We've been waiting so long - WEEK2: OPENING. [Completed]

[redhot.livejournal.com]

Character(s): Axel, Daath, and NPCs.
Content: Axel goes to the cathedral to find Zexion missing, but remembers something else very interesting.
Setting: Ecos na Catderal.
Time: Very early morning.
Warnings: None, general Axel weirdness is all.

The streets were silent and full of shadows; the air hung heavy, musty and damp, pregnant with the apprehension of the sleepy city from the week's recent events. The cobblestones of the paths were damp with the rain that had fallen earlier that day, which had long since stopped, but still, within that, their memoirs had remained. Tall, esoteric buildings stretched up on either side of the roads, lined with rich colours like crimson, gold, and royal blue, their corners and edges all decorated beautifully with classical motifs. Their windows were dark and motionless, with their curtains drawn, and there were no lights to be seen from the inside. The city had closed up within itself, but the structures all seemed to reach desperately up to the fake, limited sky: this was dark, but dappled with small spots of white, splattered across the ceilings of the domes like drops of iridescent paint. They shimmered softly, but their light was so minimal it was rendered useless – its only assistance the dull glow of the street lamps below, some of them burnt out, some of them flickering. Judging by the architecture and the elaborate metalwork of them, this was indeed the higher-class district of Paixao – but it wasn’t new.

In the soft light the lamps offered, two shadows moved slowly along the wall of one of the buildings in the pricey Muspelheim district. They were a pair of peculiar individuals: a tall, skinny form and a shorter, slight one – both of them huddled closed together and moving silently, uniformly. They wore billowing coats, and over their heads heavy dark hoods. The streets were silent even with them there – and the taller form stepped cautiously into the light completely and looked one way, and then the other. A gloved hand reached back and motioned, long spidery fingers beckoning the tinier near. It complied, and they moved on, like a suspicious black mass, a phantom stalking in the otherwise serene roads.

They moved together like that for some time, until they came upon a pair of crossroads. It did not take the tall shadow long to decide which way to go – for a moment, their dark blob was separated, and the other made note of this, and huddled faster along, melding back into the other, making them seem one again as they walked close. It was obvious these two forms would not wish to be spotted – they held something secret, something no one else could know. Separation meant exposing that secret, and that, they would not allow. Moving along the chosen street, they stopped before a particularly elaborate building – their heads tilted up, and they read the sign: ECOS NA CATEDRAL.

It was a beautiful thing, composed of grey and sandy stone. Its entrance were two great wooden doors, their handles golden and shaped like the curled wings of griffons, the bodies of the animals attached firmly to the doors. Leading up to these doors was a flight of steps; on either end of these steps, sat two great wolf-like creatures, their muzzles frozen by the stone into eternal hostility, their muzzles curled into vicious, protective snarls, the fur on the backs of their necks pricked.

The forms ignored this, and traveled up the steps and to the large doors – and above them, there was the structure of the building – stone and glass supported by pillars: a circular stained window – a few panes were shattered, but it was extravagantly beautiful regardless.

A stray Lumen dog idled in front of the doors; its dully glowing bulbed tail curled up to its side as it lay motionless, peacefully asleep, yellow paws folded one over the other, and over that, its chin. The taller black-coated form moved to it, and stared down ominously at it for several seconds – and then abruptly, a hand appeared from the black mass. It reached down and grabbed the Lumen by the scaled scruff of its neck, causing it to immediately awaken with a startle. It squirmed and yowled, piercing the dead night with its screech, and so in several quick movements, its neck was snapped and it was tossed aside.

In the short display of violence, the hood of the coat was shaken from its position over the man's head – and it fell back, pooling around his shoulders and revealing his bony collar and thin neck. His face was strong but sharp, well defined cheek bones and a slightly hooked nose. His eyes were bright and intense – green in color, accented by two black tear marks below them. His hair was a mass of flaming red spikes, shifting gently in the soft wind and any of his movements. Axel seemed to worry not at the display of his visage – he gave the Lumen one last look before opening the door and slipping into the cathedral. The other form followed.

"Zexion is here," he said softly, and moved down the great hall on the inside – where once whores lay, spread out on pillows and couches and things, donned in beautiful vestments of gold and red and white. Axel viewed the area contemplatively as he walked, footsteps virtually silent as he coursed down the great hall, moon light spilling over their forms and the long red, gold-lined carpet – it led all the way to the back of the establishment, where the altar was.

The man stopped before it abruptly and stared down for a moment – a moment of thought that might have been mistaken for reverence; he nodded to the idle wood structure and then moved to the side – for on each, there were a pair of equally elaborate doors. These lead into the upstairs and downstairs of the church of pleasure. He had kept Zexion up on the highest floor, and so that was where he headed. The other form was told to wait in place.

The sun was beginning to come up now. Somewhere at the far reaches of the domes, a small speck of light poked itself up from the ground. The image moved slowly upward along the wall which was supposed to represent endless, unlimited sky - and from the glowing orb, there radiated a warm light, turning the black sky into sunrise. It had not yet reached out entirely yet, but as Axel passed up the great stairs he stared with squinted eyes across at the fake sun rising in the distance through the narrow windows, contemplating that.

When he finally reached the corridor at the top of the stairs, a smile spread out on the red-headed man's face – something sinister, something knowing, something excited. He would go see Morrigan next, after fetching Zexion, and then she would watch he and Daath train – Daath, his masterpiece, his pet, his precious bastard Nobody born without the consent of the Superior. That in itself made the boy all the more wonderful to him – he was a walking symbol of the destruction of the Organization, and he reminded him so much of what he missed.

His hands shook when he grasped the golden handles of the double doors. Any moment now, and he'd take Zexion with him, and they'd go about his plans, and things would be right again. He could experiment freely, he could utilize Daath as a weapon, and who knew what would become of Zexion or what use he could find in Morrigan – it was all so exciting!

When Axel entered the great room, his face faltered. He found nothing. Nothing, except a crudely carved X on the wall were the Nobody had been... Anti X. Spitefully, the great sun was strong in the sky now, and through the large circular stained glass window, it glared at him and shunned him with its light. He squinted slowly, slightly, and softly inhaled – his breath suddenly shaky, as if it took great measures for him to keep his composure. At his sides, his black-leathered hands grasped themselves into fists, and his head bowed.

Zexion was gone.

Fine. Fine. He'd play with those cards; he'd been through so much – surely, Zexion's escape was but a little hill for him to walk upon. Now he had mountains to scale, and he needn't worry about minor setbacks such as that. But Zexion knew of Daath, and obviously knew of his experiments and the jungle and probably the troubles with Simba, and simply... everything... A sick feeling balled in his gut, but he forced it down and looked back up at the window – for a moment, his gaze did linger on the contraption that the elder Nobody had once resided in, but he forced his eyes away from it – and instead, directed his angry glare to the sun in return.

From a crack in the glass – a broken pane – he noticed movement in the streets as the sun began to slowly rise on the city. Mind temporarily torn away from his own endeavors, he was drawn nearer to the circular window to peek out through the small hole. Blinking curiously, he observed what was below.

"We've been waiting so long," said a young girl down in the streets as she walked along – she was blond and blue eyed just like all of the other citizens of Paixao, and dressed like them. It was obvious she was not from this district, however – judging from her clothes, she could have very well been a gypsy. Her hair was corded into two thick braids which rested over her shoulders, and she wore a dirtied old jacket several sizes too big over a dull grey-blue dress. On her feet were big tan boots, and on her hands, worn brown gloves. "Spring is finally here... I think things will begin to change now," she murmured with a soft smile on her face.

She approached one of the smaller shops – perhaps a design company of some sort, and knocked on the door. There was light conversation, and the man who had answered it offered her a basket – this was filled to the brim with posters of some sort. It was then, directly behind the building, a group of men passed by – they seemed to be carrying all sorts of metal poles, and behind them, a younger woman clutching various brightly colored fabrics in her hands, and hooked on her left arm, rope – these were to be tents.

"Oh yes," Axel said, pulling away from the window with a dark chuckle. A grin spread out on his face – he eyed over the room once more, turning his back to the city – which was steadily coming to life, beginning to bustle about, obviously preparing for some sort of preparation.

"How could that have slipped my mind?" he Nobody asked to the air, snapping one of his fingers. The appendage idled in the air as his eyes fell upon it – and apparently, it'd given him some sort of revelation. It was the hand that the Superior had previously crushed – healed and fresh, able to work properly again. The thought was enough to make him laugh again, because Saix of all people had been the one to heal him – idly, he wondered if that was somehow foreshadowing what was to come.

"The festival. They're going to put on a hell of a show for me, aren't they?"

By now, the girl set to her work. The moment the basket had been bestowed to her, she had slipped away from the building and broke out into a run – laughing, her free arm flailing, as if the continents of the basket somehow empowered her, allowed her to embody some small source of happiness in all the destruction Paixao had experienced since the foreigners came. She saw the light in it all.

Finally, she stopped, big boots splashing messily in one of the leftover puddles from the night's rain. She laughed and pulled out one of the folded up posters – unraveling it, promptly slapped it on a lamp post on the corner of one of the streets.



[The festival will be explained in full on a later date in paixaoooc. Welcome to the new week, guys! :D]