Chapter 11 - Roxas Leaves, Axel Follows

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Yes, now we’re starting to see more of the story tying in with the game. I took this scene with Axel and Roxas DIRECTLY FROM THE BEGINNING OF KH2! So if you recognize it, that’s why. Xemnas is cooking up some wonderful plans for the Key Bearer :)

PART 11
'Roxas Leaves, Axel Follows'

We had gotten up to leave, when Axel, quickly and quietly, chased after Roxas. We then quickly and quietly followed Axel. I don’t think Roxas knew he had three people following him.

The clouds were bubbling in the dark, murky sky. This abandoned city that doesn’t exist, this world that never was, it was always dark and storming. Roxas calmly walked through the streets of his origin, goal set in his mind. Axel had gotten far ahead of us, and even ahead of Roxas to ambush him. Axel stood, cross-armed against the side of a large black building.

“Where will you go?” He mumbled just loud enough for Roxas to hear as he passed. Roxas said nothing. Axel gave a deep, depressing sigh. “Your mind’s made up, then?” Roxas stopped walking.

“Why did the keyblade choose me? I have to know.” He simply replied. Xigbar and I were watching from a rooftop not too far away.

“You can’t turn your back on the Organization!” Axel yelled. Roxas was silent once more. “You get on their bad side, and they’ll destroy you!”

“No one would miss me,” Roxas finally replied, beginning to walk to the edges of the city.

“That’s not true!” Axel said softly. “I would…” But it was too late. Roxas was gone, and Axel was alone. He hung his head, then collapsed to the ground.

“It’s not fair…” He whispered. “I love you, Roxas.” That was all I could take. I was hoping that after a few hours, maybe a day at the most, Axel would return to normal. Roxas was gone, and things were back to the way they were. Xigbar and I hurried back to the castle to find Xemnas giving a speech. He was informing the group about Naminé. Xigbar and I were just in time.

“So you see, our darling Naminé here has the power to change one’s memory.” Xemnas announced, Naminé firm in his grasp. “She has the power to enter one’s heart and unlink the chains of memory deep within us. She also has the power to create new memories, and connect them to the old ones. Knowing this power of hers, I have begun to plan a project to find our friend the Key Bearer. Speaking of which, where is Roxas?” Xigbar and I looked at each other, then we looked at Xaldin. “Well, no matter. This doesn’t concern him, anyway.” He continued. “I plan to break us up into two groups. One group will be the base team, and shall stay here. The others shall make a base at a new place and lure the Key Bearer there. When the new castle is up and running, you will move in immediately. I have already broken you up, and decided who shall carry out this mission.” He stepped toward us. “Vexen. Lately, your work has been failing me. Prove to me your worth, and help the others carry out this mission.” Vexen grumbled, then let out a quiet,

“Yessir.”

“Lexaeus. You’ve proven your strength many a time. You shall join them achieve their goals.” Lexaeus gave a silent nod. “Zexion. You’re cunning, and your skill to sense strong beings will be very helpful. Larxene. You can reach amazing speeds with your knives. I was going to have Roxas join you but…”

“I’ll volunteer.” Axel said monotonous.

“Ah, thank you, number eight.” Xemnas grinned. “That’s very kind of you to take the child’s place.” He finally turned to the pink-haired drama queen.

“Marluxia,” Xemnas smiled. “You’ve have proven your worth to me in many, many ways. You’re strength is growing still, and you show real leadership potential. I shall place you in charge.” Marluxia’s blue eyes began to widen, and sparkle.

“Lord Xemnas!” He squealed with joy. “This is quite an honor!” I didn’t hear what else he said, because a very ticked off Vexen pushed me away, jumping ahead of the group.

“Master Xemnas!” Vexen shrieked. “How dare you appoint this... Imbecile control over a large amount of us!” He turned to Marluxia, and shouted in his face, still addressing Xemnas. “He’s one of the lowest ranking members you’ve placed on this mission. How can you give him the title of ‘Leader’? How absurd!”

“Number four, you shall hold your tongue!” Xemnas hissed, eyes narrowed. Vexen jumped at the tone, and turned to face him. “You dare question my judgement?”

“No, not at all sir!” Vexen pleaded. “I... I just think someone of higher rank should control the situation! Marluxia is hardly experience-worthy!”

“And I suppose you are, Vexen?”

“...I’m not electing myself, but... ”

“Vexen, as many times as I ask you to prove your worth to me, and our group, you fail. Your experiments are failures, which seem to me to be a perfect representation of you. You have no room to decide who should lead. His rank may be lower, but I have more faith him to bring me success than you. Understood?” This was a hard blow to Vexen’s ego, I could tell. You could see the hatred he had for Marluxia. And Marluxia smiled a most fiendish smile. He was enjoying this! He loved seeing Vexen squirm. It made me sick to watch. And what was with Xemnas? When did he become so... So angry?

Vexen, realizing his place, stepped down. His eyes burned with fury, but his face was calm. I could see him and Marluxia exchanging glances.

“Continuing on,” Xemnas said, beginning to pace. “The castle where this team will be based is still being built. It is a world between worlds, like where we are now, only visible to those who seek it. Meaning, if you desire to find this place, it will appear before you. The mission of those going to the castle shall be to lure the Key Bearer to the castle, and have our dear Naminé erase his memories, and make her own to make him her puppet. Then, we can use him to destroy the heartless, and reach our ultimate goal.”

“Sir, you have yet to fully explain this ‘ultimate goal’, even to me.” Marluxia said, stepping in. “I think it’s about time you revealed these plans.” Sorry, Marly, but we already tried that tactic.

“Very well, number eleven.” Xemnas nodded. Oh sure, listen to the flower-boy. “Our ultimate goal is none other than Kingdom Hearts.”

“..Sir?”

“Kingdom Hearts. That is where our destinies lay. Tell me, gentlemen, where do hearts go when they are released? They don’t just float around, I’ll have you know. If Heartless don’t devour them, they float to a plane of existence I’m not sure anyone’s seen. It is a place between darkness and light where all hearts drift to. It is known as Kingdom Hearts. Every heart that has ever been lost resides there now. And that includes ours. My plans, my friends, are simply to find, and infiltrate Kingdom Hearts and find our hearts, letting us be whole once more.”

There were so many things wrong with this plan, but being the timid mouse I was, I remained quiet. How were we sure Xemnas even knew what he was talking about? So we’re looking for this so-called ‘Kingdom Hearts’. I’m not sure I like this plan at all. But that was the least of my worries for now. Xemnas was planning to ship them off tomorrow afternoon. He said he wasn’t sure how long they’d have to be gone. This worried me to no end. One of my best friends had been chosen to go to this castle. Zexion. And was I the only one who saw the dangers of these plans? They were going to go head to head with the Key Bearer! If he’s as amazing as I’ve been hearing, then what happens if things go wrong? What if he harms any of them? What if he kills them?

The meeting was over, and I was lost in my thoughts. I shook them off when everyone started to leave. I caught up to Zexion.

“Hey, Zex, wait up!” I called. He stopped and turned to me. He smiled big, and we continued to walk together.

“So this is quite an honor...” He said softly. “Xemnas has never given me such a huge responsibility before...”

“I think this is really a bad idea...” I admitted.

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, it’s just.. This could be really dangerous... and I don’t want any of you getting hurt. This keyblade guy sounds dangerous. He’s apparently gone to many worlds, fighting the Heartless, growing stronger by the minute! Who’s to say he won’t be stronger than us?”

“You’re way too paranoid, Dem. So he killed some Heartless. We’re stronger, and smarter than any Heartless he could have faced. Besides, if things go as planned, there won’t me much fighting. Naminé will take care of that, I hope.”

“You.. Hope?”

“Well, she doesn’t seem like she wants to help us.”

“That’s apparent.”

“I just wish she could see it from a different perspective. She thinks us to be bad, evil people, when in reality, we just want our hearts back. She may have gotten a bad impression from Xemnas... And I’m sure being controlled by Marluxia won’t change her mind either. He’ll probably force her somehow.”

“I agree with you there. This all seems so strange. And I wonder why Axel was so eager to volunteer.”

“I think now that Roxas is gone, you should sit him down, and talk to him.”

“Yeah, you’re probably.. Wait. How do you know about that?” Surprised, I stopped walking. He turned around, and flashed a quick, shy smile.

“I’m smarter than I look. I know what happened, so don’t worry about covering it up.”

“...”

“Anyway, I don’t know why he would want to join us. You should talk to him. Maybe talk him out of it. You’re right. It could be dangerous. And what if we don’t come back?”

“Don’t say that!” I cried. “I don’t want to think about that... You’re going to come back. In fact, I just got a great idea. Wait here.” I ran to my room as fast as I could. Under my bed, I kept a small journal that was unused. I was planning to use it, I just never really had the inspiration. I rushed back to Zexion.

“Here. Take this.” I handed him the notebook. “I want you to document the events at the castle, just for me. Then you can give it to me when you return.” Zexion stared at the book for a long time. After a while, he looked up to me.

“I’m going to miss you, pal.” He smiled, brushing the silvery-lavender hair from his eyes.

“I’ll miss you, too. Don’t be gone too long.” We shared a warm hug, then he ventured off to his room to gather some things. It was getting late. I still had some time to talk to Axel. I hurried to his room. Luckily, he was there. I reluctantly knocked on his door.

“...Axel?” No response. “Axel, please open the door. It’s Demyx. I want to talk.” The knob turned to my surprise, and Axel was there.

“Come on in.” He said, surprising me again. And I did just that. Maybe it was finally over. Maybe he was back to the way he was. Maybe things were finally going to resume where they left off.

“So what was it that you wanted?” he asked me after a long period of silence.

“I just.. Wanted... I wanted to know if you knew where Roxas went... I’m not looking for him, but everyone else seems to be.”

“He left.”

“He... left?”

“Yeah. Earlier today. Before the meeting. He said something about finding out why he has a Keyblade. What a fool. We coulda told him that.”

“So... why exactly did you volunteer for Xemnas’ new project?” Then he grew silent.

“I need to get out into the worlds... yeah...”

“That’s not the real reason. Axel, tell me the truth.” I could see he was uneasy about it, yet I had no idea why.

“I can’t tell you. It’s a personal thing.”

“Axel... Remember the days when you told me everything? We shared everythign with each other... everything. Remember?”

“Can’t say that I do.” Oh, no. “Listen, is there anything else you wanted? I need to get some stuff together.” Realizing that nothing had changed, I slowly shook my head, stood up, and left. I couldn’t believe it. Now he didn’t even remember the time we had together. I had a hunch that him volunteering had something to do with Roxas. Maybe having Zexion write in my journal would help me figure it out. I had a very lonely few weeks ahead of me. Thank god Xigbar was chosen to stay behind. At least, I knew I had someone willing to comfort me if things got bad.

3am. Can’t sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about them. Axel, Zexion, and Xigbar. Axel, why won’t you remember? Why did I ever let Roxas come between us? What are you trying to achieve? Zexion, what if your plans fail? What if the Key Bearer attacks you? What if you get killed? Xigbar, I’m sorry for all the history we have, and I’m sorry I don’t remember it. I know you’re in love with me but...

Why can’t I fall asleep? This is ridiculous. Suddenly, I heard yelling from the room next door. Axel’s room. I snuck out of bed, and crept from my room. I put my ear to Axel’s door to hear two voices arguing inside.

“You just don’t get it, do you?” said the first voice.

“Oh, I understand perfectly.” the second voice shouted. “You just can’t face facts!”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Can’t you see, he cares so much for you! And you just throw him aside like he’s no one.”

“He is no one to me.”

“You weren’t saying that a few months ago!”

“What?”

“Don’t you remember anything before that kid took over your mind?”

“Leave Roxas out of this!”

“It kills me to watch him suffer! I swear to God, if you hurt him any more, I’ll have to kill you myself.” I heard footsteps heading toward the door, I quickly hid in my room, peeking out the door. Xigbar emerged from Axel’s door, slamming it shut. There was no point in me hiding. I opened my door and Xigbar looked right at me.

“Demyx...”

“...Xigbar.. Can I.. Stay with you tonight? I’m having trouble.. Falling asleep.”

“Of course. You can stay with me any time.” He took my hand, and we walked through the corridors, to the opposing wing.

When we reached his room, everyone had finally settled to bed. It was very quiet, and we were the only ones awake.

“I’m sorry we woke you...” Xigbar whispered. “I wasn’t sure how loud we were being.”

“You didn’t wake me,” I corrected him. “I was already awake. I can’t shake this feeling that something terrible is going to happen.”

“Everything’s gonna be fine, Dem. You’ll see. Soon, we’ll have the Key Bearer firmly in our grasp, and next thing ya know, we’ll have our hearts back!”

“I sure hope you’re right...” We had settled on his bed, sitting side by side, in silence. Finally, I spoke up.

“You... miss Myde, don’t you?” Xigbar’s head shot up so fast, I thought maybe he got whip-lash from it.

“W-what did you say?”

“When this is all over, when we finally get our hearts back, we won’t be the nothings we are now. We’ll be our True Selves. I have a strong... Well... I don’t know if Axel will ever remember when we were together...and I feel like even if we got our hearts back, he wouldn’t... I just... Do you think... I-I don’t know what I’m trying to say here...”

“Demyx, I need to be honest with you. I thought helping you to get Axel back would be one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done in my life. I knew it would mean losing you, but knowing you were happy would be enough for me. At least, that’s what I thought. I think... I think I’ve been fooling myself. When this is all over, I don’t know if Axel’s ever gonna recover. And I feel like this is a lost cause. I don’t wanna sound selfish, but I finally have you, kinda. Something about Roxas’ heart, the pure heart of the Key Bearer, is forcing Axel to have all that’s around him clouded. Roxas is the only person in his view, and I’m afraid we can’t change that.” I was listening to him, but I just couldn’t look him in the eye. That is, until he grabbed my by the shoulders, and forced me to.

“Xigbar...”

“Demyx, I love you.”

“No, you love Myde.” I managed to say.

“You’re better than Myde. You’re a part of him, and it’s the part that I know I fell in love with. Demyx, let’s stop this foolish hunt. Axel is a lost cause. Let’s just leave him to chase Roxas to the ends of the universe. We can stay here, and be happy. Together. Forever. And when we regain our hearts, we can really start our lives!”

“Xigbar... I-”

“Don’t tell me you can’t... Please...” There was nothing I could say. I would have just been fooling myself in agreeing. Realizing I wasn’t going to answer him, he backed away, letting me go and gave a deep, depressing sigh.

“What if it was only temporary?”

“...what?”

“Like, for a few weeks maybe. While Axel’s away. While they’re at the new base castle. It’s not like you’d still see Axel every day to remind you of him right? Outta sight, outta mind.”

“I.. I need to think. I need time to think.” I finally said, unsure of how else to answer.

“..Okay. Think about it. Let me know when you’ve decided.” He leaned over and placed a soft kiss on my cheek. I actually felt better. I was glad we talked, and things that had to be said were said. I thanked him for the hospitality, but I needed to sleep alone that night. He understood, and walked me back to my room. We said our ‘goodnight’s and I shut the door. By now it was about 4ish in the morning. I got what little sleep I could, and made sure I was up in time to say goodbye to Zexion and maybe Axel.

Morning came too quickly. I knew I had to get up. In fact, I was running late. They were to leave any minute, and I was still in bed. I jumped up, wet my hair, and threw on my coat. I raced downstairs to the foyer where everyone else was. Everyone was talking, wishing each other good luck, and such. Then I spotted Zexion. He, and Vexen were talking to Xaldin. I hurried over. Xigbar wasn’t anywhere in sight, and neither was Axel. I was sort of thankful for that, though. I wanted to forget about them for now, and focus on my dear Zexion.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” Zexion greeted me. I smiled.

“Didn’t even have time to do your hair?” Xaldin almost laughed.

“I overslept,” I stretched, yawning. “I wanted to say goodbye.”

“Yeah, who knows if you’ll ever see us again.” Vexen grumbled.

“Don’t talk like that,” I scolded my elder. “You guys’ll be fine. Have fun, and be careful.”

“We’ll try... Don’t worry, I’ll keep your notebook updated, and I’ll personally hand it back to you when this is all over.” Zexion was all smiles now, extending his hand for a final handshake. Knocking it aside, I pulled him into a hug.

“Come home soon.”

“Already there.” I shook Vexen’s hand, wishing him the best of luck.

“Watch out for Marly,” I warned him. “I don’t think he’s right in the head.”

“I agree” scowled Vexen. “The bastard is going to be the end of me...” With that, they left, heading toward an opened shadow door leading them to the new castle. Who knew Vexen’s last statement would be so significant? I guess you’ll see why later.

Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Axel, Marluxia and Larxene, all gone. Naminé, too. The castle felt naked without everyone there. It felt empty, lonely. And now I was alone with Xigbar standing over me, waiting for my response. I dreaded the decision. Xigbar meant a lot to me, but I could never let go of Axel. I don’t even know why. I just couldn’t. It hurt too much. And it wasn’t even supposed to!

Later that night, I was in my room, continuing that beautiful melody I had started months before. The notes came so easily. I put every false emotion I could feel into it, and wrote it down, note by note. A haunting melody. A, hrm, melodious nocturne, you could say. Every note seemed to blend into the next, and as I played, I felt the harmony flow through my fingers, to the strings, and bellow from the sitar to the corners of my bedroom, and out through my window, into the night sky. Suddenly, I heard a voice. I didn’t know where it was coming from, but it was humming along to my music. I started the song over, playing every note with energy, and then I heard words from to the melody.

“We met that night when the sea ran high,” the voice sang.

“And I craved for more of a near love experience.

“Those who the music hath then joined together,

“Are now but asunder…” I stopped. Who was singing? I looked down out my window. No one. I looked up. No one. Where were these magnificent words coming from? Just as I was hanging out my window, my door burst open to show the figure of Xigbar, looking stunned, and amazed. He rushed to me.

“Tell me that was you playing that haunting trill!”

“Wh-what?”

“That music! That was you, wasn’t it?”

“Wait! Was that you.. Singing?”

“Where did you learn that song?”

“I j-just made it up. I’ve been composing it for a long time.”

“Are you sure?!”

“Xigbar, what’s the matter?”

“That’s the song Myde played on his guitar that night at the beach!”

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