a nondescript door that was quietly hiding the extent of the horrors that already nearly destroyed the entirety of Radiant Garden in a mere matter of days. In the middle of the grey concrete prison beyond stood a simple wood coffin, ill fit for its occupant, but all they could spare.
The blast of dark magic that had killed Ven had also frozen his half-destroyed face into a horrific expression of terror that ill-befitted his usually solemn countenance. In an equally sad state next to the death shroud, the once beautiful Aqua was now indistinguishable from any other husk of a soul whose heart had suffered these past few days. Una wondered if anyone else knew that her Master clung to the husk, hoping that perhaps they would happen upon something that would restore her heart.
As for herself, the upheaval had affected her more deeply than a mere advancement in rank. She’d never been particularly close with any of the parties involved but they were all important parts of life in Radiant Garden. Everyone had loved Ansem the Wise, and it was difficult to imagine Braig or Elaeus (whose class she had actually taken once at the Bastion) as being murderers. The Inhabitants of their kingdom…no, their world, had looked up to Terra, Aqua and Ven to defend their town and it still felt more like a bad dream than bitter reality to imagine that only one of the celebrated Trio was in any fit state to save them.
“That’s what it is, isn’t it?” she said, suddenly thinking aloud, even though it was something of a breach in protocol. “They have to be killed.”
Terra nodded. “There’s no other choice, but that will not be your immediate job. Xemnas and his group know that there will not be another opportunity to kidnap more of our number, particularly not with the violence that the other half of Xehanort’s heart is displaying. This imposter ‘Ansem’ seems as intent on destroying the ‘Nobody’ side as he is on destroying this world.”
On the desk behind the Keyblade Master was a long scroll. He moved to unroll it, gesturing for Una to come closer. Several large drawings resembling masses of land in the middle of dark skies decorated the surface of the page.
“It’s a map.”
“Precisely. With the help of King Mickey, methods for travelling to these worlds have been devised, and with his aid you should be able to navigate the travel corridors we are calling ‘Gummi Space’. Xemnas and his group will be visiting these worlds, looking for individuals whom they can turn to their cause - like Saix. It is not a stretch to imagine that they will soon bring the Low level Nobodies to their side as well, as a footsoldier army or worse. You must find these individuals before they do.”
Una nodded, forcing herself to focus. If she had a skill that had brought her here, it was her ability to focus with precision on the tasks she was assigned. Terra knew that other apprentice Keybladers in his employ had more imaginative talent, but they were younger and didn’t have the experience or the drive.
“There are three known targets. The first is Liu Mara, soldier in the Land of Dragons. The second is a gentleman going by the name Rold U. This is a fake name, and he never gives a surname. Whether or not his name is fictional, he enjoys great luck at games of chance on this world here and has an impeccable track record of escaping the authorities. He spends quite a lot of time in a region known as “Pleasure Island”. I would save him until last. Hopefully his reputation as lucky will keep him safe while the others are secured. Finally, the Prince Andrew E. Latmos III…”
***
“I’m not sure that’s how it actually happened.” Axel said, his face screwed up into an expression of deep concentration, and not just merely because of Hades’ threat. “I picked most of this up second hand, after Roxas left and I went digging.”
“So that’s it. A, E, L.” Sora had to admit he’d always kind of wondered what Axel’s name had been, none of the anagrams of the remaining letters had ever seemed right. “So, what happened? Were you already a Nobody when she arrived to help protect you?” Sora was actually looking interested, leaning forward without realizing he was actually eager to hear what the Nobody had to say on the matter.
Axel pressed his lips together and his expression became visibly closed off. It didn’t surprise Sora that there were going to be parts of this story that Axel might not want to immediately talk about, however he wasn’t about to let it drop entirely. Just for the time being.
“I think I’ve heard of Terra, Aqua and Ven before.” He said aloud. “But that’s impossible, because it didn’t even really occur to me that there were other Keybladers around before me.”
Axel shrugged. “I found it all in some computer in Radiant Garden.”
“I haven’t forgotten Tron.” Sora mused. “I completely forgot that there must have been tons more information in that database. I’m just…” he trailed off, mumbling. “…kinda hopeless with computers.”
“Not a problem.” Axel fancied himself a bit of a hacker, particularly after slipping undetected into DiZ’s Twilight Town. “It might help me too.” He added, unsure if he had appeared to eager to spend more time with Sora.
The moment silence descended, a shrill ring sounded through the ship, followed by a shocked quack from an all too obviously roused Donald. His voice followed but it was a happy excitement. “Sora! It’s Riku on the Communicator!”
Sora didn’t even bother to excuse himself as he dashed into the hall. The Nobody had proved to be slightly better company than he imagined, but nobody took the place of his best friend.
To Be Continued.
Author: lostscore
Rating: PG-13 ish. (T)
Warnings/Pairings: If you haven’t beaten KH2 or played Chain of Memories there could be some spoiler issues. I’m here to tell a story that isn’t necessarily a romantic one, but it does and will contain pairings of both a heterosexual and homosexual nature. Presently, Riku and Kairi are the only established couple. This chapter also contains speculation on the events of Birth By Sleep and the secret ending of KH2.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is the intellectual property of Disney and Square Enix.
Summary: Axel had only switched sides to see Roxas one last time but Hades doesn’t have to know that, as the consequences of helping save the world have afforded Axel one more chance to find his heart…that is if he doesn’t screw up first.
Author’s Notes: Yes, I do update and no I’m not dead. I’m preparing for a move to Scotland (and I currently live in Canada), so I write when I can get the chance. I hope you’ll enjoy it anyway and find it in your hearts to Review. (If you’ve got ‘em that is.)
Chapter Five:
When his head had cleared enough for him to determine where he was and what he was doing tied up, Sora quickly came to the conclusion that he and Axel had foolishly made more than enough noise for anyone to come creeping up on them. He supposed it was fortunate that in spite of previous dealings with them, Oogie had never lost his penchant for dramatic flair in his choice of torments.
Next to him, Axel’s face had become nothing more than a blank, emotionless slate, so Sora couldn’t tell whether he was worried or bluffing about his thoughts on their current predicament. Either way, the important thing to do was try to stall whatever ‘game of chance’ was in store for them as long as possible.
“This guy loves the sound of his own voice.” Sora mumbled out of the corner of his mouth, watching as Oogie lumbered around above them, poking at levers and buttons. “Gotta keep him talking.” The Keyblade Master snapped his lips together the moment Oogie turned around, but their captor didn’t seem to have heard his whispered directions.
“Well, well. Seems like I’ve caught a couple of unlucky trespassers.” The monster locked his eyes with one prisoner, then the other as he continued to pace. “…and what might you be wantin’ in my kitchen, boys?”
“Hmmm. Now isn’t that interestin’.” Changing tacks, Oogie leaned over the rail of the wheel and Axel’s nostrils were assailed with an earthy rotting stench and the smell of damp burlap as their faces were pressed close. He gazed back impassively. “Trading the usual parasites in for a newer model?”
“Something like that.” Axel’s lips quirked up in the first display of anything resembling responsiveness since they’d been captured and the words were out before Sora could snap an indignant reply of his own.
The only reply was a seemingly disinterested shrug, which was a good thing in Sora’s books. It likely meant that Oogie’s actions were of his own volition and he wasn’t working for anyone, particularly someone tied to some remnant of Maleficent or the Organization. Both of whom would have directed anyone in their employ to seize on any opportunity for their favorite tactic, namely causing a rift between Sora and his companions. It didn’t make their situation any less of a threat, but it did ensure that this was more of a setback than a clue that an evil of epic proportions had been revived.
“Why’d you steal from Sally?” Sora blurted, halting Oogie’s ‘hand’ in its march towards a particularly dangerous-looking skull-topped lever.
In response, the laughter that followed Sora’s question went off like a atom bomb explosion in the cavernous chamber. “Is this what this is all about? They’re so pathetic that they have to send in you just to get the stupid flowers back?”
“If they’re so stupid, why’d you take them?” It was getting childish, but Sora was thinking as hard as he could and still didn’t see a feasible way of getting them out of the mess. Not with his hands and feet tied and his keyblade discarded far out of his reach. He certainly didn’t want to be killed over a ridiculous error. Just what had possessed him to even think that it might be a good idea to pal around with Axel like they were best friends, anyway?
“Unless…” The wide flap that comprised the mouth opened wide, taking in a deep rattling breath. A particularly fat cockroach crawled out. “Now, this couldn’t have anything to do with creating a heart for your poor heartless friend here, would it?”
Even Axel’s eye twitched at that. For all that the creep came off as a self-absorbed blow hard, it was easy to forget just how shrewd Halloween Town’s longtime antagonist could be.
The silence lasted about a second too long before Sora and Axel spoke at the same time.
“Not a chance.”
“Something like that.”
As Oogie laughed at them, Sora had reached the end of his patience.
“Nice job you jerk.” He immediately wished he hadn’t snapped as the Nobody’s green eyes lit up like the flames the Organization had nicknamed him for. Sora had only about a split second warning before the entire place erupted into flames. For a brief terrifying moment, Sora had the impression that Axel had done a repeat performance of his kamikaze blast but very quickly he found that he had more immediate chaos to worry about.
“My eyebrows!” Sora wailed, clamping his free but rapidly blistering hands to his face that was now free of most of his facial hair. Not the most pressing of his worries, but it certainly stung like a bitch.
“Fucking flowers!” was Axel’s cry, ignoring Sora’s wounded pride and watching helplessly as the dead forget-me-not blossoms tumbled from Oogie’s burning burlap fingers into a long tongue of flame. Naturally, they were incinerated instantly like so much tinder.
“Forget them! Let’s get out of here!” After recovering from the initial shock of pain and embarrassment, Sora fortunately had not had to look far to locate his keyblade, propelled along the ground by some unfortunate beetles who seemed to want nothing more than to get out of the blaze. Once free of their burden, they did not attack but rather scuttled into whatever dank cracks and hidey holes they could still find.
Axel didn’t need to be told twice, but he grabbed Sora and pushed him behind him. Before the shorter man could protest, the flames parted like a curtain before Axel and they closed behind him too, leaving the evil domicile and its master to crumble to a smoking crater yet again. Sora had little doubt that the Master of the darkest parts of the world would rebuild himself in time but although he wouldn’t admit it to Axel, right now he was merely relieved.
“At least Jack will be happy that he won’t have to deal with Oogie Boogie for awhile.” Sora commented, more for himself than Axel’s sake. He always felt badly for the things he defeated as a Keyblader, even if they were cruel, evil and would probably rise again without a lesson learned.
“So, I guess there’s no way to get more of these special flowers for this heart I was supposed to be made, huh?”
Sora looked over at Axel. He had been planning on saying something like ‘And whose fault is that, hm?’, but what came out was: “I really don’t think it would have worked anyway.”
Axel said nothing and he could have been imagining it, but he thought he saw the Nobody frown out of the corner of his eye, after he thought his back was turned.
***
“Garwsh, what are we gonna do now?” Goofy gave Sora an expression that could only be described as hangdog.
“Stupid Nobody.” Donald groused. “Lazybones should be out here helping us.”
Sora had explained what had happened when they’d arrived back, making it sound as though Axel had had no other choice but to burn the place down in order to facilitate their escape. Thinking about it later, he decided that he probably had. It had not deterred another argument from breaking out but fortunately with Sally and Jack around it had not lasted long.
When they had returned to the ship, Axel had headed off to the quarters he’d claimed as his own and a general sullenness had fallen over the remainder of the companions. They were presently floating in Gummi space with the trinity napping in shifts. Nobody wanted to bother antagonizing Axel, so he remained locked away in his cabin doing whatever it was he was doing. It was Midnight in Radiant Garden and Merlin and the others would be asleep anyway, so they planned to orbit Halloween Town while they whiled away the hours.
Sora’s mind had travelled back briefly to the earlier events, wondering how he’d been so careless around Axel. For a few moments he had wondered if Donald had been right and Axel was working on some master plan to separate Roxas from him, but after a few moments of silently yelling for ‘Roxas’ to ‘come out’ in his head, he felt stupid and stopped. Roxas was as much a part of him as he’d ever been since they’d reunited.
It was when Donald was asleep that Goofy broached the subject.
“You know, I think Axel seems a little different.”
Sora glanced off towards the closed door of the cabin, replaying the events of the previous action packed few hours in his head. Axel had limited his displays of “emotion” when he had been around others to large, open displays of grandeur that made sure everyone knew exactly what he felt he was supposed to be experiencing. Sora wasn’t sure why he did it, but he imagined it was probably an attempt to try and quell lingering suspicions about his motives. However, more recently he’d caught little private moments where the reactions had seemed more natural, not thought out. Perhaps even human. “Maybe.”
“Maybe you should go talk to him.”
Sora heaved a sigh. Goofy never threw fits like Donald and he often couldn’t remember simple names or phrases, but when he made suggestions out of the clear blue like this, you learned to listen. He wasn’t sure he wanted to talk to the Nobody right now though, but he didn’t exactly want to put it off either. When he knocked on the cabin door, Axel’s drawl floated through almost immediately.
“C’mon in.”
***
Sora sat cross legged on the only patch of available floor space in Axel’s “room”. The Nobody had been aboard the Highwind for less than a day and already his living quarters had become a total disaster area. That wasn’t even counting the time they’d spent locked in Oogie Boogie’s dungeon in Halloween Town. After getting over the eyebrow thing and focusing on the part where he’d escaped with his life however, Sora was feeling somewhat more charitable towards the redheaded shell of a man than he had previously.
“So that puts you in my debt twice.” Axel grinned and to his surprise, Sora found himself returning the grin, the tension between them breaking down. Goofy’s words echoed in the back of his mind. Maybe it was his imagination, but that smile did seem more natural than it had before.
“Yeah, saving the worlds from your crazy ex-boss counts for nothing.”
Axel replied by moving some of the clutter off the small single bed and taking a seat, holding a small item between his fingers. He seemed to be contemplating it quite intensely, a frown creasing his features.
“Here.” He said after a moment, holding it out to Sora.
“Where…did you get this?” The Keyblade master turned the keychain over in his fingers as it dawned on him that this ‘clutter’ that Axel kept was not just a mess. It was a hoard. His first thought was that Axel had stolen it from Halloween Town, but this was not the kind of keychain that belonged to a world. This keyblade had the feel of Oathkeeper or Oblivion to it; it was clearly a weapon that had been of great significance to its user. “It belonged to another Keyblader, didn’t it.”
Axel nodded, his tone careful. “It did.”
“Was it Roxas’?”
“No. It was a Keyblade Master who I…”
“You killed him?”
“Her. And you could say that, though it was officially Xigbar who delivered the finishing…”
“Shut up!” Sora snapped, his mind reeling. Riku and Kairi had keyblades too, so that part wasn’t a big surprise. Nevertheless, despite the fact that logically it made perfect sense that there must have been men and women before him who had taken up the post of Keyblade Master, hearing that in some cases the bad guys had been successful against them shook him. He wondered what else Axel’s past was hiding. “Was she important to you?” he asked, thinking of his relationship with Kairi and Riku.
“No.” Axel didn’t seem to care how cold it sounded or how much more that simple answer had unnerved Sora, but he did continue. “She was my bodyguard. His bodyguard. Whatever.” His face took on the same expression it had a few moments ago. “She wasn’t like you or Roxas though.”
“Xigbar…” Sora repeated. “He was the one with the eyepatch, wasn’t he?”
“Uh-huh.”
“He told me that ‘the keyblade picked a dud’.” Sora shrugged. “I thought he was trying to psyche me out.”
Axel pursed his lips. “You weren’t like the others.”
“Well?”
“It’s a pretty standard story. Kingdom starts training up strong and celebrated zen warriors, someone wantin’ a little more glory figures out Darkness is pretty powerful stuff, they go bad, people die. Like I said, pretty standard stuff.”
Sora made a face. “Still don’t get what the big difference is.”
“You ever had military training?”
“I…did a little bit in the Land of Dragons. With Ping, er, Mulan and Mushu.” Sora was beginning to feel a little foolish, the way he had used to when Riku bested him at something when they were children.
“That’s a negatory, good buddy.”
Feeling a deeper twinge of inadequacy that was completely unwarranted (He had been the one to restore light to the worlds, right?) Sora made a face. “Yeah, so what?”
“So, I’m saying that Keybladers used to be a thing. Like an army.”
“Like what Riku and Kairi are doing?”
Axel’s expression did not fill him with confidence.
“But Riku knows that the Darkness…he won’t let anyone be…”
Axel shook his head. “The Darkness is a funny thing.”
***
“Intelligence states that the five research scientists who fled Radiant Garden are indeed on other worlds.” The Keyblade Master Terra’s apprentice Una sat quietly, listening to the briefing with an unreadable expression and the knowledge she was only the latest addition to a string of ill fated companions of the once celebrated warrior “The whereabouts of the Princess Kairi are unknown, but she is believed to have been kidnapped by the entities we are now calling “Nobodies”. Yen Sid has since expanded the definition into two subcategories: low and high. The High is what you will be debriefed on today. Their shapes have evolved into shapes resembling anatomically accurate human beings and they have successfully used this disguise to infiltrate our ranks. ”
“Sir, reports have been circulating that the Apprentice Keyblader Sai was indeed kidnapped and had his heart artificially removed. Several of the cadets in the maw state that a man resembling him was spotted with the Nobodies calling themselves Xemnas and Xaldin as they fled in the dark portals.”
Terra sighed. “I hear he is now calling himself ‘Saix’. He was the only one we know of to have survived the procedure. After Ven and Aqua, it truly compounds our terrible loss.”
Both the Keyblade Master and his apprentice allowed their gazes to drift over to a nondescript door that was quietly hiding the extent of the horrors that already nearly destroyed the entirety of Radiant Garden in a mere matter of days. In the middle of the grey concrete prison beyond stood a simple wood coffin, ill fit for its occupant, but all they could spare.
The blast of dark magic that had killed Ven had also frozen his half-destroyed face into a horrific expression of terror that ill-befitted his usually solemn countenance. In an equally sad state next to the death shroud, the once beautiful Aqua was now indistinguishable from any other husk of a soul whose heart had suffered these past few days. Una wondered if anyone else knew that her Master clung to the husk, hoping that perhaps they would happen upon something that would restore her heart.
As for herself, the upheaval had affected her more deeply than a mere advancement in rank. She’d never been particularly close with any of the parties involved but they were all important parts of life in Radiant Garden. Everyone had loved Ansem the Wise, and it was difficult to imagine Braig or Elaeus (whose class she had actually taken once at the Bastion) as being murderers. The Inhabitants of their kingdom…no, their world, had looked up to Terra, Aqua and Ven to defend their town and it still felt more like a bad dream than bitter reality to imagine that only one of the celebrated Trio was in any fit state to save them.
“That’s what it is, isn’t it?” she said, suddenly thinking aloud, even though it was something of a breach in protocol. “They have to be killed.”
Terra nodded. “There’s no other choice, but that will not be your immediate job. Xemnas and his group know that there will not be another opportunity to kidnap more of our number, particularly not with the violence that the other half of Xehanort’s heart is displaying. This imposter ‘Ansem’ seems as intent on destroying the ‘Nobody’ side as he is on destroying this world.”
On the desk behind the Keyblade Master was a long scroll. He moved to unroll it, gesturing for Una to come closer. Several large drawings resembling masses of land in the middle of dark skies decorated the surface of the page.
“It’s a map.”
“Precisely. With the help of King Mickey, methods for travelling to these worlds have been devised, and with his aid you should be able to navigate the travel corridors we are calling ‘Gummi Space’. Xemnas and his group will be visiting these worlds, looking for individuals whom they can turn to their cause - like Saix. It is not a stretch to imagine that they will soon bring the Low level Nobodies to their side as well, as a footsoldier army or worse. You must find these individuals before they do.”
Una nodded, forcing herself to focus. If she had a skill that had brought her here, it was her ability to focus with precision on the tasks she was assigned. Terra knew that other apprentice Keybladers in his employ had more imaginative talent, but they were younger and didn’t have the experience or the drive.
“There are three known targets. The first is Liu Mara, soldier in the Land of Dragons. The second is a gentleman going by the name Rold U. This is a fake name, and he never gives a surname. Whether or not his name is fictional, he enjoys great luck at games of chance on this world here and has an impeccable track record of escaping the authorities. He spends quite a lot of time in a region known as “Pleasure Island”. I would save him until last. Hopefully his reputation as lucky will keep him safe while the others are secured. Finally, the Prince Andrew E. Latmos III…”
***
“I’m not sure that’s how it actually happened.” Axel said, his face screwed up into an expression of deep concentration, and not just merely because of Hades’ threat. “I picked most of this up second hand, after Roxas left and I went digging.”
“So that’s it. A, E, L.” Sora had to admit he’d always kind of wondered what Axel’s name had been, none of the anagrams of the remaining letters had ever seemed right. “So, what happened? Were you already a Nobody when she arrived to help protect you?” Sora was actually looking interested, leaning forward without realizing he was actually eager to hear what the Nobody had to say on the matter.
Axel pressed his lips together and his expression became visibly closed off. It didn’t surprise Sora that there were going to be parts of this story that Axel might not want to immediately talk about, however he wasn’t about to let it drop entirely. Just for the time being.
“I think I’ve heard of Terra, Aqua and Ven before.” He said aloud. “But that’s impossible, because it didn’t even really occur to me that there were other Keybladers around before me.”
Axel shrugged. “I found it all in some computer in Radiant Garden.”
“I haven’t forgotten Tron.” Sora mused. “I completely forgot that there must have been tons more information in that database. I’m just…” he trailed off, mumbling. “…kinda hopeless with computers.”
“Not a problem.” Axel fancied himself a bit of a hacker, particularly after slipping undetected into DiZ’s Twilight Town. “It might help me too.” He added, unsure if he had appeared to eager to spend more time with Sora.
The moment silence descended, a shrill ring sounded through the ship, followed by a shocked quack from an all too obviously roused Donald. His voice followed but it was a happy excitement. “Sora! It’s Riku on the Communicator!”
Sora didn’t even bother to excuse himself as he dashed into the hall. The Nobody had proved to be slightly better company than he imagined, but nobody took the place of his best friend.
To Be Continued.