Wait no further! for it has arrived! Chapter 20 of BoD is here for your reading Enjoyment!
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Chapter 20: The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Nobodies, Sometimes go all to Hell.
”DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!!” An angry Axel said to himself, a little louder than usual, as he walked along the busy streets of Mall Street. He had once again dawned his aviators and bandanna, hiding his appearance from the outside world. While giving his identity aminimity from the rest of the world, they did nothing to hide the scowl and furrowed brow brought about the extreme anger and annoyance that had been currently wrought his brain. He walked quickly and growled under his breath, his right eyebrow twitching.
”I HAVE THE WORST LUCK!!”
“Hmmm?” An absent minded Buddy hummed, not really paying attention to his surroundings as he followed closely behind, clutching the recovered bags closely to ensure that they get back to their respective owners safe and sound. He was lost in thought, not of the stranger he was following, or the weird ordeal he had been through, he was thinking about how hungry he had gotten, and was clutching his stomach likely as he walked, wondering when he would be able to eat next. “You say something?”
“Dah…” Axel grunted, caught off guard. He was so consumed by his thoughts and didn’t pay attention and spoke out loud earlier, unintentionally catching the attention of his young acquaintance. Quickly, he briefly looked over his shoulder, composing himself enough as to not arouse suspicion, smiled slightly and avoided possible troubles by saying “Just thinking to myself. It’s nothing for you to worry about!”
“Okay then.” Buddy said plainly, and his eyes once again began to wander, looking about to see where he would be able to attain his next meal. Axel, however, went back to thinking about how his mission had gotten severely more complicated only twenty five minutes earlier, brought about by the tiniest bit of unexpected and unknown information, supplied by the would be 13th member. He replays the event once again through his mind, rewinding to just after the revelation…
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“Excuse me?” An exasperated Axel muttered, not believing his ears, walking a little closer to Buddy, an astonished look of disbelief plastered on his face. His eyes were wide as he chuckled nervously, as if it were a bad joke, because if what he had just heard were true, it would mean that his entire mission here had taken an abrupt turn for the worse. “For a moment I thought you said you had no—“
“Memory.” Buddy said. He realized that telling the truth about his situation was going against the wishes of his friends, but he owed the stranger named Axel his life earlier, and decided he deserved to know the truth. “I remember nothing about my past. My friends, family, where I’m from and how I got here, even my own name, all gone.”
“I was afraid of that…” A stunned axel croaked under his breath, his eye twitching.
“Well, I’ve got to get going.” Buddy said rather frankly as he smiled slightly. “My friends are probably worried about me. Thank you for all of your help!”
Buddy rushed out the door as fast as he could, wanting to get the retrieved bags to his friends. Axel, still stunned from the news, just silently turned around on his heel, and started walking out the door, his right hand cupping in his chin as he rested his left hand on his right arm, lost in his own thoughts.
Well, what the hell do I do now? He asked himself in his mind as he descended the stairs.
The difficulty of this mission just sky rocketed from easy as pie to damn near impossible! The only reason that made bringing the newbie in an easy mission is because they remember what happened to them! How the hell does a paranormal being explain to someone else that they are a paranormal being without looking completely crazy?!? Ah, hell, if I got paid, it wouldn’t nearly be enough to deal with this crap…
“Um, excuse me?” A familiar voice said, snapping axel out of his dazed state. Before Axel could realize it, he had already gone down four flights of stairs and was outside the building. There stood Buddy grinning rather nervously.
“What do you want?” Axel snapped, still rather peeved about how much more difficult his mission had become. “Weren’t you in a hurry to get those bags back to your friends?”
“Well you see that’s the thing…” Buddy said rather nervously, still scratching his head. “I came here following the guy who stole their bags, and…”
“You weren’t paying attention to where you were going, and now you need my help to get back to where you where, right?”
“Yes! That’s it exactly!” Buddy said excitedly. He then quickly and rigidly bowed down. “Could you please guild me back to Barter Boulevard?”
“Sure, why not?” He said without hesitation. He then walked passed Buddy, who was still bowing, and went on towards the city streets, pulling out his bandana and aviator glasses, putting them on as he walked. “You coming?”
“Y-Yes!” Buddy stuttered nervously as he snapped to attention. He didn’t expect Axel to agree this quickly. He hurried along, closing the gap that Axel had put between them. Suddenly, Axel stopped and crossed his arms, tilting his head slightly.
“Is anything wrong?” Buddy asked, concerned by Axel’s sudden stop. Suddenly, Axel turned around, and draped his arm around the boy, kneeling down just enough to be hanging off of him. He looked into his eyes with a slight smile on his face, intentionally and successfully creeping out the blond haired youth.
“Say…” He drawled in a hushed, secretive tone, still hanging off of Buddy. “How’s about we keep what happened here just between little ol’ us. Zat alright?”
“Why?” asked a rather confused Buddy.
“Well for starters…” Axel said, resuming his normal tone of voice. He lifted himself off of Buddy and walked away a couple steps, looking towards the city with his back turned to the youth. “As I’ve mentioned before, this isn’t a world where the power of Darkness flows naturally. Because of that, this isn’t a world where Heartless are a natural occurrence. The only reason that those guys turned into Heartless was because of their exposure to that dark rift. The way that thing was hemorrhaging dark energy, I’m surprised that they didn’t turn ages ago.”
“Yeah, but still...” Said a confused Buddy, trying to wrap his head around it. “Wouldn’t it be better for us to warn people about the dangers? I mean, another dark rift could open.”
“True, but how about this…” Axel drawled as he turned around, his right index finger up to his chin while he held his right elbow with his left hand in an astute posture, his left eyebrow cocked and a slight grin on his face. It was obvious that he was having fun with this. “If you told people about dark rifts and Heartless, It’ll do either one of two things.”
“Yeah, what?” Buddy asked.
“One, people will either start to panic, knowing that they could turn into monsters at any moment, or two, and much more likely…” Axel drawled as he started twirling his finger clockwise around the side of his head. “People will think that you are just plain nuts and ignore you. With many people, seeing is believing, and they won’t just act on the word of a complete stranger, much less a kid.”
“I guess you’re right…” Buddy said with a sigh and a slight pout. “It does sound pretty farfetched. I wouldn’t have believed it myself, if I hadn’t seen what I just saw
and gone there as well…”
“Huh, gone where?”
“Uh, the building! Gone to the building!” Buddy said, covering for his slip up. He wasn’t ready to tell anyone about his trip to the Station of Serenity, receiving Oblivion and Oathkeeper, and battling that monstrosity that he now knew was a Heartless.
“Dude, you’re repeating yourself…” Axel said with a suspicious look. “Maybe you are a little crazy.”
“I’m just reaffirming what I saw, it was so unbelievable!” Buddy replied with a nervous smile. “ Shouldn’t we be going now?”
“Whatever…” Axel dismissed as he turned on his heel and led the lad back into the city.
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That scene, which had occurred only a half an hour earlier, kept replaying in the Nobody’s mind, time he should have spent planning his next move. Now they had finally returned to Barter Boulevard, and Buddy, forgetting his hunger, frantically looked around, trying to spot his friends.
Axel however, was still lost in thought.
To think, that a Nobody without any knowledge of their previous life can actually exist! Furthermore, to be able to use a Keyblade without a Heart is extraordinary. Did I guess right and this is the special power that Boss Xemnas mentioned, or is there something else? Furthermore… Axel looked over his shoulder at the confused Nobody. He then clenched the left side of his chest, about where his Heart would be, with his right arm momentarily.
What’s this feeling that I get with this guy? I’m not sure if I like it…
“BUDDY!!” A familiar female voice called out. Budd whipped around, and spotted his female companion, waving her hand in the air, a look of relief on her face. Fuu was standing right next to her, looking as solemn as she had ever been. Buddy quickly rushed over to them, bags in tow, Axel leisurely following behind now that his train of thought had been broken by the outburst. Buddy came to an abrupt stop only a few feet away from the girls.
“Hi!” Buddy chirped rather loudly, a smile on his face and his arm raised in the air in greeting, acting as if he had only been gone for a few minutes. Olette, however was not as pleased.
“Don’t ‘Hi’ me! We were worried about you! We were about to go to the police!” She said in a huff, thrusting her arms down.
“Wait a minute, she…” Buddy pointed towards the stoned faced Fuu, who was leaning against the wall. “… Was worried about me? How could you tell?”
“Don’t joke around!” Olette lectured to her companion. “What if something happened to you? I don’t know what I would do! You just ran off without saying a word to me! What if you got killed?!”
“This conversation sounds vaguely familiar…” Buddy drawled with a sly smile, recalling a similar conversation about Olette going off on her own. The referenced was not lost on the brightly clad girl, as she was caught as she was about to speak. She then just closed her eyes, put her hands on her hips and with an annoyed smile, she said in a huff:
“Touché”
“Anyways…” a broadly smiling Buddy said, trying to suppress a fit of the giggles, he remove the bags from over his shoulders and handed them to the appropriate girl. “I got your bags back. Lucky you two came color coded!”
“MY BAG!!” squealed a giddy Olette, snatching the bag from his hands. “I NEVER THOUGHT I’D SEE IT AGAIN!! THANK YOU!!”
As she took her own bag, Fuu approached the blond youth and with a slight smile, she slapped the boy across the back in appreciation, knocking him forward a little bit, causing him to bend over slightly.
“GOOD WORK MULE!” Fuu said with a hint of happiness in her voice.
“No problem, I think…” Buddy muttered, recovering from the fierce blow to his back. Standing up straight once again, he went on to explain his new companion, who had just approached the teen trio. “I didn’t do it alone. I had a little from this guy. I wouldn’t call him a ‘friend’, per say, but he seems pretty cool. His name is--”
“Reno” Axel interrupted, taking Olette’s hand which had been extended in greeting. Buddy looked at him in suspicion with a raised eyebrow. “The name is Reno. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Hello Reno! My name is Olette!” She replied, introducing herself with a warm smile as she clutched her purse closely. But then her smile was replaced with a look of confusion. She stared at ‘Reno’ with her head slightly tilted. “You seem familiar. Have we met before?”
Crap! Axel panicked inside his mind, still able to keep his cool on the inside.
The newbie’s friend is the same kid that was with that hot chick that got attacked! They looked similar, but I didn’t get a good look at her then! Okay Axel old boy, just play it cool. It’s not the end of the world. You can do this…
“You must be mistaken.” Axel said with a smile. “If I had ever met a young woman as beautiful as you, I surely would have remembered.”
“I-I guess I was mistaken then. I’m sorry.” A crimson cheeked Olette murmured as she gave a slight bow. Trying to hide her blushing face, she turned around and started rummaging through her bag, checking to see if anything was missing. Fuu sighed at the sight of her friend getting flustered so easily, but none the less thought it was a good idea to check her own bag to see if everything was in order.
“
‘Reno?!?’” Buddy whispered under his breath while the girls were checking their things, giving Axel the evil eye rather fiercely.
“I’ll explain latter.” Axel silently replied to the youth, to avoid being heard by the girls. In another half a minute, the two girls turned back around.
“Well, everything seems to be in order. Nothing is gone, at least.” Olette chimed happily, grinning towards them.
“That’s good. I’m glad nothing got taken. I’d feel horrible if it did.” Buddy said with a smile, satisfied with the outcome of his little venture.
“Well, aren’t you just the sweetest guy?” Olette said appreciatively. She walked over to Buddy and gave him a peck on the cheek. “You’re a real hero, Buddy.”
“Aw shucks! Twern’t nothing!” He replied happily.
“Well, if that’s the case, I will be taking my leave.” Axel announced with a slight bow. He turned around and began to walk away.
“STOP!” Fuu commanded. Axel froze in his tracks and turned around.
“What?! What’s wrong now?!?” He barked rather annoyed. Fuu then thrust a couple of parcels into his arms. Axel, looking rather confused, looked at the blue haired girl, who was grinning slyly at the brown haired girl, who had a big, gleeful grin.
“You shouldn’t have turned around man. You should have just kept on walking…” Buddy said with a sigh, rubbing the palm of his hand against his forehead.
“What are you blathering on about?!?” Axel demanded, glaring at the boy.
“What if we get robbed again? This has me so scared…” Olette asked Axel, looking, rather innocent as she held her hands behind her back bending over slightly. She was looking down and off to the right, looking almost on the verge of tears. “I’d feel
soooo much safer if a big, strong, handsome man was here to protect weak, frail, defenseless girls like us Reno.”
Yeah right. What a crock! Buddy thought to himself.
“Yeah well, I am pretty fantastic, aren’t I?” Axel boasted, his head held up high, snorting in pride. “I suppose I could keep you two company for a bit…”
“YAY!” Olette cheered, throwing her arms into the air. She twirled around in a quick little victory dance and flashed the V for victory sign to Fuu on stopping, giving a little wink when she did. “Now we get to buy twice as much stuff!”
“Congratulations.” Buddy said with a sigh, now holding his female companions shopping bags. “You’ve just been conned into being a bag boy for the rest of the day.”
“Protector.” Axel corrected. “I’ve been conned into being their
protector for the rest of the day.
“Come on boys!” Olette hollered out, waving them to follow. “We’ve got a lot more stores to hit!”
“Believe what you want to man…” Buddy said in a defeated tone, walking forward towards the girls. “But when you realize the truth, just remember that it’s a waste of time and energy to fight them on it. Just go with the flow.”
“Oh, come on!” Axel replied, dismissing Buddy’s comment. “They can’t actually be serious about that.”
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“I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY SERIOUS!!” Axel hollered in anger. Three and a half hours later, he is standing in front of the plaza at the train station. His and Buddy’s load had tripled between the time, with Buddy carrying the bag containing the clothes Hayner had lent Buddy that had been deposited into a locker earlier that day.
“I told you…” Buddy chuckled tiredly, happy that the only thing left to do is to dump the stuff at the task-mistresses homes.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t rub it in.” Axel snarled, annoyed to the fact that he had yet to complete his mission,
and he somehow got conned into carrying the spoils of two teenage girls.
“Hey, at least they paid for dinner!” Buddy said in an effort to cheer Axel up. The girls were off talking to each other, trying to find out the best way to their respective houses. Once it looked like they had reached a conclusion, they walked towards their captives.
“As it turns out…” Olette announced cheerfully, clapping her hands together slightly. “That Fuu and I live fairly close to each other, so we won’t have to go out of our way for anything!”
“Oh, joy.” Axel said sarcastically, hiding his scowl behind the mountain of boxes. “Can we just get this over with please?”
“Okay, our houses should be down that street a ways.” Olette directed, pointing to a street that was off to the side a bit. Just as they were about to leave, Fuu approached Olette’s side, and whispered something into her ear. “Okay, but could you hurry up please?”
“What is it NOW?!?” Axel barked with annoyance as Fuu ran off.
“Sorry. Fuu said she needed to use the little girl’s room. She’ll be back in a moment. Sorry.” Olette answered in an apologetic tone. Axel just grunted and the three of them waited around for a minute until a voice rang out, breaking the silence.
“HEY OLETTE!! STRANGER!!” The voice cried out, the three of them turned around to see Hayner and Pence running towards them. The two of them were wearing similar outfits they were wearing the day before. Hayner had on cameo pants, suspenders, and a plain white t-shirt while Pence had on jeans, a tee, and a black undershirt on. Olette quickly ran up to the two boys and grabbed them in a huddle, whispering something to them.
“What’s with them?” Axel asked, starring at them with a raised brow.
“They’re kind of like a gang.” Buddy answered. The huddle broke just as Fuu returned to them from the restroom.
“Hey Buddy! Looks like Olette kept you busy!” Pence said as he approached the two holding the various bags and boxes.
“How do you know these aren’t all mine?” Buddy replied to the friendly faced teen.
“Because I’m her usual victim.” Pence remarked with a chuckle. “I’ve been thinking, How about tomorrow you and I hang out? Hayner will be ‘indisposed’ for another day or so, and Olette and I can show you around.
“About that…” Olette interrupted. “I can’t. I have plans to visit a friend in the hospital. Sorry.”
“So looks like it’ll be just you and me then!” Buddy said happily in reply. He maneuvered himself to where he could talk to Pence face to face without the interference of any boxed up purchases. “What did you have in mind?”
“We’ll, I was thinking we could maybe ask around the town about you.” Pence murmured under his voice. “How you lost your memory notwithstanding, you came to Twilight Town for a reason. And I was thinking that we could investigate the seven mysteries of Twilight Town. Maybe a little active thinking will stimulate your memory.”
“Sounds good…” As Buddy and Pence conversed, Hayner was eyeing Fuu with intense suspicion.
“Why is
she here?” He asked as he turned to face Olette, thrusting his thumb in Fuu’s direction, not bothering to say it quietly.
“She’s here because not everyone shares the same animosity that you and Seifer seem to have for each other.” Olette scoffed, dismissing the rudeness Hayner so brazenly displayed. “And besides, I happen to consider Fuu and Seifer friends. They like me.”
“Whatever…” Hayner drawled, who was looking over his shoulder towards Fuu, who was giving him the fiercest evil eye she could muster.
“Excuse me? Aren’t we forgetting something?” Axel interrupted, reminding them all that there were still matters at hand.
“Oh! Right! Sorry!” Olette said rather embarrassed. “We should get going!”
“who’s this guy?” Hayner asked, his suspicion finding a new target.
“Be nice Hayner!” Olette demanded, shaking her finger. “This is Reno. He was nice enough to help us out.”
“Ha! What kind of sucker would let himself get conned like that!” Hayner scoffed, enraging Axel just slightly. As things were winding down, Pence once again turned to Buddy.
“Hey Buddy? Do you know the way to the Usual Spot?” Pence asked.
“You mean the hideout? Yeah, sure!”
“Then how about you give me all that stuff and go rest up for tomorrow?”
“Are you sure?” Buddy asked, unsure of what to do.
“Yes, I’m sure. I’m used to it. Besides, you must be tired of being her slave by now!” Pence assured him as he relieved him of his load.
“Okay, thanks.” Buddy said with a smile. He then handed Hayner the bag containing his spare clothes. “And thanks for letting me borrow these.”
“No problem.” Hayner replied with a grin. Suddenly, Olette’s eyes lighted up, as she pranced to the center of the group, dancing to show off her clothes.
“You two have never seen me in this outfit before, have you?” Olette chirped happily as she danced in place. She stopped in front of Hayner, bent over a little, and gave her best smile. “What do you think of it Hayner?”
“It’s too frilly for my tastes.” Hayner said, unaffected by Olette’s performance. “Can’t you just wear what you usually do?”
“Wh-why you--”Olette huffed in anger. She stood straight up, raised her left hand, and brought it about.
“JERK!!”
SLAP!
Olette stomped off towards her house, leaving Hayner with his throbbing right cheek a bright beet red, leaving him to ponder the question: “What’d I do?”
“MORON.” Fuu said plainly as she passed by Hayner’s right side, elbowing him in the side as hard as she could.
“Dude, you are so inept.” Pence said as he passed Hayner, carrying his load.
“Smooth dude. Just smooth.” Axel replied. He approached him and unloaded his baggage onto the boy.
“Why do I have to carry this crap?!” Hayner demanded, now suddenly wondering how he got to be the bad guy.
“Because if you do, maybe the little lady will forgive you a little.” Axel retorted instantly. “But I’m just some sucker who got himself conned. What the hell do I know?”
All Hayner could do was grumble and trot off, following the larger group. Suddenly, Olette stopped, allowing the others to pass her by. Once they did, she turned around and looked at Buddy.
“Despite some... Complications, I really had fun with you today Buddy. You’re a good friend.”
“Strangely enough, I feel exactly the same way. Minus the complications, today was fun.” Buddy replied in earnest
“Thank you for the wonderful day! I’ll see you later! Good Night!” Ollete hollered as she waved, running to catch up to the other three.
“See ya later!! Good Night!!” Buddy replied. Just as she was out of sight, he yawned suddenly, the exhaustion from the day setting in. He then turned toward Axel, who was now leaning up against the railing overlooking the town, his eyes glued onto the magnificent view. Buddy came up beside him, momentarily looking at Axel, and then joined his gaze to the city. A few minutes were spent in silence before Buddy once again spoke. “Thanks for your help today.”
“No prob.” A weary Axel replied.
“So I guess this is good bye then.”
“Maybe.” Axel once again replied. He knew he wouldn’t get the mission done today, so he decided not to bother. He can bide his time.
“Who knows? Maybe we’ll see each other again. Good bye!!” Buddy said as he ran off to the hide out, eager to go to sleep. Axel waited until he was out of ear shot and he looked over and watched as the young Nobody departed.
“Oh, we’ll see each other again, and sooner than you think too. You can count on that.” He said with a sly sneer, removing his bandana and aviators. Then he looked towards the horizon, and took a moment to appreciate the coming twilight hour, the wind blowing in his hair, welcoming the coming day.
Chapter 20: The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Nobodies, Sometimes go all to Hell. End.
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Author's notes: Whew! I got's to tell ya, when I started this thing, I never expected to go all the way to twenty chapters! and there's still so much left to do!
So anyways, with the end of chapter twenty is also the end of the Mall street saga, finally. I can't tell you how happy I am to finally be moving on! I only expected it to only be a couple chapters, but It wound up taking up most of the fic! Crazy I tells ya, crazy...
A lot of stuff was refferenced to earlier chapters in this one.
So anyways! Starting next chapter will be a series of Side stepped Side Stories, cleaning up some lose ends and what not, as well as going into my version of the backstory behind some of the games, as well as getting a good look at the Antogonist of the story! Yay!
And in case you're wondering, the friend Olette is going to see is mentioned in this chapter, along with one of her 'complications:'
http://forums.khinsider.com/fan-fiction/91670-beginning-destiny-8.html
Twenty chapters and I'm only getting started! Ain't we got fun!
Next time on Beginning of Destiny: Rose Red Blood!