Short. :c
Critique please.
Chapter 15
--------------------K-Y-L-E------------------
“Axel?” Kyle shouted. “Where are you?”
The battle had ended abruptly after at least a fifteen minutes in a flash of light.
He almost wanted Axel’s company. It was cold, but more importantly, dark. Nothing but darkness. He looked down at his white weapon. A shining aura seemed to flow through it, giving him hope. He knew, somehow, it was connected to Sora. And a girl. So many thoughts, all returning. Thoughts of a past that Kyle never knew of. Were these visions even of himself? What was going on?
Kyle closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. It was all so confusing. It was as if his old life was over. His friends, gone. His orphanage, gone. Everything, gone. He slowly opened his eyes to meet a man’s face. AXEL!
“Hey! ‘Sup?” Axel shouted, slapping Kyle on the back.
“Have a drink!” Axel said, handing a cup of coffee to Kyle. One moment he was behind Kyle, the next he was right in front of him. Kyle stared at Axel, eyebrow up.
“What’s with all the hospitality?” Kyle asked, suspecting something was not right. Why is this guy being so nice all of a sudden? I mean, only seconds ago he was trying to kill me!
“Hey! What are friends for?” Axel shouted, thrusting the cup into Kyle’s hands.
Kyle held both Keyblades in one hand and reluctantly took a sip; it was bitter. It was then that Kyle realised it was the first drink he’d had in almost two years.
“So, how’s life?” Axel asked. He seemed so casual, as if nothing had happened before that moment; as if Kyle and Axel had been friends for an eternity. They were both in the same seemingly endless void of darkness from before. Kyle found it slightly comical that he was drinking coffee while holding onto two huge keys in front of a man he had only met a few hours ago in pitch black darkness.
“Um…”
“Just answer the question,” Axel grunted.
“Well, to tell the truth…” Kyle said, acting as casual as possible, “kind of crap. I mean… I’m in god-knows-where at the moment, I’ll probably never see my home again, I’ll never see my friends again. In fact, my whole existence means nothing now. It’s as if I’m dead or something.”
Axel lifted his feet up and put them on the coffee table that appeared in front of him and leant back.
“Destiny’s full of surprises,” he said, sipping his own cup of tea that seemed to materialise in Axel’s hands from nowhere.
“Where are we?” Kyle asked. Suddenly a bright light erupted from the darkness, forcing Kyle to close his eyes in recoil. When he opened his eyelids, he found himself in a room. The walls were pearly white; maybe made of marble. There were pillars supporting a roof in the corners of the room. Axel’s coffee table was in front of Kyle, and behind him was a white couch. He mechanically sat down.
“We’re in the 13th Order headquarters,” he replied, picking up a biscuit from a plate.
“13th what?” Kyle asked.
“13th Order. It’s just this group of people wh…”
As he was about to finish his sentence, a dart like object flew through the air and pinned against the wall, right next to Axel’s ear. “Oh, that’s right isn’t it,” Axel said, choking on a biscuit which he had been chewing on; Kyle had never noticed that there were even biscuits in the room.
“Axel!” a voice shouted. It was a feminine voice, obviously belonging to a girl, maybe in her late teens or early twenties.
“Holy shit, you don’t wanna mess with this chick,” Axel whispered.
“What have I told you, Axel! For Christ’s sake, just try and keep the secret a secret for once! The kid’s not even a member yet!” she shouted loudly, forcing Axel to block his ears.
“Ok, ok. I’m sorry,” Axel said, hiding behind his chair. This pair was almost comical. Kyle remembered those sitcoms on television back at Twilight Town about dysfunctional families; this was just like those shows.
“You talk too much,” the girl said, crossing her arms.
“So, I’m guessing you’re Kyle?” the girl said, smiling cheerfully as she held her hand out. He took hold and gave her a friendly handshake.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“We are the 13th Order. There are more of us, but they are not here at the moment,” the girl said.
“Uh huh,” Kyle replied blankly.
“Oh, silly me. The name’s Larxene,” she said, blushing. She had short, golden-blonde hair. She had two distinct bangs of hair which actually went up from above her forehead to the back of her head; they looked like antennae to Kyle.
Axel sat back on his chair sideways, reclining and stuck his feet up at Larxene.
“Stop fooling around! This is important!” Larxene shouted, pushing Axel’s feet away. Axel roared with laughter.
“Larxene, anything pisses you off!” he shouted, slapping his thigh, trying in vain to hold the tears of joy back.
“Axel, get out!” she boomed, pointing to the door.
“Okay… Have fun, Kyle,” he muttered, putting his hood on and slowly making his way to the door.
“Sheesh, sometimes he can be such a nuisance,” she said, fixing her hair. “So, as I was saying. We are the 13th Order, a group of specially selected people to serve a purpose. And I’m sure you want to know what that purpose is, but I’m not going to tell you yet. We need you to join us,” Larxene finished, exhaling with relief.
---------------------R-I-K-U-------------------
Riku tried looking around, but to see nothing. Wait. Something was happening. A red image appeared in front of him – or was it in his mind? A person.
He could see the image of what appeared to be a man in front of him. The image was appeared to be like a drawing scrawled onto a wall with blood. This ‘blood’ vision was unclear and hard to decipher but was enough for Riku to get a rather accurate impression of what was in front of him.
“Can you see me?” the man asked.
Riku nodded.
“Good. I see that the coat has given you power once more. Do your eyes burn as they used to?” the man asked.
Riku shook his head. His eyes seemed fine, other than the fact that they were split open and covered in blood. And the images. All made of blood. At least he could see, even if it was a rather disturbing kind of vision.
“Very well. I am Lexaeus. Member of the 13th Order. In taking that coat, you are bound to us,” Lexaeus said.
Bound? I didn’t even put on the damn coat! Riku thought.
“What is this 13th Order?” Riku asked.
Lexaeus shook his head. “It is not for me to tell.”
-------------------H-I-K-A-R-U-----------------
A whole week had passed since we had arrived in Andy’s Room.
Just fighting Heartless. At first, I was having the time of my life. Just releasing all my anger by destroying evil toys. But now, it was fading. I knew that I was killing. Or was I? What were the Heartless? I had asked Mr. Potato countless times, only to be answered with, “To tell the truth, I have no idea,” followed by an awkward shrug. It was hard for an entity of his shape to make human movements.
I wasn’t even sure if I was mad at all. For some reason, I didn’t really feel sad that my father was dead, or that Twilight Town was potentially gone forever.
Mitsuko was as glum as ever, always looking out a window whenever we weren’t fighting, as if hoping to see Katsu flying through the window or something.
Man, girls are confusing.
The light flashed into my eyes, and I realised it was time for work again. With two thousand munny per mission and the completion of ten missions, we had twenty thousand munny. We were rich, richer than we had ever been; I told Woody that he didn’t really need to pay us, as we had more than enough to last a lifetime, but he always insisted on paying us for our work. I lifted my arm up to block the sunlight from my face. I got up and jumped out of bed. I went over to Mitsuko’s bed. It was empty. Then I heard the frantic footsteps of something plastic.
“Hikaru! You won’t believe this but, Mitsuko’s gone! Vanished! Gone without a trace!” Woody shouted. Fear struck me. Oh no…