paixaorpg | And then there were two [CLOSED//ACTIVE]

Entry tags:

axel,
xion

And then there were two [CLOSED//ACTIVE]

Characters: Xion and Axel
Content: Xion was going to bring a Roxas. Thaaaat didn't work out so well.
Setting: Ceu de Mouraria
Time: The evening after they talk in the journal.
Warnings: Um... Xion's really, really hoping Axel won't be pissy at her, but things could get very bad if he does. XD;

Xion slowly and quietly made her way to Ceu de Mouraria, face even more concealed than normal. She hadn't managed to convince Roxas to come- and who could blame him? He still didn't know anything about himself. The more she thought about her own situation, the less she wanted to see Axel too but... she had promised. And he was her best friend, and she'd told him because he deserved to know--

She just hoped it wouldn't come back to bite her.

By the time she got there, Axel was probably already present, but she couldn't bear to get there early. But at least she'd tried, right?

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Shuffling one foot in front of the other, the Nobody paced the empty room impatiently. Roxas... had really forgotten everything? Scenarios were running through Axel's mind as he tried to make some sense of out this situation -- did it have something to do with that Sora kid? What was Naminé even up to these days? (Mentally, he made a note to track down her location, but -- first things first...) And Xion -- he hadn't really imagined she would have kept something like this from him. Why hadn't she told him as soon as it happened?!

"Tch," he spat, both disappointed in XIV and himself -- why did it bother him that he didn't know, anyway? It's not like he could feel anything, sans heart.

When he heard the footsteps, he snapped his attention in their direction. "Xion!" Immediately, he looked behind her, anticipating the familiar blond, but... His eyes narrowed. "Where's Roxas?"

Xion hung her head, suddenly very interested in her feet. She couldn't stand the look on his face and her shoulders hunched up. "I'm sorry," she said, quietly, almost as quiet as she had been in her first days, "I couldn't..." Couldn't get him to come. And she was ashamed for it, but what was she to do? Other than stand there looking miserable. Which was quite capable of, as it would happen, even if the quality of her heart was questionable.

"What do you mean you couldn't?" the redhead snapped. "Couldn't what, exactly?" He couldn't help it -- he flared, all because of the lack of Roxas. Why didn't he come? Didn't he know they were supposed to be friends?

Xion took a step back, somewhat tempted to run- but running was not something she did. Ever. So instead, she braced herself, looking back up at him. "I couldn't get him to come. I'm sorry." It was her fault for delaying all this, even if she had her reasons.

Puffing himself up further, Axel was ready to unleash his anger on the girl but -- stopped himself, his mouth partly open.

It wasn't Xion's fault. And why... was he reacting so harshly, in the first place? Pausing, he sighed, sagging his shoulders and losing his vigor. Why didn't he want to come?

"What happened to him, Xion?" he asked, the words forming slowy.

When he visibly calmed a little, Xion let out a sigh of relief that she didn't realize she was holding. She didn't want to have to fight Axel ever again, physically or otherwise. It hurt too much, fighting friends.

To the question, she shook her head sadly. "I don't know. I just... I found him on the beach. His coat and journal were a little ways off, not with him, and his clothes were different. And since he doesn't remember, he couldn't tell u-- me." She'd been trying to leave Namine out of this, knowing that she'd been in Castle Oblivion while Axel was there. She didn't know how Namine felt about most of the Organization, but she was planning on keeping the promise to keep her away from them, to the very best of her ability. Even if it meant hiding things from Axel.

"You just found him? Just like that?" VIII crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head in disbelief. People just didn't forget like that. All right, granted, Roxas and Xion were definitely different. There were -- things about them, little uncertainties like Axel hadn't witness with his fellow Nobodies, until the pair of them had come along.

Unlike himself, Axel believed her. He didn't think Xion had any reason to be dishonest with him, and truly, he believed that she had Roxas' best interest in mind. They were friends. Friends, Axel kept reminding himself.

"And when he saw you? He just... didn't know who you were?"

"I got worried, since I hadn't seen him for so long, so I went looking. And since we said we were going to go to the beach together at some point..." She sighed, pushing her hair behind her ear, still hidden underneath the hood.

"He wasn't awake when I found him, and when I tried to move him a little he woke up and... he didn't recognize me at all." The whole thing was weird, and maybe there was something to do with the beach behind Roxas's memory loss. But Xion could honestly not think of what that might be.

"And you can't tell me where he is of course...," he muttered, probably loud enough for Xion to hear it. He was hurt, no -- bothered by the fact that she'd waited until now to tell him. He had... been worried about Roxas, too.

Cupping his chin, it was obvious that it was time to plot something out. "Then we'll just have to figure out a way to get him back to normal. Things will be fine if we do that," he looked up at the dark-haired girl, waiting to see if she would agree.

She heard him, alright, but she wasn't going to apologize for it again. And therefore, she had nothing to say to that.

The part about getting him to remember, though, she could agree with and she nodded. Maybe it was selfish, to want him to remember- he seemed perfectly ok with his memories, anyway, though maybe it wasn't that simple to him. But still. She wanted to help him. "I just don't know how..."

He was quiet for a minute, trying to figure something out. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. He knew it had been a possibility from the start but...

"You don't think -- that witch had anything to do with it, do you?" Axel asked aloud, a frown on his lips.

"The witch?" Xion asked, curious. She didn't know anyone who was called that, from the people she'd met here or in other worlds.

It was a slip. Damn. "Oh. I meant -- Naminé," he corrected himself, trying to wave it off as though it was nothing. "I heard she could do some weird things, things the boss hadn't even seen before..." he trailed off, entertaining the possibility of curing Roxas as simple as asking the girl to -- undo anything she'd done recently.

If... that was even how it worked.

There was a brief moment of astonishment over Xion's face, before it turned into... a flash of anger. "Namine's not witch!" she said, speaking before thinking and sounding rather upset, before realizing exactly what she'd slipped out. Axel didn't know that she knew Namine, or he shouldn't have, when she was captured she was only seen with Riku... but still. She really needed to learn to control her temper sometimes.

There was a silence that fell over him as he rose an eyebrow at her outburst. Had the two of them met somehow? Was it some deep rooted part of Saïx's plan that he hadn't been in on? Who knew what that guy's intentions even were these days. Or -- was Xion the one that was keeping more from him? Maybe Roxas had even been the one...

"What... makes you say that?" he asked slowly, carefully.

Xion quickly tried to think of a way around this. She really hated lying, even by omission, and that's basically what she'd been doing... but she didn't know what would happen if Namine got sent back to the Organization. She was sure Axel wouldn't do anything bad to her, but... more likely than not, she'd get turned over to Saix. And she knew what that would be like.

"I met her once. Back home. When I..." 'When I defected' was the completed version of that, but she didn't want to say it right now. She wanted to forget it, but that was looking less and less likely.

Looking at her with an amount of skepticism he tried to keep in check, he waited for her to finish her sentence. When she trailed off, he picked the conversation right back up again, "When you...?" he repeated, not willing to let it go quite yet.

Axel wasn't even entirely sure why exactly he was trying so hard to understand the situation... "When you what? Don't keep me in suspense."

"When I left," she said rather simply, obviously not thinking that this would be news to him. Actually, there was a little bit of confusion- she didn't seem to have thought that she needed to elaborate. That didn't mean she had to look at him though. She knew he'd had orders to bring her back, but still.

What was that supposed to mean? No one just left. You couldn't just leave the Organization, that wasn't exactly an option they gave you when you signed up. You didn't exactly get to barter the terms of your employment when you were so kindly hired on. Hearing her say such a thing threw Axel slightly off-guard, though he tried hard to maintain a collected visage.

"Left?" he asked, the only indication of his surprise was a hoisted eyebrow. "I'm afraid I'm not quite picking up what you're laying down here, Xion."

This conversation was only getting more and more confusing. Xion frowned, looking up at him. "When I left. I went with 'the imposter' after I went to Castle Obli-- came here and found out about everything." She pushed her hair behind her ear, not looking angry as she spoke again. "Don't you remember? You're the one who came and got me."

Well, he certainly didn't remember. Such a thing hadn't happened for him, after all. Although as he processed what exactly Xion was saying -- he was sure that he would have taken those exact measures -- bringing her back. "Imposter, huh..." he spoke aloud to himself, cupping his chin thoughtfully for a moment.

If he was going to get answers to any of these little mysteries, it certainly wouldn't be in his best interest to question the other members of the Organization, especially Saïx. There was no question in Axel's mind as to where that guy's loyalties lay these days.

Questioning Xion, someone he had begun to accept more and more -- especially since she had revealed her face to him -- seemed the best course of action at this point. However, he didn't exactly like the position he was in, either. She remembered things that he hadn't experienced? Not good.

"So the others," he perked up slightly, referring to the XIII, "they knew you left?"

"Everyone who was left did," Xion said, still puzzled. She hadn't quite connected the dots yet- she hadn't seen Vexen or Marluxia or any of the others that had been 'eliminated' in Castle Oblivion yet. And alright, she had heard about the time differences, but since the Organization was basically controlling everything she assumed that people were brought here at those times on purpose. It wasn't like anyone actually told her anything.

Everyone who was left? Well, wasn't that another interesting tidbit. "So let me take a stab in the dark here -- Marluxia," he said simply, "must be one of the lucky guests no longer invited to the party." Axel titled his head. "Am I right?"

The confusion on Xion's face was becoming more and more obvious as this conversation went on. 'Invited to the party?' Not only was that a phrase she wasn't familiar with, but how could he know anything when he was dead? "I... guess so?" was her somewhat shaky answer, clearly different from lying, just not entirely sure what the question was in the first place.

As far as life in Paixao went, Marluxia was far from dead. Actually, inwardly, thanks to Xion's input, Axel was thinking of all the wonderful ways to exploit the new information that had fallen right into his lap. "Curiouser and curiouser..." releasing the grip he had on his chin, he placed one hand on his hips, and with the other, pointed at the girl in front of him.

"Xion. I'm gonna need you to tell me the last couple things you remember. You leaving, my dragging you back... anything else important that happened." A pause. "Maybe even... some of it will help us get Roxas back..." he added quietly, then cleared his throat.

"Tell me. I won't -- tell the others. Because -- we're friends." Another pause. This was still something he was foreign to, still trying to get the right footing on. Still... trying to understand. "...Right?"

After a moment of putting the pieces together, Xion smiled, and nodded. "Right."

Now, where to start. "Well, um, when the 'impostor' first showed up, Saix sent me to fight him, and I... lost." It was obvious how well that would have gone over with Saix. "Then I... well, I still really don't know why, but I went into a coma. Roxas said I was asleep for twenty days." And she didn't doubt that- Roxas was very good at counting days. Saix wasn't very happy about that, either."

She sighed, looking at her hands before up at his face, stubborn and not at all sorry for anything she'd done, only sorry that she might have hurt her friends. "I asked you about what had happened at Castle Oblivion, but you wouldn't tell me. So I... dug around a little, and found out that I was born the-- here. I came here, and you showed up a little after me and told me to leave, but I had to find out, Axel, I had to... so I ran."

Well, this turn of events certainly complicated things further. Hearing that she was in a coma was unsettling, he could imagine Roxas counting the days until she was up and at 'em again, most likely. It was easy to picture Saïx's reaction to it all as well -- not much pleased that guy, and failure topped with a little bit of mutiny seemed to just be the icing on the cake.

The redhead frowned, crossing his arms over his chest again as he let this new wave of information sink in. "You ran." Was all he said, after a little while. He didn't like it. Betray the Organization, and they'd come after you. Run from them and... they'd just bring you back. That was the way of things. Once you were in, you didn't get out. And if she kept running... didn't she realize she was just leaving them behind, every time?

Axel scrunched up his nose indignantly as his thoughts took a bitter turn. "You ran, huh? Don't you realize you can't just do whatever you want?" his voice was raising without him even knowing it, as he foot a half-step forward, hands back at his hips as he leaned to tower over her. "It doesn't just work like that, got it memorized?!"

Xion was almost surprised that she didn't back up. Maybe it was because she'd expected this. She'd expected him to be angry about something, he certainly hadn't been happy with her when she'd run the first time. But it didn't matter- that was in the past, and even if she hadn't liked what she found, it was better than remaining in the dark forever.

So when she looked up at him, there was no shame, no guilt, and nothing but stubborn determination.

"Why not?" she asked, frown very much etched in place, "No one was answering anything, not even you! How else was I supposed to find out? I couldn't stand not knowing anymore."

As she stood there, holding her ground, Axel could almost feel himself nearly growling. The outright defiance she was showing! Somewhere, deep down, there was almost a tinge of envy that he felt -- seeing her like that, in front of him. But surely -- he didn't really have such a sensation. Envy was a feeling, an emotion. A thing he couldn't have with an existance like this.

Doing things like she was -- didn't Xion realize she was getting herself in deep with the wrong crowd?! The Organization didn't stand for such a betrayal. Saïx would have an absolute field day.

"You -- you don't get it at all, do you?!" his hands were balled into fists, he sent them flying every which way as he spoke, extentuating his point. "Being a Nobody -- being part of the Organization... it's not a choice you just get to make!" he spat.

That was part of the problem- both the lack of the choice, and the Nobody bit. Xion didn't want to not have a choice. Unfortunately, no matter which way she turned, her life seemed to end up looking like that. Even if she was sort of given a choice about Sora. But that was one choice she was putting off for as long as possible. As for the Nobody part...

"Do you want me to finish?" she asked, quietly. She didn't have to. She could leave it like this, with him not liking her and not liking it, but still not knowing the truth. He hadn't reacted well last time, had no reason to think he would have this time. So why did it still hurt?

In fact -- why did it hurt at all?

Standing there, seething, Axel restrained himself from summoning his chakrams, at this point. Fighting, to him at this point, was the best way to deal with something that you either didn't have the time for -- or didn't understand. And this conversation seemed to be quickly headed down that path...

"Go on, then," he motioned with his head, "finish."

Xion could tell, and was getting nervous. She didn't want to fight him. She didn't. She wasn't ready to make up her mind about what she wanted, what needed to be done. All she wanted was to be with her friends, and for them to be happy.

Axel certainly didn't look happy right now.

She sighed, taking a deep breath. "When I made it further into the castle, I found out how I was born. I--" Xion swallowed a little, forcing the words out. "I'm not a Nobody, Axel. I'm a Replica. Of... Roxas."

She got quiet, ready to summon her keyblade at any moment. "That's when I defected, and... then you came and got me and brought me back." Alright, so she was leaving out a little, but she didn't want to argue over Riku too.

"C... Come again?" For once, Axel found himself dumbfounded. What did she just say? A replica? There's no way that was true. Okay, so maybe the both of them were a little zombified in their first few days around the joint, but... a replica?

Inwardly, the Nobody was sorting out the details. All right, so it was no secret that the Organization was trying their luck with replicas, wasn't Vexen tinkering with some version of that white haired kid?

But there was no way! Xion was Xion, and Roxas was Roxas! "I think -- you better spell that out for me again," whether is tone was desperate or threatening, even he couldn't tell.

"Axel," she said quietly, trying to get him to understand, "I was made because the Organization wanted to make sure they had a Keyblade. So, they made a replica of Roxas, and I..." Xion bit her lip, trying to think of how to do this. "I was made, with some of Sora's memories."

That was why Riku had said her Keyblade was a sham. Fabricated, like her entire existence. Made entirely of memories, and all the ones of her would fade if she ever disappeared.

This was getting out of hand. There was a strange heat rising within Axel since her revelation. There was more to this puzzle than just he could piece together, and knowing that -- this would probably a good time to gather those that eluded him.

The redhead took a step back, hands in front of him. "Don't -- don't joke around about stuff like that, Xion," he warned, though his voice almost seemed to falter. "You just -- !" Damn. "Look. I -- got somewhere I have to be, all right? Just -- just forget about all this stuff for now! Right now we just... let's get Roxas back, all right?"

He needed to talk to the guy with the answers -- he needed... to get to Saïx.

"I'm not--" Why didn't he believe her? She wouldn't lie about something like this! A soft choking noise left her mouth as an uncomfortable sensation rose in her throat. It took Xion a moment to get her voice back.

"Alright. We'll... worry about Roxas first." Quieter than she had been before, too on edge and weary. "But... just us, right? You promised not to tell." About Roxas, or about her.

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And then there were two [CLOSED//ACTIVE]

sorry for the delay...! orz

s'fine!

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bleh! sorry! i got a cold that's killing me not so softly DX

s'ok. <3

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the confusion in this log is OVER 9000!!!

GET THE SCANNER!!!111

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