Man, the word count for my entire fic is barely over 30,000.
Fanfiction ► Rebel Without a Flame
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dang man thats a lot of words!!
cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
Well, a lot of it is just fights and dialogue, I'm hardly ever descriptive in my scenes, which I should be. Don't be surprised if I re-organise my entire fic again, which is what I did before I even posted it here.
Also, I appreciate commenting on the length of my story, but how about some criticisms on the story itself eh? XD
Also, I appreciate commenting on the length of my story, but how about some criticisms on the story itself eh? XD
well the storys like undescribably AMAZING
and the fighting scenes kick ASS
and the 'comedy' parts r even better than kick ASS
but the story itself is like:thumbsup::drool:
so if i had to rate it,, it wud be 9.3/10
cuz the spelling isnt always correct
but its still cool XDXDXD
and the fighting scenes kick ASS
and the 'comedy' parts r even better than kick ASS
but the story itself is like:thumbsup::drool:
so if i had to rate it,, it wud be 9.3/10
cuz the spelling isnt always correct
but its still cool XDXDXD
I actually did enjoy the Saix fight scene it was my favorite.
By the way, how do you get the I in Saix's name to have to dots?
By the way, how do you get the I in Saix's name to have to dots?
^Well, on my computer I have to hold down ALT, and while it's held down, I have to press 0239 on the number keypad on the right of the keyboard. Or you could just get yourself a French keyboard. XP
Oh, and I'm glad you enjoyed the Saix fight, maybe all the re-workings on it were worth it.
Oh, and I'm glad you enjoyed the Saix fight, maybe all the re-workings on it were worth it.
You're one of the best writers, especially with fight scenes.
And now stating the obvious: that was long!
And now stating the obvious: that was long!
Great story! I can't wait to read the next part!
C
cam ron 77
Guest
I'm impressed and I'm normally picky with fan-work when I'm in a bad mood. This actually made me laugh reading it. Its pretty good keep up the good work. You have alot of talent for putting words together.
great it was just awsome keep it up
HOw many chapter are there going to be??
wow thats a cool story!!!
OMG this is awsome!!! finally Axel is getting the recignition he deserves (I LOVE AXEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) this story rocks and u rock staulmaster
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:laugh:
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAA super funny!!!!!!!!!!:thumbsup:
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAA super funny!!!!!!!!!!:thumbsup:
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Your story is funny. Hope you post more.
ummm,soooooooo..................
SPAM FOR LIFE XDXDXDXD
jkjkjk , im just kidding...
ok so like why isnt anyone talking here????????????
SPAM FOR LIFE XDXDXDXD
jkjkjk , im just kidding...
ok so like why isnt anyone talking here????????????
Oh, uh...sorry about all that. I thoughr this thread had died.
I still haven't posted part 3 of Chapter Seven, I still have a few problems with it. Sorry if that throws off a few people. I already started Chapter 8, though I don't know when I'll be finished.
All in all, sorry I can't get this up sooner, I'll take this new year as a fresh start and do my best.
Oh, and KHlover156, I'm not sure how many Chapters there'll be, but I'll try to make a lot of them.
Thank you. =)
I still haven't posted part 3 of Chapter Seven, I still have a few problems with it. Sorry if that throws off a few people. I already started Chapter 8, though I don't know when I'll be finished.
All in all, sorry I can't get this up sooner, I'll take this new year as a fresh start and do my best.
Oh, and KHlover156, I'm not sure how many Chapters there'll be, but I'll try to make a lot of them.
OMG this is awsome!!! finally Axel is getting the recignition he deserves (I LOVE AXEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) this story rocks and u rock staulmaster
Thank you. =)
^don't worry this tread won't die ^_^
and your welcome
and your welcome
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^Gosh, thanks keyoffire08.
Uh...here's part three of Chapter 7 everybody...remember this is NOT a new chapter. I suggest reading through parts 1 and 2 again if you forgot what happened, since it's been a while since I've posted it...=( sry.
I've had quite a bit of trouble with this one, so I'd really appreciate it if anyone told me any continuity mistakes or anything like that. K thx.
Without further ado....here's part 3 of Chapter 7.
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At the same time, Zexion, Lexaeus and Vexen,were in the basement of the Castle, planning their plans, and discussing discussions.
“It shouldn’t be taking him this long.” Zexion said.
“I fear you’re right,” Vexen started. “He should have already--”
Vexen was interrupted by a very loud noise coming from the laboratory right next to them. Wondering what it could be, he told the other two to wait and entered the laboratory, wanting to inspect it. Once inside, he saw Riku Replica on the floor, as if he had just fallen down.
“I say, what’s going on.” Vexen asked him, shocked to see his precious experiment in such a state.
“I-I don’t know.” The Replica responded, trying to get back up. “My right leg just fell asleep on me. I can’t even stand up on it.”
“Hmm...” The Chilly academic contemplated, as his black gloves stroke his pale chin.
He went up to the Replica and helped him walk over to the table by putting his arm around his shoulder. He then helped him sit down, and kneeled in front of him to put himself on the same level, he then asked him:
“How do you feel now?”
“It’s still numb.” The Replica replied, rubbing his leg.
Vexen bended his knees to get a good look at the Replica’s leg and examined it intently, but noticed nothing unusual. Soon enough, he got back up and told him to wait for him. He then went out the laboratory door and went to see Zexion and Lexaeus, who were still waiting for him.
“We have a problem.” He told them.
“What else is new.” Said Zexion.
“The Replica has lost the ability to use his right leg.”
“What?”
“It can’t even walk without any kind of support.”
“Great,” Zexion said. “Just great. This is exactly what we need.
“Why don’t we just kidnap the real Riku.” Lexaeus suggested, It’s not like anyone’s going to miss him, anyhow.
“Now, now, both of you calm down, all is not lost, despite the way it appears. I have an idea what could’ve caused it.”
“Sabotage?” Lexaeus suggested. “Namine may be tampering with the sketchbook.”
“What? Don’t be ridiculous, Lexaeus. The sketchbook is the source of his memories, not his physical abilities.”
“Well, Namine did say that memories were the chains that bind the heart, did she not?”
“And what does that rubbish have to do with the Replica’s physical capabilities?”
“Well, the heart is what binds a person, no? If Namine were to do something drastic, like say, tear the sketchbook into shreds of paper, than the Replica’s heart would collapse upon itself, resulting in a complete loss of feelings in the central nervous system. The Replica wouldn’t be able to see, hear, smell or taste, let alone stand up on himself. In other words, he’d be dead. Considering this, wouldn’t you think that the Replica’s leg injury would be a result of--”
“Lexaeus, I’m going to stop you right there.” Vexen interrupted. “I’m sorry, but that has to be the worst scientific hypothesis I have ever heard. Do you even know what you’re talking about?”
“Yes.” Lexaeus replied, bluntly. “I do.”
“The question was rhetorical, but if you really want me to humour you then all right:
according to your particular brand of pseudo-logic, the heart is what enables the person to live. If this is the case, then why, pray tell, do we nobodies exist then? Hmm? Answer that for me, will you?”
“But that’s it exactly it. We don’t exist. We’re not even--”
“I’m sorry Lexaeus,” Vexen interrupted, yet again. “I really can’t let this tomfoolery go on any longer. Your untested, unverifiable, completely irrelevant hypothesis may be all well and good in a fairytale land where anything goes, but here in the real world, things work quite differently, I can assure you that.”
“Can we please get back to business?” Zexion said, interrupting the two’s bickering.
“I’d love to.” Vexen answered. “Now, let me enrich the conversation by providing a hypothesis that isn’t completely groundless and asinine: “I believe that there may be something inherently wrong in the Replica‘s data. It could be an error in the system mainframe.”
“But if that’s the case,” Zexion said. “That could mean that--”
“All of the replicas have a bug in them.” Vexen finished. “We cloned them all from this one, after all.”
“Are they all completed?” Asked Lexaeus.
“No, but they’re almost finished.”
“We need to get out of here as fast as possible.” Zexion said. “We need to move to another location, and fix them.”
“I know that, don’t you think I know that! We just need Saïx to give Axel the word to give to us. But we don’t have much time...I’m sure Marluxia already knows by now.”
“Do you know anyone that could help us fix the Replicas?” Asked The Silent Hero to the Chilly Academic.
“Well, there is always Merlin. He and I go way back, I’m sure he’d be happy to help us out...the finest wizard of his time, he was. Far better than whoever it was that educated poor, naïve Lexaeus, that‘s a given.”
Zexion and Lexaeus looked at each other strangely, not sure what to make of Vexen’s trailing off. Soon enough though, Zexion managed to change the subject and get the conversation back on track.
“There’s still the matter of Diz being here.” He said.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about him,” Vexen said, waving his hand as if it were nothing. “As soon as we leave, he won’t be our problem anymore. He’ll be theirs.”
“What about the actual Riku?” Lexaeus asked. “He’s still alive in the castle, could he be a threat to us?”
“Leave him be for now, he may be of use to us later on.”
“So now, we just wait for Axel.” Zexion said, sitting down twiddling his thumbs.
“Yes...you two wait for him here. I’ll go check back up on the Replica in the laboratory. See if anything’s happened since before.
Saying that, Vexen got up, materialized a dark portal and entered it. Leaving Zexion and Lexaeus alone.
“I’m worried about Axel.” Lexaeus said, as he sat down.
“That’s a first.” Zexion replied.
“I mean I’m not worried for him, I’m worried about him.
“....And the difference is?”
“Axel may be betraying us as we speak, we have more than enough reason to think so. What if he’s told Xemnas?”
“Why would he do that? He’s in as much trouble as we are?”
“Oh, is he? Is he really?”
“Yes, he is.” The Cloaked Schemer responded matter-of-factly
“Think about it, what has Axel done wrong except leave the castle a few times?”
“He got into fights with a few of us.”
“Everyone here does that. We’ve committed the real crimes; we’re planning to overthrow Xemnas! Axel’s absence is nothing compared to that.”
“Hmm...I’m beginning to see your point...but what can we possibly do about it at this point? We’re too deep in this conspiracy to turn back anyway.”
“Why did Vexen send him there?” Lexaeus said, slamming his fist on the table. “He could’ve sent any one of us!”
“Calm down Lexaeus,” Zexion said to the big galoot. “What’s done is done, we’ll just have to wait things out for now.”
Lexaeus got up from his chair.
“This is taking too long; I fear something may have gone wrong.”
“You can’t possibly think of going back to the castle, Lexaeus.”
“If it is what I must do, then so be it.”
“Be reasonable Lexaeus. Axel’s already risking this entire scheme by going there, if you go and join him there’ll be more of a chance that you’ll get caught. Would you just calm down and wait this out? I‘m sure Axel will pull though.....(Pause).....wait a minute, what am I saying?”
“Look, I am aware that Axel’s intentions may be good, after all, we have Roxas on our side, but it’s not just that that’s been bothering me. If I know Xemnas, he must already be aware of Axel’s presence in the castle, and the only reason he hasn’t interfered is that he has a greater plan in mind. I fear that Axel may be in his grasp, and if that is the case, than it would be best to go there and back again and salvage what little time we have left.”
After saying this, he materialized a dark portal, and before entering it, he listened to Zexion’s farewell:
“Just be sure to be in and out of there fast without any interruptions.”
“I’m not called the Silent Hero for nothing...” Lexaeus responded, as he entered the dark gateway.
As the gateway vanished into the air, Zexion was left alone in the room, to contemplate on the situation further.
------------------------
Once Vexen had left Zexion and Lexaeus and gone into the laboratory, he entered another small door at the end of the room. The door led to an even smaller room with a large screen on it. Vexen pressed a few buttons, and a dark shadow was visible on it, the same as in the previous chapter.
“What is it that you want, this time?” The shadow asked, in a deep and assertive voice.
“Our problems seem to be escalating. That dog Marluxia is suspecting me more and more of treachery, and it shan’t be long before he finds out that I am scheming against him.”
“You blundering idiot!”
The shadow seemed to ponder before continuing:
“How much time do you think you have left?”
“I-I’m not sure...but I’ve told my comrades to be prepared to leave at any moment.”
“Are the replicas ready?”
“Not entirely, but we can move them to another location. I know someone who’s quite adept at--”
“I sincerely doubt that...how much do you have up until now?”
“Close to 100...”
“Well, Sora’s too powerful for Marluxia to handle by himself, it wouldn’t surprise me should he die at his hands.”
“Who? Sora, or Marluxia?”
“Sora.”
“Will die at Marluxia’s hands?”
“No!....uurrgh, forget it! Marluxia will probably die soon and that’s that!”
“But he might take action before that.”
“Well, that is one risk you will have to be willing to take. You do want to take over this insane asylum, don’t you?”
“I suppose...”
“Good. Now, how is everything else going? What of Axel?”
“I sent him to claim some information from Saïx, but I suspect he may be allied with Marluxia and Larxene.”
“Drat! This could escalate into something far worse...”
“I say, what do you mean?”
“Think about it, with Axel on Marluxia’s side, Sora would be a shoe-in for them. They’ll take over that insane asylum in no time.”
“I say, you’re right...Axel is too dangerous to be left out in the open...”
“Or alive for that matter...”
“You mean that we should....”
“If it needs to be done, than it needs to be done.”
“I see....”
“Do not hesitate to do so...if you must.”
“All right...”
“Now, what of the Replicas?”
“The replicas? Oh,” Vexen started to stutter her, as he did not know how to break the news to the shadow. “well...uh...the thing about that is....they may be...er...ah....corrupt.”
“WHAT?!?”
“The original seems to be malfunctioning slightly. I’m not sure if it’s just a small glitch or a massive bug that we’ve supplied the other hundred with.”
“You idiotic fool! All our plans could go to waist because of this!”
“If you want, I could go investigate to see whatever is happening with the replica.”
“Don’t say that as if it were an option! Do it! And report back to me once Axel comes back.”
“Yes, milady.”
Vexen shut off the screen and proceeded out the door, and into the laboratory. He sat on the chair of one of the tables and pondered. He then noticed that the replica was still sitting there. Not quite doing anything in particular, he was simply staring into space. Vexen was somewhat surprised to see him, but then casually asked him:
“So, how is your leg?” He asked, not expecting it to be healed.
“Actually...“ The replica responded, as he got up from the chair. “I can feel it again.”
The Replica started walking around the room, with a jubilant smile on his face, content that his leg was fine. Vexen, on the other hand, was too flabbergasted to be jubilant. As he stared, eyes wide open, at the newly healed Replica, he said to himself:
“This is most interesting...”
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Saïx walked over to Axel, his hair still floating in the air, and his pupils still completely white. Once he reached the unconscious redhead, he stood patiently. He quit his Berserk mode, in one swift ‘Woosh”, and all at once, his features became less aggressive. His hair stopped standing on end, and slowly and gently, succumbed to the laws of gravity, and his pupils had a small, black spot growing in them, until they became full-fledged iris‘, and out of the two claymores he held in his hand, only one of them de-materialized. The Luna Diviner then spoke:
“As I said, Axel...you’re time is up.”
He lifted up his claymore and prepared to strike him. He pushed his claymore downwards with all his might.........but something was holding him back. As he pushed down his lifted arm, a strange force was keeping it from doing so. He turned his head back, with his arm still lifted up, and saw Lexaeus, with his tomahawk on his claymore.
“It’s over Saïx...” Laexaeus muttered.
“This is none of your business, fatty. Go back to the castle or I will be forced to report you as well.”
“I’m not fat...” Lexaeus responded. He then smashed his tomahawk down and pushing Saïx’s claymore down with him. The force of the push caused Saïx fall down on his back. The force of the shock caused him to fall unconscious. “I’m big-boned...”
After pondering for a while, thinking what he should do with Saïx, Lexaeus eventually took him by the leg, and dragged him towards his bed. He then lifted him up, and placed him on it, face up. He then went back to Axel’s unconscious body and grabbed him by the leg as well. He lifted him up onto his shoulder and materialized a dark gateway, which he entered soon after.
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As he got in, he entered Xigbar’s door first, cleaning the room as best as the other members expected him to do, and at the same time looking for possible clues of Axel’s whereabouts. He inspected all the rooms in order of rank, and eventually came to Saïx’s door...
He slowly walked in, and as he did, he saw....nothing.
No one was there. Still, Xaldin did not move, he took a good, hard look around, as with all the other rooms he had just visited. As he did so, he took a look at the moon from the window. He gazed upon it as he advanced further into the room, mesmerized by its brilliant glow. With each step he took, a loud sound was produced, echoing throughout the chamber. it was the only sound he heard.
His nostrils noticed something, however. It smelled like...burnt hope. You might be asking yourselves how someone can possibly know what hope smells like, let alone the smell of hope disintegrating in a fiery blaze, but Xaldin had experienced enough in his life to know.
Then, out of nowhere, an ember appeared in front of him. Still, Xaldin not react at all...he simply stayed still and glared at the passing cinder. It was almost majestic, if it weren’t so wretch-inducing.
He pointed his finger towards it, and made a motion towards himself, the black cinder then floated gently towards him, and he caught it between his fingers.
Xaldin gazed at it, for a very long time, and contemplated how excruciating ugly it was. He knew already that it had something to do with Axel (obviously), and he had already assumed what could possibly have happened during this period of time. Out of all that, he also knew that he should do something about it quickly.
Yet, he couldn’t let go of that ember. The sight of it alone was enough to make him wretch, but he simply continued to stare at it, mouth agape. The sheer horridness of it compelled him to look at it further.
Eventually, Xaldin knew that he was taking far too much time contemplating that single ember’s disgustingness, so he simply let it go, and let it follow its trail through the air.
He was far from finished investigating the room though. He turned around several times as he inspected each area of the room from where he was. The smell of smoke plagued the air.
Without moving the rest of his body, the Whirlwind Lancer lifted up an arm of his, and made a grasping motion in the air. At that moment, several strands of wind began swirling around him, making the complete contour of the room, and churning into the centre, which was himself.
As the wind began to pick up, strands of smoke were visible, and made their way towards Xaldin, small ashes were picked up from every nook and cranny of the room, and entered the swirl of winds. After a few seconds, a large ball of smoke and ashes formed itself right above his grasped hand. He lifted his head up towards it, and gazed at the swirls of smoke and trails of ashes formed in a giant sphere. He almost fainted.
“AXEL!!!!!!!” He cried out, at the top of his lungs, as he closed his fist with all his might, causing the giant smoking sphere to explode throughout the room.
The smoke was now more visible across the room, and the embers were everywhere. Xaldin swiftly turned back towards the door and marched out of it. Before leaving the room completely, he lifted his arm once more, and several strands of wind formed themselves into his hand. Soon enough, he had absorbed all of the smoke and embers into the palm of his hand. Once he left, the room was spick and span. He had never even noticed Saix’s presence.
The Luna Diviner, however, woke up seconds after the Whirlwind Lancer had departed.
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Zexion was still sitting near the table in the basement, contemplating, when suddenly a dark portal materialized itself and Lexaeus came out, holding an unconscious Axel over his shoulder. Upon seeing this, a shocked Zexion got up from the table and asked:
“What happened?”
“Saïx.” Lexaeus responded.
“He did this?”
“It would appear that he’s acted as a double agent this entire time.”
“If that’s the case then surely, he must’ve already told Xemnas.”
“If he did, I don’t think we’d still be here.”
“That may not mean anything. Vexen even told us that he probably has a greater, convoluted plan in mind.”
At that moment, Vexen came through the door of the laboratory, into the one Zexion and Lexaeus were currently in, and upon seeing Axel’s limp body on Lexaeus’ shoulders, he exclaimed:
“So, Saïx did his job, I see.”
Lexaeus and Zexion were intrigued upon hearing this.
“You mean....this was staged?” Lexaeus asked.
Vexen seemed reluctant to speak.
“Yes...” He answered, after a short pause. “I-I ordered Saïx to kill Axel.”
“Well, couldn’t you have at least warned us?” Zexion asked. “And why did you decide to kill him so convolutedly?”
“I didn’t want to arouse suspicion. I had planned the entire ordeal with Saïx beforehand, and then sent Axel to his untimely death, under the guise of retrieving information.
“Why did you send Axel, out of all people, to be killed?” Lexaeus asked.
“Well, Marluxia and Larxene are already on absolute sides. Axel was still somewhere in the middle, and although we could have used him, I found it to be safer to simply have him killed.”
“Uh...I’m not sure if you’ve noticed,” Said Lexaeus. “but he isn’t quite dead.”
“What? But.....but he looks dead.”
“I went back to get save him. I wouldn’t have done so if I’d have known what kind of plan you had in mind.”
“Oh, well this is a fine one you’ve gotten us into, Lexaeus, now we have to kill him ourselves.”
“Like I said: I was not aware.”
“I say, whatever.”
“Still,” Zexion said, ending what looked to be their bickering. “it would’ve been easier to tell us your true intentions, instead of telling us to wait for Axel, and waste precious time.”
“That doesn’t matter, what’s done is done. Now, I shall go into the laboratory and finish the job myself. Bring him in Lexaeus, and then I want you to come back out and wait for me with Zexion.”
The two nodded at Vexen, who, soon after, went through the laboratory door and into the laboratory itself as Lexaeus followed closely.
After a few seconds, Lexaeus came back out and discussed with Zexion:
“Zexion.” Lexaeus said to him.
“Yes, Lexaeus.” Zexion responded.
“What do you make of all this? I mean, is it really worth going through all this trouble to conquer the organization?”
“This isn’t that much trouble for us, if Axel needs to be killed then so be it, I’m actually glad to see him go, he’ll only be one less obstacle we’ll have gotten through.”
“I suppose you’re right, I just hope that the Replica lives up to our expectations.”
“He will.” Zexion assured.
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Marluxia and Larxene had gone back to the room Namine was in to give her back her sketchbook. Marluxia went up to her, the book in his hands, and handed it to her.
“Here you are Namine,” He said, with a grin. “You may continue drawing.”
Upon taking it, Namine flipped through it’s pages and noticed a few oddities.
“Why are there scribbles everywhere?” She said. “And did you rip a page and tape it back together?”
“Our transaction is complete, we have to go now.” Marluxia said quickly, without wanting to arouse further suspicion. He grabbed Larxene by the arm and turned back, in order to leave faster, but she quickly brushed him off and the two went out the room together. As soon as they were out, Marluxia began snickering. “This is great! We sabotaged Riku Replica’s sketchbook, and she’s none the wiser!”
“Yeah, Marluxia, this is really something to snicker about.” Larxene responded, as she crossed her arms. “We drew a bunch of doodles in a sketchbook, what masterminds we are.”
“Uh...excuse me, but I don’t recall you having any part in this plan, Larxene.”
“Marluxia, what are you talking about? I drew with you, and I drew much better than you, might I add.”
“You call that drawing? I’ve seen Powerwilds that drew something more meaningful.”
“Meaningful? Marluxia, you just doodled in a sketchbook! And it wasn’t even good!”
“You know what you’re problem is? You have no eye for true art. That’s what you’re problem is.”
“Oh-oh-oh, I don’t have an eye for ‘true art’,” Larxene said, sarcastically. “Is that what you’re saying, Marluxia?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”
“That I don’t have an eye for true art?”
“Yes, I’m saying just that, that you don’t have an eye for true art.”
“Marluxia, it would take a million art teachers in a million years to even muster up enough brain power to come to the conclusion that there isn’t even any shred of hope teaching you what true art is, let alone teach you to draw anything moderately clearly.”
Marluxia gasped in horror.
“Lies!” He cried out, as he pointed directly in her face. “Bald-faced lies! You know not of what you’re speaking about, young lady!”
“Look, just forget it, alright, the metaphor is lost on you anyway...and stop calling me young lady, I’m only a year younger than you.”
“Oh, I’m afraid the diagram shows things quite differently, young lady. Need I show you again?”
Larxene rolled her eyes, and, not wanting to see Marluxia’s horribly organized diagram again, changed the subject.
“So, what do we do know?” she asked. “What’s next in your “ingenious” plan?”
“Well, for now, we need to get back to the main room and start planning our next mission: The Recruition of Axel.” He entitled it.
“Recruition? Marluxia, that isn’t even a word.”
“Isn’t it, Larxene?” Marluxia assured her.
“No, it‘s not. It just sounds like something you made up on the spot.”
“Larxene, why do you do that? Why do you insist on bringing me down? Hmm? You’ve been doing so ever since I let you in on my plan to sabotage Vexen’s Riku Replica, what is wrong with you?”
Larxene rolled her eyes and changed the subject, not wanting Marluxia to go off on another rant of his.
“Where is Axel, anyway?” She asked, changing the subject. “Is he back at home?”
“Hmm....” Marluxia contemplated, as he put his fingers on his chin, seemingly forgetting his mini-rant. “He’s not confronting Sora yet....” Then it struck him. “Oh dear...I do hope that Vexen and his crew of miscreants haven’t drafted him...“ He contemplated as he put his hand on his chin. “Larxene!” He said, as he quickly turned his head towards her. “Go down into the basement and see what they’re up to, perhaps we can muster up a few clues about Axel’s whereabouts, and if we’re really lucky, you’ll find Axel there.”
“Fine.” Larxene said indifferently. “Let’s just hope I don’t end up strangling him first.”
After saying that, Larxene materialized a dark portal and entered it, leaving Marluxia alone with Namine. Soon after, he left the room through the door and went back into the main meeting room.
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Vexen was now in the laboratory, doing a few tests on Axel’s still-unconscious body that was on the experimenting table. After throwing a bottle on top of his body, he conducted a few experiments to see what might have gone wrong, and he secured some of Axel’s data into a vial. He then went up to the central computer, and stored the vial in a small compartment on the keyboard. He then hunched his head and spoke out loud:
“Saix….what have you done to us?”
Immediately after saying that, he heard a knock on the door.
“I say,” He cried out. “who is it!”
“It’s me.” Zexion said, through the door. “Larxene’s here and she needs to talk to you.”
“What?” He asked, bewildered.
“Could you open the door?”
Vexen went over to open the door. As Zexion was coming in, he signaled to Larxene, who was sitting on one of the chairs with her arms crossed, that it wouldn’t be long. As soon as Zexion came in, Vexen closed the door and began to speak:
“What does she want?” Vexen asked him. “Is she here for an investigation?”
“She wants to know where Axel is.” Zexion replied. “What should I tell her?”
Vexen let out a big sigh, and appeared to be frustrated. “All right,” He said, after a brief pause. “I’ll go out and talk to her; you stay here and watch over Axel.”
“Is he dead yet?”
“Not as of yet, I put in a slow-working poison, it should do its job in a couple of minutes.”
“Why don’t you just kill him right now?”
“It’s a long story, just leave it be for now.”
“All right...so what are you gonna tell Larxene, anyway?”
“That I haven’t seen him, what else?”
“Well, if that’s the case, shouldn’t I just tell her?”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter, weather it’s me or you she speaks to she’ll be none the wiser.”
“You’re completely sure?”
“Trust me on this, Zexion.”
“Well, just make sure she doesn’t come in here.”
With that, Vexen went out the door and into the basement’s meeting room, leaving Zexion alone with Axel. The Cloaked Schemer took a look around the lab and gazed at all the fine machinery and all the vials filled with all sorts of colourful substances. Some bubbly, some smooth, and some that looked like living organisms. Although the lab was completely white, like all the other rooms, it was dimly lit, making it very obscure and somewhat hard to see.
He then noticed the central computer. It was a long, rectangular screen that had an equally long keyboard at the bottom. He went up to it, and fiddled with it for a few minutes. Having moderate computer knowledge, he knew how to work the terminal and see what Vexen was doing last. As the screen opened up in front of him, it revealed a body scan of Axel, along with several signs and pieces of information about his current status. He took a gander at Axel’s current status, and noticed not only that his MP was at zero, but that his HP was still at 15 and that he did have poison as a current status ailment, which was slowly diminishing his HP.
“Hmm...” He muttered to himself. “that seems to be in order.”
He then continued to investigate in the main database for any interesting information considering Axel or any other member. He had a slight hunch that Vexen might not appreciate his fiddling around with the computer, but he figured that the long-haired scientist wouldn’t mind since they’re working together anyway. He also told himself that he had as much of a right as Vexen to research the terminal. Basically, he convinced himself that it was okay to check up on Vexen‘s files.
It was at this time, however, that, Axel had woken up from his slumber. He opened his eyes slowly, as his eyelids fluttered gently, wondering where in the world he could possibly be. After his vision instantly became clear, and he regained his senses, he was more aware of his current surroundings: a dimly lit room, staring at a white ceiling, but he still wasn’t sure where he was. He lifted himself up slightly as he applied his hands on the table, and looked around. After setting his watery eyes upon the various test tubes and the giant computer terminal, he concluded that he was in the lab of Castle Oblivion. Upon seeing the giant computer terminal, however, he noticed Zexion in front of it, busy at work. He scowled at him, and, right then and there, planned something out in that devious little head of his. He quietly got off the table and started to make his way towards Zexion. Having not produced a single reverberation since he woke up, he now had the element of surprise to his advantage.
The Cloaked schemer was still examining some information on the computer, and had found something interesting. Vexen seemed had a complete data profile on Axel, but on no other member of the organisation. He found this to be slightly odd, and expected to confront Vexen on it.
Had Zexion been more aware of his surroundings, he’d have heard a sound similar to footsteps approaching him. He turned around anyway, for he had finished what he had to do on the computer, and as soon as he did, Axel, who was directly in back of him, applied his arm onto his chest and shoved him onto the computer terminal. Emo boy’s head banged the screen as the redheaded scoundrel did so.
“Zexion!” Axel said to him, angrily. “You are going to tell me what is going on in this nuthouse, then you’re going to tell me why you sent me on a suicide mission, and then I am going to kill you!”
“Calm down Axel!” Zexion said, struggling and holding onto to Axel’s arm. “We didn’t send you on a suicide mission; we were just double-crossed by Saïx!”
“As if I’m even gonna take your word for it.”
“Then, why are you asking me?!”
“What is it exactly that you were planning with Saïx,” Axel asked him, as he applied his arm more firmly onto his chest. “for him to double-cross you like that?”
“I-I don’t know!” Zexion sounded confused as he said these words. “Look, the important thing is that you’re safe, right?”
“Anwser my questions! What is Marluxia planning?”
“He’s planning a rebellion with Larxene and plans to capture Sora and take over the organisation! We’re trying to counter his plans by making a Riku Replica. We made it under the guise that it was used to influence Sora, but we’re actually using it as our own warrior against Marluxia.” Zexion said these last words in a strange voice, as Axel was crushing his windpipe.
“And...” Axel said, relieving the pressure on Zexion’s throat slightly.
“...And we may have made a few more Replicas to aid us...” Zexion gasped.
“A few?”
“About a hundred...but think about it Axel, if we want to take over the organisation, we’d need a heck of a lot more than one Riku to do it. I mean, he’s powerful and all, but he really couldn’t stand up to Sora.”
Axel wasn’t really listening to the last part of Zexion’s answer. He was too busy gawking at what was behind him. Seeing his slack-jawed expression, Zexion turned his head and saw that what Axel was gawking at, was his current status on the screen.
“Y-You poisoned me?” Axel asked him, appalled, as he slowly took his arm off of Zexion.
“We did what had to be done Axel.” Zexion answered, as he finally told him the truth. “Let’s face it, the two factions in Castle Oblivion are at odds with each other, this is serious business, and we just couldn’t take any chances with you. We knew you would never co-operate anyway, so instead of having to worry whether you‘d join Marluxia or not--”
“--You figured it’d be easier to kill me.” Axel finished.
“Well, when you put it that way it makes us seem sadistic. I’d prefer to put it this way--Hey, wait a second, what are you doing?”
As Zexion was saying this, Axel was a few feet away, rummaging through one of the armoires, seemingly looking for some kind of antidote. Eventually, he found one, and threw it over his head. The antidote dissipated above him and sparkles rained down onto him, curing his poison. Upon seeing this, Zexion rushed over to him and tried to stop him from healing himself further. Axel turned around quickly and shoved him against the wall, and as he did so, he grabbed a hi-potion from the table and kept it concealed within his cloak. He then released Zexion from his grip and continued out the door, in hopes to leave this dreadful place.
Zexion, not giving up so easily, had another trick up his sleeve. He stretched his arm out, and a bright flash filled the room. Axel, who was about to open the door, stopped in his tracks, and suddenly developed an excruciating headache. He clutched his skull with both hands and bent down in pain. He shook his head vigorously, and moved around as much as he could, trying to get rid of the aching. He banged himself on the table, and swiped a few test tubes off of it as he swiped his arm. He made a complete mess of the laboratory, but Zexion though it would be worth it. Eventually, the ache subsided abruptly, and Axel, still standing low and clutching his head, decided to open his eyes. He felt cold.
Axel was in another world. A world filled with snow, snow as far as the eye can see. There was an endless blizzard, with the wind blowing in Axel’s face. He looked around as best as he could, and all he could see beyond the flurry of snowflakes, was snow and mountains of snow further away. He felt very cold. He tried walking, but the thick white powder was up to his ankles, he could barely make a few steps before falling down. The snow felt absolutely horrible on his face. It was wet, chilly and too bright for the eyes. Soon enough, Axel managed to get back up, and he immediately tried to materialize a dark portal...nothing.
Colder and colder it got, and eventually, Axel couldn’t take it anymore. He screamed. He screamed as loud as he could and unleashed his fiery power. A small of aura of flames surrounded him as he did so. The aura got bigger and bigger as Axel yelled louder and louder, and eventually, thick flames surrounded him. Heat, he could feel, as he screamed out into the distance. He was screaming as loud as he possibly could, and produced a fiery explosion everywhere around him. The blizzard stopped, and all the snow melted instantly...then he woke up.
Axel was lying on the floor of the laboratory, he was still at the same place he was before. He looked up, and saw the door he was heading for. He looked on the opposite side and saw Zexion, who had just dropped a vial.
“I-Impossible...” Zexion said, flabbergasted. “H-H-How did you even manage to get out of there.”
Without saying a word, Axel got back up and stared at Zexion for a long time. The Cloaked Schemer felt quite uncomfortable with this, and could tell that The Flurry of Dancing Flames was very angry.
After a few seconds, Axel turned around and headed out the door, into the main room, where Lexaeus, Vexen and Larxene appeared to be waiting for him. However, before entering the next room completely, he turned his head back towards Zexion and uttered:
“Thanks for healing my wounds, jackass.”
He then proceeded out the door, quietly.
Zexion stayed in the same spot he was, and pondered. He looked back down at his feet, and saw the broken vial. The poisoned, liquid substance it contained was spread out on the floor, and was quickly dissipating. The Cloacked Schemer felt his plans were going in the same direction.
-----------------------------
Axel headed out the door and into the main basement room, where Larxene was waiting for him, and where Vexen and Lexaeus were not even expecting him.
“Axel.” Vexen said, with a surprised look on his face. “W-What are you doing here... (Pause)...so early?”
Axel said nothing to Vexen, and soon turned his head towards Larxene, who had started talking.
“It’s about time.” She said, as she got up. “Come on, Axel. Marluxia needs to speak to you in the main room.”
Axel nodded silently and Larxene proceeded out the door. Before doing the same, he gave Vexen a long, hard glare, left the chamber. As soon as he did, Vexen got up and marched to the laboratory. He opened the door abruptly and felt that he had hit something, he opened up the door, saw Zexion, lying in a corner, holding his face. Instead of helping him back up, The scientist chastised him:
“What did you do?”
“You healed his wounds?” Said Zexion, as he got back up from off the floor. “What is wrong with you?”
“Well, I couldn’t possibly leave him like that! When you told me that Larxene had come, I healed him slightly, so that she might not suspect too much were she to find out, it would’ve also made Axel less suspicious should he have woken up. I told myself that even if he did, the poison would surely get to him in no time, but you sure put a stop to that, now didn’t you?”
“I wasn’t expecting him to wake up! If I was, than I would’ve surely finished him off while he was still lying down!”
“You couldn’t have done that you fool, Larxene would’ve surely found out!”
“Why couldn’t you just tell me why you couldn’t finish Axel off, instead of just saying that it was a long story?”
Vexen, infuriated, went up to the computer terminal and fiddled with it, to check up on a few of his documents. Zexion, however, discouraged him, saying:
“Why are you even bothering? We’re not going to get Axel back by looking at that ridiculous computer, which by the way, why was there--”
“All these files have been viewed recently...” Vexen said to himself, ignoring Zexion’s question. “I say, I haven’t looked them up in quite a while. Zexion what did you do?” He said as he turned around.
“Nothing, I just checked up on what you were researching.”
“Does privacy mean nothing to you?”
“We’re in this together Vexen, me and Lexaeus have as much of a right to use that computer as you do. Furthermore, I wouldn’t try to play innocent and act all appalled if I were you, I found some pretty shady stuff on there.”
“Are you accusing me of something?”
“I just have questions that I want answered Vexen.”
“Well, there isn’t any time for this! The fact of the matter is that Larxene and Marluxia have a hold of Axel, and we have to do something about this at once.”
“That’s a great way to avoid a confession, Vexen...” Zexion muttered very subtly.
“What?”
“This doesn’t necessarily mean anything.” Zexion continued, ignoring what he had just said. “Axel might double cross them, he’s actually quite a bit more cunning than we give him credit for.”
“Will you stop it? There’s no going around this, Axel will join them and they will ruin us!”
Vexen put his hand on his forehead to ponder. After a few seconds, he came up with a plan.
“We will leave the replicas here.” He said.
“What?” Zexion asked.
“Don’t worry, I have a plan. We’ll leave now, and lock down the laboratory. Then, when Xemnas discovers what’s been going on here, he’ll have the other three terminated. After that, we come out of hiding, take all the replicas and leave the organization for good.”
“That plan sounds a little cowardly.”
“I say, it doesn’t matter. We have no other choice at this point. Saix will no doubt keep us under cover.”
“Uh...”
“All right, then it’s settled. You go warn Lexaeus, I’ll pay Marluxia a visit.”
“Why?”
“He knows why...”
Soon after, Vexen went out the door, leaving Zexion alone in the room, scratching his head.
--------------------------------
Larxene had brought Axel back into the main room, where Marluxia was waiting for him. After the salutations, to which there was no comment on how Axel had been absent for quite a long time, the three of them sat down on the table, Marluxia sitting on one side, and Larxene and Axel sitting on opposite sides beside him.
“Now Axel,” Marluxia started. “As you may have noticed, castle Oblivion has been split into two different factions. Vexen, Zexion and Lexaeus have control of the basements, and Larxene and I have control of the upper floor levels here. What they’re doing down there is beyond me, but Larxene has informed me that you spent some time conversing with them. Now, you have a choice: You can either tell us what the three in the basement are plotting, if you know anything at all, and consequently join our faction, which I like to call the Flower Power faction. Or, you can choose to betray us, and join those which have already betrayed us, thereby instantly putting you on my list of enemies, and forcing me to terminate you by any means possible.” Marluxia’s tone became angrier as he continued. “And if you dare run and hide from me, I will hunt you down and find you, even if it means traveling to the ends of the universe. I will do my very best to destroy you, and all those you hold dear. I will force you to go through the worst kind of torture you can possibly imagine, and if, during said torture, you should near death at any time, I’ll revive you just enough so that I can continue torturing you! You’ll never escape! Never, I say! And no one will be safe from me! Not you, not Larxene, and especially not Xemnas! Why, with Sora on my side, the world is my oyster!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!! The Supreme Gardener is invincible! I--”
“Marluxia!” Larxene interrupted, before he got any crazier. “Stick to the subject please.”
“Aah...yes.” Marluxia responded, as he cleared his throat and calmed down. “So, Axel. You’ll have to choose now. Whose it gonna be? Me or Vexen?”
Axel looked at Marluxia, who was looking back with a piercing gaze, he then looked back at Larxene, who had her head turned and was obviously thinking about something else. He turned his head back to Marluxia, who was still gazing upon him, and pondered some more.
“Well, Axel?” Marluxia asked once more. “What’s it going to be? Frankly, I’d prefer you answer me in the next five minutes, I have a haircut scheduled for five O’clock.”
“There aren’t any hairdressers here, you nimrod.” Larxene told him.
“There is if I say there is!” Marluxia answered angrily, as he turned his head towards Larxene. “Now, shut up!”
“So, you think that whatever you feel like having will magically appear in front of you because you decreed it?”
“No, I’m saying that there is a hairdresser around here, because my superior intellect tells me there is, that’s all.”
“Says the one who didn’t even know there was a Chinese restaurant down the block.”
“Larxene! I--”
“I’ll join you.” Axel interrupted, in the middle of Marluxia and Larxene’s heated debate.
“You will?” Marluxia asked sceptically, as he turned his head back towards Axel. “I mean....of course you will!” He repeated, more confidently.
“You’re actually going to side with us Axel?” Larxene asked. “You do realize that this is serious business, don’t you? You can’t be expected to leave at any time you want.”
“...Or toy with anymore clocks...” Marluxia added. “Well actually, you can’t be expected to do that anyway since I broke the clock.”
“You two won’t have to worry about anything. I’ll give you my word that I’ll stay here no matter what.”
“All right...” Marluxia said, as he examined Axel closely. “Uh...let me just talk about this with Larxene, for a moment. Larxene?” He said, turning his head towards her.
Without saying a word, Larxene got up and went over to the corner of the room, where Marluxia went soon after. Axel sat at the table and pondered as they whispered from afar:
“He seems to be telling the truth.” Marluxia said to Larxene.
“Yeah, I can tell.” Larxene responded. “I’ve never seen him more serious. He seems to be angry at Vexen and the others for some reason.”
“Really? What did you notice when you went to pick him up?”
“Well, when I went to pick him up, first of all, it took Vexen a pretty long time to get him out, I also heard some strange sounds coming from the laboratory?”
“Laboratory?”
“Yeah, that’s where they were keeping Axel.”
“They kept him in the lab!” Marluxia whispered loudly. “Who knows what they did to him! Maybe they planted some kind of hidden camera inside him!”
“I’m pretty sure Axel would’ve been aware of it, he seemed to have some kind of grudge against them when he came out. I don’t think he’d let them experiment on him that easily.”
Marluxia stroked his chin, pondering what could’ve happened in that laboratory. After a few seconds, continued questioning Larxene.
“He had a grudge against them, you say?”
“Yeah, I was talking waiting for them in the main room of the basement, and Axel and Vexen both came out at the same time, and before I left with Axel, he gave Vexen a long, scornful glare.”
“Wa-wa-wait a minute.” Said Marluxia, trying to get his bearings straight. “Are you actually saying that you were in the main room of the basement? What did it look like? Was it tacky? Was it dark and gloomy?”
“Marluxia! This isn’t the time!”
“Answer the question!”
“Marluxia!”
“Answer!”
Meanwhile, Axel was still sitting down at the table, and after seeing those two bickering and whispering, he wondered if what they were talking about could possibly be of any importance.
“So,” His conscience said. “it’s come to this has it?”
“Don’t worry.” Axel assured it. “Don’t you worry.”
“Uh-huh…”
The two snickered to each other, and patted each other on the back on how great of a plan they had just developed. Meanwhile, 5 feet away, Larxene and Marluxia continued bickering while whispering.
“Yes! Yes, it was tacky!” Larxene said, wanting to get back on subject as soon as possible. “Are you happy now?”
“And...” Marluxia added, wanting Larxene to continue. The Savage Nymph sighed, this time she sighed a sigh of desperation.
“...And dark, and whatever it is that you hate. It had absolutely everything that you could possibly hate in a room.”
“What about the wallpaper?”
“Marluxia, all the walls in the castle are white, we have no wallpaper.”
“Well, obviously you’ve never seen my room.”
“With my luck, I probably will.”
“Larxene, will you please stick to the subject? Honestly, it amazes me how much you can trail off sometimes.”
The moment Marluxia finished his sentence, he felt a sharp, pain on his hand. A short of static shock. Quickly, he shook his hand and held it with his other one, gawking at it to see if any damage was done. Larxene had her index finger pointed towards him, indicating that she had just shocked him.
“Very original, Larxene. Now, you were telling me about Vexen’s glare?”
“Axel’s glare.” Larxene corrected. “He gave Vexen a mean one before leaving.”
“Excellent...” Marluxia said, with an evil grin on his face. “With him mad at Vexen, this’ll be twice as easy.”
“I’m still not sure if we should trust him completely, though. He seems to have the markings of a double agent.”
“Although...we can’t be completely sure that he’s on our side. After all, he’s always been quite the double agent.”
“Uh...Marluxia...I-I just said that...”
“Well, we could always just get rid of him if things don’t go our way.”
“Marluxia, are you even listening to me? Do you even know that I’m here?”
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what develops. It shouldn’t take too long, anyway.”
“(Sighs) You aren’t listening to me.”
“Then it’s settled, we’ll have Axel join our team, on the condition that he does what I say.”
With that, Marluxia went back tot he table to tell Axel. Larxene followed shortly after rolling her eyes behind Marluxia’s back.
Marluxia approached Axel and spoke:
“Axel, we’ve decided that if you’re really serious about joining us, ridding us of our traitors, and taking over the Organization with us, then we will let you join. Are you willing?”
“Yes.” Axel said, as he got up. “Yes I am.”
“Oh...alright then...uh...you may go to your chamber for now. Larxene will be in shortly to brief you in on what we’ve done so far.”
“Good.” Axel said, casually.
Upon saying that, Axel got up and proceeded slowly towards the guest room. Before opening the door, however, he stopped and turned back towards the two.
“Oh, and Marluxia, Larxene...before I go along with this, I’d like to take the time to apologize about what happened earlier.
“Do you mean how you thrashed Larxene?” Marluxia said. Larxene responded by elbowing him in the stomach.
“Well, the whole fight sequence was completely out of line, I really feel terrible about it...well, I mean: I would feel terrible about it, if I could indeed feel those emotions. You know what I mean...”
“Oh...yes, of course.”
“You were completely right-”
“As always.” Marluxia interrupted quite abruptly.
Axel stared at him strangely for a few seconds before continuing where he had left off.
“--I should never have left the castle in the first place. This time, I’m going to be quite aware about what’s going on.”
“Well, that’s a nice thing to say, Axel. I’m glad to hear that coming out of your mouth.”
“So, no hard feelings?”
“Oh...of course not.” Marluxia answered. “I’m just glad you were able to apologise, Axel.”
Axel smirked.
“All right then. see you later.” He said, as he turned back and entered the guest room, leaving Larxene and Marluxia to scratch their heads.
Uh...here's part three of Chapter 7 everybody...remember this is NOT a new chapter. I suggest reading through parts 1 and 2 again if you forgot what happened, since it's been a while since I've posted it...=( sry.
I've had quite a bit of trouble with this one, so I'd really appreciate it if anyone told me any continuity mistakes or anything like that. K thx.
Without further ado....here's part 3 of Chapter 7.
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At the same time, Zexion, Lexaeus and Vexen,were in the basement of the Castle, planning their plans, and discussing discussions.
“It shouldn’t be taking him this long.” Zexion said.
“I fear you’re right,” Vexen started. “He should have already--”
Vexen was interrupted by a very loud noise coming from the laboratory right next to them. Wondering what it could be, he told the other two to wait and entered the laboratory, wanting to inspect it. Once inside, he saw Riku Replica on the floor, as if he had just fallen down.
“I say, what’s going on.” Vexen asked him, shocked to see his precious experiment in such a state.
“I-I don’t know.” The Replica responded, trying to get back up. “My right leg just fell asleep on me. I can’t even stand up on it.”
“Hmm...” The Chilly academic contemplated, as his black gloves stroke his pale chin.
He went up to the Replica and helped him walk over to the table by putting his arm around his shoulder. He then helped him sit down, and kneeled in front of him to put himself on the same level, he then asked him:
“How do you feel now?”
“It’s still numb.” The Replica replied, rubbing his leg.
Vexen bended his knees to get a good look at the Replica’s leg and examined it intently, but noticed nothing unusual. Soon enough, he got back up and told him to wait for him. He then went out the laboratory door and went to see Zexion and Lexaeus, who were still waiting for him.
“We have a problem.” He told them.
“What else is new.” Said Zexion.
“The Replica has lost the ability to use his right leg.”
“What?”
“It can’t even walk without any kind of support.”
“Great,” Zexion said. “Just great. This is exactly what we need.
“Why don’t we just kidnap the real Riku.” Lexaeus suggested, It’s not like anyone’s going to miss him, anyhow.
“Now, now, both of you calm down, all is not lost, despite the way it appears. I have an idea what could’ve caused it.”
“Sabotage?” Lexaeus suggested. “Namine may be tampering with the sketchbook.”
“What? Don’t be ridiculous, Lexaeus. The sketchbook is the source of his memories, not his physical abilities.”
“Well, Namine did say that memories were the chains that bind the heart, did she not?”
“And what does that rubbish have to do with the Replica’s physical capabilities?”
“Well, the heart is what binds a person, no? If Namine were to do something drastic, like say, tear the sketchbook into shreds of paper, than the Replica’s heart would collapse upon itself, resulting in a complete loss of feelings in the central nervous system. The Replica wouldn’t be able to see, hear, smell or taste, let alone stand up on himself. In other words, he’d be dead. Considering this, wouldn’t you think that the Replica’s leg injury would be a result of--”
“Lexaeus, I’m going to stop you right there.” Vexen interrupted. “I’m sorry, but that has to be the worst scientific hypothesis I have ever heard. Do you even know what you’re talking about?”
“Yes.” Lexaeus replied, bluntly. “I do.”
“The question was rhetorical, but if you really want me to humour you then all right:
according to your particular brand of pseudo-logic, the heart is what enables the person to live. If this is the case, then why, pray tell, do we nobodies exist then? Hmm? Answer that for me, will you?”
“But that’s it exactly it. We don’t exist. We’re not even--”
“I’m sorry Lexaeus,” Vexen interrupted, yet again. “I really can’t let this tomfoolery go on any longer. Your untested, unverifiable, completely irrelevant hypothesis may be all well and good in a fairytale land where anything goes, but here in the real world, things work quite differently, I can assure you that.”
“Can we please get back to business?” Zexion said, interrupting the two’s bickering.
“I’d love to.” Vexen answered. “Now, let me enrich the conversation by providing a hypothesis that isn’t completely groundless and asinine: “I believe that there may be something inherently wrong in the Replica‘s data. It could be an error in the system mainframe.”
“But if that’s the case,” Zexion said. “That could mean that--”
“All of the replicas have a bug in them.” Vexen finished. “We cloned them all from this one, after all.”
“Are they all completed?” Asked Lexaeus.
“No, but they’re almost finished.”
“We need to get out of here as fast as possible.” Zexion said. “We need to move to another location, and fix them.”
“I know that, don’t you think I know that! We just need Saïx to give Axel the word to give to us. But we don’t have much time...I’m sure Marluxia already knows by now.”
“Do you know anyone that could help us fix the Replicas?” Asked The Silent Hero to the Chilly Academic.
“Well, there is always Merlin. He and I go way back, I’m sure he’d be happy to help us out...the finest wizard of his time, he was. Far better than whoever it was that educated poor, naïve Lexaeus, that‘s a given.”
Zexion and Lexaeus looked at each other strangely, not sure what to make of Vexen’s trailing off. Soon enough though, Zexion managed to change the subject and get the conversation back on track.
“There’s still the matter of Diz being here.” He said.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about him,” Vexen said, waving his hand as if it were nothing. “As soon as we leave, he won’t be our problem anymore. He’ll be theirs.”
“What about the actual Riku?” Lexaeus asked. “He’s still alive in the castle, could he be a threat to us?”
“Leave him be for now, he may be of use to us later on.”
“So now, we just wait for Axel.” Zexion said, sitting down twiddling his thumbs.
“Yes...you two wait for him here. I’ll go check back up on the Replica in the laboratory. See if anything’s happened since before.
Saying that, Vexen got up, materialized a dark portal and entered it. Leaving Zexion and Lexaeus alone.
“I’m worried about Axel.” Lexaeus said, as he sat down.
“That’s a first.” Zexion replied.
“I mean I’m not worried for him, I’m worried about him.
“....And the difference is?”
“Axel may be betraying us as we speak, we have more than enough reason to think so. What if he’s told Xemnas?”
“Why would he do that? He’s in as much trouble as we are?”
“Oh, is he? Is he really?”
“Yes, he is.” The Cloaked Schemer responded matter-of-factly
“Think about it, what has Axel done wrong except leave the castle a few times?”
“He got into fights with a few of us.”
“Everyone here does that. We’ve committed the real crimes; we’re planning to overthrow Xemnas! Axel’s absence is nothing compared to that.”
“Hmm...I’m beginning to see your point...but what can we possibly do about it at this point? We’re too deep in this conspiracy to turn back anyway.”
“Why did Vexen send him there?” Lexaeus said, slamming his fist on the table. “He could’ve sent any one of us!”
“Calm down Lexaeus,” Zexion said to the big galoot. “What’s done is done, we’ll just have to wait things out for now.”
Lexaeus got up from his chair.
“This is taking too long; I fear something may have gone wrong.”
“You can’t possibly think of going back to the castle, Lexaeus.”
“If it is what I must do, then so be it.”
“Be reasonable Lexaeus. Axel’s already risking this entire scheme by going there, if you go and join him there’ll be more of a chance that you’ll get caught. Would you just calm down and wait this out? I‘m sure Axel will pull though.....(Pause).....wait a minute, what am I saying?”
“Look, I am aware that Axel’s intentions may be good, after all, we have Roxas on our side, but it’s not just that that’s been bothering me. If I know Xemnas, he must already be aware of Axel’s presence in the castle, and the only reason he hasn’t interfered is that he has a greater plan in mind. I fear that Axel may be in his grasp, and if that is the case, than it would be best to go there and back again and salvage what little time we have left.”
After saying this, he materialized a dark portal, and before entering it, he listened to Zexion’s farewell:
“Just be sure to be in and out of there fast without any interruptions.”
“I’m not called the Silent Hero for nothing...” Lexaeus responded, as he entered the dark gateway.
As the gateway vanished into the air, Zexion was left alone in the room, to contemplate on the situation further.
------------------------
Once Vexen had left Zexion and Lexaeus and gone into the laboratory, he entered another small door at the end of the room. The door led to an even smaller room with a large screen on it. Vexen pressed a few buttons, and a dark shadow was visible on it, the same as in the previous chapter.
“What is it that you want, this time?” The shadow asked, in a deep and assertive voice.
“Our problems seem to be escalating. That dog Marluxia is suspecting me more and more of treachery, and it shan’t be long before he finds out that I am scheming against him.”
“You blundering idiot!”
The shadow seemed to ponder before continuing:
“How much time do you think you have left?”
“I-I’m not sure...but I’ve told my comrades to be prepared to leave at any moment.”
“Are the replicas ready?”
“Not entirely, but we can move them to another location. I know someone who’s quite adept at--”
“I sincerely doubt that...how much do you have up until now?”
“Close to 100...”
“Well, Sora’s too powerful for Marluxia to handle by himself, it wouldn’t surprise me should he die at his hands.”
“Who? Sora, or Marluxia?”
“Sora.”
“Will die at Marluxia’s hands?”
“No!....uurrgh, forget it! Marluxia will probably die soon and that’s that!”
“But he might take action before that.”
“Well, that is one risk you will have to be willing to take. You do want to take over this insane asylum, don’t you?”
“I suppose...”
“Good. Now, how is everything else going? What of Axel?”
“I sent him to claim some information from Saïx, but I suspect he may be allied with Marluxia and Larxene.”
“Drat! This could escalate into something far worse...”
“I say, what do you mean?”
“Think about it, with Axel on Marluxia’s side, Sora would be a shoe-in for them. They’ll take over that insane asylum in no time.”
“I say, you’re right...Axel is too dangerous to be left out in the open...”
“Or alive for that matter...”
“You mean that we should....”
“If it needs to be done, than it needs to be done.”
“I see....”
“Do not hesitate to do so...if you must.”
“All right...”
“Now, what of the Replicas?”
“The replicas? Oh,” Vexen started to stutter her, as he did not know how to break the news to the shadow. “well...uh...the thing about that is....they may be...er...ah....corrupt.”
“WHAT?!?”
“The original seems to be malfunctioning slightly. I’m not sure if it’s just a small glitch or a massive bug that we’ve supplied the other hundred with.”
“You idiotic fool! All our plans could go to waist because of this!”
“If you want, I could go investigate to see whatever is happening with the replica.”
“Don’t say that as if it were an option! Do it! And report back to me once Axel comes back.”
“Yes, milady.”
Vexen shut off the screen and proceeded out the door, and into the laboratory. He sat on the chair of one of the tables and pondered. He then noticed that the replica was still sitting there. Not quite doing anything in particular, he was simply staring into space. Vexen was somewhat surprised to see him, but then casually asked him:
“So, how is your leg?” He asked, not expecting it to be healed.
“Actually...“ The replica responded, as he got up from the chair. “I can feel it again.”
The Replica started walking around the room, with a jubilant smile on his face, content that his leg was fine. Vexen, on the other hand, was too flabbergasted to be jubilant. As he stared, eyes wide open, at the newly healed Replica, he said to himself:
“This is most interesting...”
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Saïx walked over to Axel, his hair still floating in the air, and his pupils still completely white. Once he reached the unconscious redhead, he stood patiently. He quit his Berserk mode, in one swift ‘Woosh”, and all at once, his features became less aggressive. His hair stopped standing on end, and slowly and gently, succumbed to the laws of gravity, and his pupils had a small, black spot growing in them, until they became full-fledged iris‘, and out of the two claymores he held in his hand, only one of them de-materialized. The Luna Diviner then spoke:
“As I said, Axel...you’re time is up.”
He lifted up his claymore and prepared to strike him. He pushed his claymore downwards with all his might.........but something was holding him back. As he pushed down his lifted arm, a strange force was keeping it from doing so. He turned his head back, with his arm still lifted up, and saw Lexaeus, with his tomahawk on his claymore.
“It’s over Saïx...” Laexaeus muttered.
“This is none of your business, fatty. Go back to the castle or I will be forced to report you as well.”
“I’m not fat...” Lexaeus responded. He then smashed his tomahawk down and pushing Saïx’s claymore down with him. The force of the push caused Saïx fall down on his back. The force of the shock caused him to fall unconscious. “I’m big-boned...”
After pondering for a while, thinking what he should do with Saïx, Lexaeus eventually took him by the leg, and dragged him towards his bed. He then lifted him up, and placed him on it, face up. He then went back to Axel’s unconscious body and grabbed him by the leg as well. He lifted him up onto his shoulder and materialized a dark gateway, which he entered soon after.
------------------------
As he got in, he entered Xigbar’s door first, cleaning the room as best as the other members expected him to do, and at the same time looking for possible clues of Axel’s whereabouts. He inspected all the rooms in order of rank, and eventually came to Saïx’s door...
He slowly walked in, and as he did, he saw....nothing.
No one was there. Still, Xaldin did not move, he took a good, hard look around, as with all the other rooms he had just visited. As he did so, he took a look at the moon from the window. He gazed upon it as he advanced further into the room, mesmerized by its brilliant glow. With each step he took, a loud sound was produced, echoing throughout the chamber. it was the only sound he heard.
His nostrils noticed something, however. It smelled like...burnt hope. You might be asking yourselves how someone can possibly know what hope smells like, let alone the smell of hope disintegrating in a fiery blaze, but Xaldin had experienced enough in his life to know.
Then, out of nowhere, an ember appeared in front of him. Still, Xaldin not react at all...he simply stayed still and glared at the passing cinder. It was almost majestic, if it weren’t so wretch-inducing.
He pointed his finger towards it, and made a motion towards himself, the black cinder then floated gently towards him, and he caught it between his fingers.
Xaldin gazed at it, for a very long time, and contemplated how excruciating ugly it was. He knew already that it had something to do with Axel (obviously), and he had already assumed what could possibly have happened during this period of time. Out of all that, he also knew that he should do something about it quickly.
Yet, he couldn’t let go of that ember. The sight of it alone was enough to make him wretch, but he simply continued to stare at it, mouth agape. The sheer horridness of it compelled him to look at it further.
Eventually, Xaldin knew that he was taking far too much time contemplating that single ember’s disgustingness, so he simply let it go, and let it follow its trail through the air.
He was far from finished investigating the room though. He turned around several times as he inspected each area of the room from where he was. The smell of smoke plagued the air.
Without moving the rest of his body, the Whirlwind Lancer lifted up an arm of his, and made a grasping motion in the air. At that moment, several strands of wind began swirling around him, making the complete contour of the room, and churning into the centre, which was himself.
As the wind began to pick up, strands of smoke were visible, and made their way towards Xaldin, small ashes were picked up from every nook and cranny of the room, and entered the swirl of winds. After a few seconds, a large ball of smoke and ashes formed itself right above his grasped hand. He lifted his head up towards it, and gazed at the swirls of smoke and trails of ashes formed in a giant sphere. He almost fainted.
“AXEL!!!!!!!” He cried out, at the top of his lungs, as he closed his fist with all his might, causing the giant smoking sphere to explode throughout the room.
The smoke was now more visible across the room, and the embers were everywhere. Xaldin swiftly turned back towards the door and marched out of it. Before leaving the room completely, he lifted his arm once more, and several strands of wind formed themselves into his hand. Soon enough, he had absorbed all of the smoke and embers into the palm of his hand. Once he left, the room was spick and span. He had never even noticed Saix’s presence.
The Luna Diviner, however, woke up seconds after the Whirlwind Lancer had departed.
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Zexion was still sitting near the table in the basement, contemplating, when suddenly a dark portal materialized itself and Lexaeus came out, holding an unconscious Axel over his shoulder. Upon seeing this, a shocked Zexion got up from the table and asked:
“What happened?”
“Saïx.” Lexaeus responded.
“He did this?”
“It would appear that he’s acted as a double agent this entire time.”
“If that’s the case then surely, he must’ve already told Xemnas.”
“If he did, I don’t think we’d still be here.”
“That may not mean anything. Vexen even told us that he probably has a greater, convoluted plan in mind.”
At that moment, Vexen came through the door of the laboratory, into the one Zexion and Lexaeus were currently in, and upon seeing Axel’s limp body on Lexaeus’ shoulders, he exclaimed:
“So, Saïx did his job, I see.”
Lexaeus and Zexion were intrigued upon hearing this.
“You mean....this was staged?” Lexaeus asked.
Vexen seemed reluctant to speak.
“Yes...” He answered, after a short pause. “I-I ordered Saïx to kill Axel.”
“Well, couldn’t you have at least warned us?” Zexion asked. “And why did you decide to kill him so convolutedly?”
“I didn’t want to arouse suspicion. I had planned the entire ordeal with Saïx beforehand, and then sent Axel to his untimely death, under the guise of retrieving information.
“Why did you send Axel, out of all people, to be killed?” Lexaeus asked.
“Well, Marluxia and Larxene are already on absolute sides. Axel was still somewhere in the middle, and although we could have used him, I found it to be safer to simply have him killed.”
“Uh...I’m not sure if you’ve noticed,” Said Lexaeus. “but he isn’t quite dead.”
“What? But.....but he looks dead.”
“I went back to get save him. I wouldn’t have done so if I’d have known what kind of plan you had in mind.”
“Oh, well this is a fine one you’ve gotten us into, Lexaeus, now we have to kill him ourselves.”
“Like I said: I was not aware.”
“I say, whatever.”
“Still,” Zexion said, ending what looked to be their bickering. “it would’ve been easier to tell us your true intentions, instead of telling us to wait for Axel, and waste precious time.”
“That doesn’t matter, what’s done is done. Now, I shall go into the laboratory and finish the job myself. Bring him in Lexaeus, and then I want you to come back out and wait for me with Zexion.”
The two nodded at Vexen, who, soon after, went through the laboratory door and into the laboratory itself as Lexaeus followed closely.
After a few seconds, Lexaeus came back out and discussed with Zexion:
“Zexion.” Lexaeus said to him.
“Yes, Lexaeus.” Zexion responded.
“What do you make of all this? I mean, is it really worth going through all this trouble to conquer the organization?”
“This isn’t that much trouble for us, if Axel needs to be killed then so be it, I’m actually glad to see him go, he’ll only be one less obstacle we’ll have gotten through.”
“I suppose you’re right, I just hope that the Replica lives up to our expectations.”
“He will.” Zexion assured.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marluxia and Larxene had gone back to the room Namine was in to give her back her sketchbook. Marluxia went up to her, the book in his hands, and handed it to her.
“Here you are Namine,” He said, with a grin. “You may continue drawing.”
Upon taking it, Namine flipped through it’s pages and noticed a few oddities.
“Why are there scribbles everywhere?” She said. “And did you rip a page and tape it back together?”
“Our transaction is complete, we have to go now.” Marluxia said quickly, without wanting to arouse further suspicion. He grabbed Larxene by the arm and turned back, in order to leave faster, but she quickly brushed him off and the two went out the room together. As soon as they were out, Marluxia began snickering. “This is great! We sabotaged Riku Replica’s sketchbook, and she’s none the wiser!”
“Yeah, Marluxia, this is really something to snicker about.” Larxene responded, as she crossed her arms. “We drew a bunch of doodles in a sketchbook, what masterminds we are.”
“Uh...excuse me, but I don’t recall you having any part in this plan, Larxene.”
“Marluxia, what are you talking about? I drew with you, and I drew much better than you, might I add.”
“You call that drawing? I’ve seen Powerwilds that drew something more meaningful.”
“Meaningful? Marluxia, you just doodled in a sketchbook! And it wasn’t even good!”
“You know what you’re problem is? You have no eye for true art. That’s what you’re problem is.”
“Oh-oh-oh, I don’t have an eye for ‘true art’,” Larxene said, sarcastically. “Is that what you’re saying, Marluxia?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”
“That I don’t have an eye for true art?”
“Yes, I’m saying just that, that you don’t have an eye for true art.”
“Marluxia, it would take a million art teachers in a million years to even muster up enough brain power to come to the conclusion that there isn’t even any shred of hope teaching you what true art is, let alone teach you to draw anything moderately clearly.”
Marluxia gasped in horror.
“Lies!” He cried out, as he pointed directly in her face. “Bald-faced lies! You know not of what you’re speaking about, young lady!”
“Look, just forget it, alright, the metaphor is lost on you anyway...and stop calling me young lady, I’m only a year younger than you.”
“Oh, I’m afraid the diagram shows things quite differently, young lady. Need I show you again?”
Larxene rolled her eyes, and, not wanting to see Marluxia’s horribly organized diagram again, changed the subject.
“So, what do we do know?” she asked. “What’s next in your “ingenious” plan?”
“Well, for now, we need to get back to the main room and start planning our next mission: The Recruition of Axel.” He entitled it.
“Recruition? Marluxia, that isn’t even a word.”
“Isn’t it, Larxene?” Marluxia assured her.
“No, it‘s not. It just sounds like something you made up on the spot.”
“Larxene, why do you do that? Why do you insist on bringing me down? Hmm? You’ve been doing so ever since I let you in on my plan to sabotage Vexen’s Riku Replica, what is wrong with you?”
Larxene rolled her eyes and changed the subject, not wanting Marluxia to go off on another rant of his.
“Where is Axel, anyway?” She asked, changing the subject. “Is he back at home?”
“Hmm....” Marluxia contemplated, as he put his fingers on his chin, seemingly forgetting his mini-rant. “He’s not confronting Sora yet....” Then it struck him. “Oh dear...I do hope that Vexen and his crew of miscreants haven’t drafted him...“ He contemplated as he put his hand on his chin. “Larxene!” He said, as he quickly turned his head towards her. “Go down into the basement and see what they’re up to, perhaps we can muster up a few clues about Axel’s whereabouts, and if we’re really lucky, you’ll find Axel there.”
“Fine.” Larxene said indifferently. “Let’s just hope I don’t end up strangling him first.”
After saying that, Larxene materialized a dark portal and entered it, leaving Marluxia alone with Namine. Soon after, he left the room through the door and went back into the main meeting room.
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Vexen was now in the laboratory, doing a few tests on Axel’s still-unconscious body that was on the experimenting table. After throwing a bottle on top of his body, he conducted a few experiments to see what might have gone wrong, and he secured some of Axel’s data into a vial. He then went up to the central computer, and stored the vial in a small compartment on the keyboard. He then hunched his head and spoke out loud:
“Saix….what have you done to us?”
Immediately after saying that, he heard a knock on the door.
“I say,” He cried out. “who is it!”
“It’s me.” Zexion said, through the door. “Larxene’s here and she needs to talk to you.”
“What?” He asked, bewildered.
“Could you open the door?”
Vexen went over to open the door. As Zexion was coming in, he signaled to Larxene, who was sitting on one of the chairs with her arms crossed, that it wouldn’t be long. As soon as Zexion came in, Vexen closed the door and began to speak:
“What does she want?” Vexen asked him. “Is she here for an investigation?”
“She wants to know where Axel is.” Zexion replied. “What should I tell her?”
Vexen let out a big sigh, and appeared to be frustrated. “All right,” He said, after a brief pause. “I’ll go out and talk to her; you stay here and watch over Axel.”
“Is he dead yet?”
“Not as of yet, I put in a slow-working poison, it should do its job in a couple of minutes.”
“Why don’t you just kill him right now?”
“It’s a long story, just leave it be for now.”
“All right...so what are you gonna tell Larxene, anyway?”
“That I haven’t seen him, what else?”
“Well, if that’s the case, shouldn’t I just tell her?”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter, weather it’s me or you she speaks to she’ll be none the wiser.”
“You’re completely sure?”
“Trust me on this, Zexion.”
“Well, just make sure she doesn’t come in here.”
With that, Vexen went out the door and into the basement’s meeting room, leaving Zexion alone with Axel. The Cloaked Schemer took a look around the lab and gazed at all the fine machinery and all the vials filled with all sorts of colourful substances. Some bubbly, some smooth, and some that looked like living organisms. Although the lab was completely white, like all the other rooms, it was dimly lit, making it very obscure and somewhat hard to see.
He then noticed the central computer. It was a long, rectangular screen that had an equally long keyboard at the bottom. He went up to it, and fiddled with it for a few minutes. Having moderate computer knowledge, he knew how to work the terminal and see what Vexen was doing last. As the screen opened up in front of him, it revealed a body scan of Axel, along with several signs and pieces of information about his current status. He took a gander at Axel’s current status, and noticed not only that his MP was at zero, but that his HP was still at 15 and that he did have poison as a current status ailment, which was slowly diminishing his HP.
“Hmm...” He muttered to himself. “that seems to be in order.”
He then continued to investigate in the main database for any interesting information considering Axel or any other member. He had a slight hunch that Vexen might not appreciate his fiddling around with the computer, but he figured that the long-haired scientist wouldn’t mind since they’re working together anyway. He also told himself that he had as much of a right as Vexen to research the terminal. Basically, he convinced himself that it was okay to check up on Vexen‘s files.
It was at this time, however, that, Axel had woken up from his slumber. He opened his eyes slowly, as his eyelids fluttered gently, wondering where in the world he could possibly be. After his vision instantly became clear, and he regained his senses, he was more aware of his current surroundings: a dimly lit room, staring at a white ceiling, but he still wasn’t sure where he was. He lifted himself up slightly as he applied his hands on the table, and looked around. After setting his watery eyes upon the various test tubes and the giant computer terminal, he concluded that he was in the lab of Castle Oblivion. Upon seeing the giant computer terminal, however, he noticed Zexion in front of it, busy at work. He scowled at him, and, right then and there, planned something out in that devious little head of his. He quietly got off the table and started to make his way towards Zexion. Having not produced a single reverberation since he woke up, he now had the element of surprise to his advantage.
The Cloaked schemer was still examining some information on the computer, and had found something interesting. Vexen seemed had a complete data profile on Axel, but on no other member of the organisation. He found this to be slightly odd, and expected to confront Vexen on it.
Had Zexion been more aware of his surroundings, he’d have heard a sound similar to footsteps approaching him. He turned around anyway, for he had finished what he had to do on the computer, and as soon as he did, Axel, who was directly in back of him, applied his arm onto his chest and shoved him onto the computer terminal. Emo boy’s head banged the screen as the redheaded scoundrel did so.
“Zexion!” Axel said to him, angrily. “You are going to tell me what is going on in this nuthouse, then you’re going to tell me why you sent me on a suicide mission, and then I am going to kill you!”
“Calm down Axel!” Zexion said, struggling and holding onto to Axel’s arm. “We didn’t send you on a suicide mission; we were just double-crossed by Saïx!”
“As if I’m even gonna take your word for it.”
“Then, why are you asking me?!”
“What is it exactly that you were planning with Saïx,” Axel asked him, as he applied his arm more firmly onto his chest. “for him to double-cross you like that?”
“I-I don’t know!” Zexion sounded confused as he said these words. “Look, the important thing is that you’re safe, right?”
“Anwser my questions! What is Marluxia planning?”
“He’s planning a rebellion with Larxene and plans to capture Sora and take over the organisation! We’re trying to counter his plans by making a Riku Replica. We made it under the guise that it was used to influence Sora, but we’re actually using it as our own warrior against Marluxia.” Zexion said these last words in a strange voice, as Axel was crushing his windpipe.
“And...” Axel said, relieving the pressure on Zexion’s throat slightly.
“...And we may have made a few more Replicas to aid us...” Zexion gasped.
“A few?”
“About a hundred...but think about it Axel, if we want to take over the organisation, we’d need a heck of a lot more than one Riku to do it. I mean, he’s powerful and all, but he really couldn’t stand up to Sora.”
Axel wasn’t really listening to the last part of Zexion’s answer. He was too busy gawking at what was behind him. Seeing his slack-jawed expression, Zexion turned his head and saw that what Axel was gawking at, was his current status on the screen.
“Y-You poisoned me?” Axel asked him, appalled, as he slowly took his arm off of Zexion.
“We did what had to be done Axel.” Zexion answered, as he finally told him the truth. “Let’s face it, the two factions in Castle Oblivion are at odds with each other, this is serious business, and we just couldn’t take any chances with you. We knew you would never co-operate anyway, so instead of having to worry whether you‘d join Marluxia or not--”
“--You figured it’d be easier to kill me.” Axel finished.
“Well, when you put it that way it makes us seem sadistic. I’d prefer to put it this way--Hey, wait a second, what are you doing?”
As Zexion was saying this, Axel was a few feet away, rummaging through one of the armoires, seemingly looking for some kind of antidote. Eventually, he found one, and threw it over his head. The antidote dissipated above him and sparkles rained down onto him, curing his poison. Upon seeing this, Zexion rushed over to him and tried to stop him from healing himself further. Axel turned around quickly and shoved him against the wall, and as he did so, he grabbed a hi-potion from the table and kept it concealed within his cloak. He then released Zexion from his grip and continued out the door, in hopes to leave this dreadful place.
Zexion, not giving up so easily, had another trick up his sleeve. He stretched his arm out, and a bright flash filled the room. Axel, who was about to open the door, stopped in his tracks, and suddenly developed an excruciating headache. He clutched his skull with both hands and bent down in pain. He shook his head vigorously, and moved around as much as he could, trying to get rid of the aching. He banged himself on the table, and swiped a few test tubes off of it as he swiped his arm. He made a complete mess of the laboratory, but Zexion though it would be worth it. Eventually, the ache subsided abruptly, and Axel, still standing low and clutching his head, decided to open his eyes. He felt cold.
Axel was in another world. A world filled with snow, snow as far as the eye can see. There was an endless blizzard, with the wind blowing in Axel’s face. He looked around as best as he could, and all he could see beyond the flurry of snowflakes, was snow and mountains of snow further away. He felt very cold. He tried walking, but the thick white powder was up to his ankles, he could barely make a few steps before falling down. The snow felt absolutely horrible on his face. It was wet, chilly and too bright for the eyes. Soon enough, Axel managed to get back up, and he immediately tried to materialize a dark portal...nothing.
Colder and colder it got, and eventually, Axel couldn’t take it anymore. He screamed. He screamed as loud as he could and unleashed his fiery power. A small of aura of flames surrounded him as he did so. The aura got bigger and bigger as Axel yelled louder and louder, and eventually, thick flames surrounded him. Heat, he could feel, as he screamed out into the distance. He was screaming as loud as he possibly could, and produced a fiery explosion everywhere around him. The blizzard stopped, and all the snow melted instantly...then he woke up.
Axel was lying on the floor of the laboratory, he was still at the same place he was before. He looked up, and saw the door he was heading for. He looked on the opposite side and saw Zexion, who had just dropped a vial.
“I-Impossible...” Zexion said, flabbergasted. “H-H-How did you even manage to get out of there.”
Without saying a word, Axel got back up and stared at Zexion for a long time. The Cloaked Schemer felt quite uncomfortable with this, and could tell that The Flurry of Dancing Flames was very angry.
After a few seconds, Axel turned around and headed out the door, into the main room, where Lexaeus, Vexen and Larxene appeared to be waiting for him. However, before entering the next room completely, he turned his head back towards Zexion and uttered:
“Thanks for healing my wounds, jackass.”
He then proceeded out the door, quietly.
Zexion stayed in the same spot he was, and pondered. He looked back down at his feet, and saw the broken vial. The poisoned, liquid substance it contained was spread out on the floor, and was quickly dissipating. The Cloacked Schemer felt his plans were going in the same direction.
-----------------------------
Axel headed out the door and into the main basement room, where Larxene was waiting for him, and where Vexen and Lexaeus were not even expecting him.
“Axel.” Vexen said, with a surprised look on his face. “W-What are you doing here... (Pause)...so early?”
Axel said nothing to Vexen, and soon turned his head towards Larxene, who had started talking.
“It’s about time.” She said, as she got up. “Come on, Axel. Marluxia needs to speak to you in the main room.”
Axel nodded silently and Larxene proceeded out the door. Before doing the same, he gave Vexen a long, hard glare, left the chamber. As soon as he did, Vexen got up and marched to the laboratory. He opened the door abruptly and felt that he had hit something, he opened up the door, saw Zexion, lying in a corner, holding his face. Instead of helping him back up, The scientist chastised him:
“What did you do?”
“You healed his wounds?” Said Zexion, as he got back up from off the floor. “What is wrong with you?”
“Well, I couldn’t possibly leave him like that! When you told me that Larxene had come, I healed him slightly, so that she might not suspect too much were she to find out, it would’ve also made Axel less suspicious should he have woken up. I told myself that even if he did, the poison would surely get to him in no time, but you sure put a stop to that, now didn’t you?”
“I wasn’t expecting him to wake up! If I was, than I would’ve surely finished him off while he was still lying down!”
“You couldn’t have done that you fool, Larxene would’ve surely found out!”
“Why couldn’t you just tell me why you couldn’t finish Axel off, instead of just saying that it was a long story?”
Vexen, infuriated, went up to the computer terminal and fiddled with it, to check up on a few of his documents. Zexion, however, discouraged him, saying:
“Why are you even bothering? We’re not going to get Axel back by looking at that ridiculous computer, which by the way, why was there--”
“All these files have been viewed recently...” Vexen said to himself, ignoring Zexion’s question. “I say, I haven’t looked them up in quite a while. Zexion what did you do?” He said as he turned around.
“Nothing, I just checked up on what you were researching.”
“Does privacy mean nothing to you?”
“We’re in this together Vexen, me and Lexaeus have as much of a right to use that computer as you do. Furthermore, I wouldn’t try to play innocent and act all appalled if I were you, I found some pretty shady stuff on there.”
“Are you accusing me of something?”
“I just have questions that I want answered Vexen.”
“Well, there isn’t any time for this! The fact of the matter is that Larxene and Marluxia have a hold of Axel, and we have to do something about this at once.”
“That’s a great way to avoid a confession, Vexen...” Zexion muttered very subtly.
“What?”
“This doesn’t necessarily mean anything.” Zexion continued, ignoring what he had just said. “Axel might double cross them, he’s actually quite a bit more cunning than we give him credit for.”
“Will you stop it? There’s no going around this, Axel will join them and they will ruin us!”
Vexen put his hand on his forehead to ponder. After a few seconds, he came up with a plan.
“We will leave the replicas here.” He said.
“What?” Zexion asked.
“Don’t worry, I have a plan. We’ll leave now, and lock down the laboratory. Then, when Xemnas discovers what’s been going on here, he’ll have the other three terminated. After that, we come out of hiding, take all the replicas and leave the organization for good.”
“That plan sounds a little cowardly.”
“I say, it doesn’t matter. We have no other choice at this point. Saix will no doubt keep us under cover.”
“Uh...”
“All right, then it’s settled. You go warn Lexaeus, I’ll pay Marluxia a visit.”
“Why?”
“He knows why...”
Soon after, Vexen went out the door, leaving Zexion alone in the room, scratching his head.
--------------------------------
Larxene had brought Axel back into the main room, where Marluxia was waiting for him. After the salutations, to which there was no comment on how Axel had been absent for quite a long time, the three of them sat down on the table, Marluxia sitting on one side, and Larxene and Axel sitting on opposite sides beside him.
“Now Axel,” Marluxia started. “As you may have noticed, castle Oblivion has been split into two different factions. Vexen, Zexion and Lexaeus have control of the basements, and Larxene and I have control of the upper floor levels here. What they’re doing down there is beyond me, but Larxene has informed me that you spent some time conversing with them. Now, you have a choice: You can either tell us what the three in the basement are plotting, if you know anything at all, and consequently join our faction, which I like to call the Flower Power faction. Or, you can choose to betray us, and join those which have already betrayed us, thereby instantly putting you on my list of enemies, and forcing me to terminate you by any means possible.” Marluxia’s tone became angrier as he continued. “And if you dare run and hide from me, I will hunt you down and find you, even if it means traveling to the ends of the universe. I will do my very best to destroy you, and all those you hold dear. I will force you to go through the worst kind of torture you can possibly imagine, and if, during said torture, you should near death at any time, I’ll revive you just enough so that I can continue torturing you! You’ll never escape! Never, I say! And no one will be safe from me! Not you, not Larxene, and especially not Xemnas! Why, with Sora on my side, the world is my oyster!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!! The Supreme Gardener is invincible! I--”
“Marluxia!” Larxene interrupted, before he got any crazier. “Stick to the subject please.”
“Aah...yes.” Marluxia responded, as he cleared his throat and calmed down. “So, Axel. You’ll have to choose now. Whose it gonna be? Me or Vexen?”
Axel looked at Marluxia, who was looking back with a piercing gaze, he then looked back at Larxene, who had her head turned and was obviously thinking about something else. He turned his head back to Marluxia, who was still gazing upon him, and pondered some more.
“Well, Axel?” Marluxia asked once more. “What’s it going to be? Frankly, I’d prefer you answer me in the next five minutes, I have a haircut scheduled for five O’clock.”
“There aren’t any hairdressers here, you nimrod.” Larxene told him.
“There is if I say there is!” Marluxia answered angrily, as he turned his head towards Larxene. “Now, shut up!”
“So, you think that whatever you feel like having will magically appear in front of you because you decreed it?”
“No, I’m saying that there is a hairdresser around here, because my superior intellect tells me there is, that’s all.”
“Says the one who didn’t even know there was a Chinese restaurant down the block.”
“Larxene! I--”
“I’ll join you.” Axel interrupted, in the middle of Marluxia and Larxene’s heated debate.
“You will?” Marluxia asked sceptically, as he turned his head back towards Axel. “I mean....of course you will!” He repeated, more confidently.
“You’re actually going to side with us Axel?” Larxene asked. “You do realize that this is serious business, don’t you? You can’t be expected to leave at any time you want.”
“...Or toy with anymore clocks...” Marluxia added. “Well actually, you can’t be expected to do that anyway since I broke the clock.”
“You two won’t have to worry about anything. I’ll give you my word that I’ll stay here no matter what.”
“All right...” Marluxia said, as he examined Axel closely. “Uh...let me just talk about this with Larxene, for a moment. Larxene?” He said, turning his head towards her.
Without saying a word, Larxene got up and went over to the corner of the room, where Marluxia went soon after. Axel sat at the table and pondered as they whispered from afar:
“He seems to be telling the truth.” Marluxia said to Larxene.
“Yeah, I can tell.” Larxene responded. “I’ve never seen him more serious. He seems to be angry at Vexen and the others for some reason.”
“Really? What did you notice when you went to pick him up?”
“Well, when I went to pick him up, first of all, it took Vexen a pretty long time to get him out, I also heard some strange sounds coming from the laboratory?”
“Laboratory?”
“Yeah, that’s where they were keeping Axel.”
“They kept him in the lab!” Marluxia whispered loudly. “Who knows what they did to him! Maybe they planted some kind of hidden camera inside him!”
“I’m pretty sure Axel would’ve been aware of it, he seemed to have some kind of grudge against them when he came out. I don’t think he’d let them experiment on him that easily.”
Marluxia stroked his chin, pondering what could’ve happened in that laboratory. After a few seconds, continued questioning Larxene.
“He had a grudge against them, you say?”
“Yeah, I was talking waiting for them in the main room of the basement, and Axel and Vexen both came out at the same time, and before I left with Axel, he gave Vexen a long, scornful glare.”
“Wa-wa-wait a minute.” Said Marluxia, trying to get his bearings straight. “Are you actually saying that you were in the main room of the basement? What did it look like? Was it tacky? Was it dark and gloomy?”
“Marluxia! This isn’t the time!”
“Answer the question!”
“Marluxia!”
“Answer!”
Meanwhile, Axel was still sitting down at the table, and after seeing those two bickering and whispering, he wondered if what they were talking about could possibly be of any importance.
“So,” His conscience said. “it’s come to this has it?”
“Don’t worry.” Axel assured it. “Don’t you worry.”
“Uh-huh…”
The two snickered to each other, and patted each other on the back on how great of a plan they had just developed. Meanwhile, 5 feet away, Larxene and Marluxia continued bickering while whispering.
“Yes! Yes, it was tacky!” Larxene said, wanting to get back on subject as soon as possible. “Are you happy now?”
“And...” Marluxia added, wanting Larxene to continue. The Savage Nymph sighed, this time she sighed a sigh of desperation.
“...And dark, and whatever it is that you hate. It had absolutely everything that you could possibly hate in a room.”
“What about the wallpaper?”
“Marluxia, all the walls in the castle are white, we have no wallpaper.”
“Well, obviously you’ve never seen my room.”
“With my luck, I probably will.”
“Larxene, will you please stick to the subject? Honestly, it amazes me how much you can trail off sometimes.”
The moment Marluxia finished his sentence, he felt a sharp, pain on his hand. A short of static shock. Quickly, he shook his hand and held it with his other one, gawking at it to see if any damage was done. Larxene had her index finger pointed towards him, indicating that she had just shocked him.
“Very original, Larxene. Now, you were telling me about Vexen’s glare?”
“Axel’s glare.” Larxene corrected. “He gave Vexen a mean one before leaving.”
“Excellent...” Marluxia said, with an evil grin on his face. “With him mad at Vexen, this’ll be twice as easy.”
“I’m still not sure if we should trust him completely, though. He seems to have the markings of a double agent.”
“Although...we can’t be completely sure that he’s on our side. After all, he’s always been quite the double agent.”
“Uh...Marluxia...I-I just said that...”
“Well, we could always just get rid of him if things don’t go our way.”
“Marluxia, are you even listening to me? Do you even know that I’m here?”
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what develops. It shouldn’t take too long, anyway.”
“(Sighs) You aren’t listening to me.”
“Then it’s settled, we’ll have Axel join our team, on the condition that he does what I say.”
With that, Marluxia went back tot he table to tell Axel. Larxene followed shortly after rolling her eyes behind Marluxia’s back.
Marluxia approached Axel and spoke:
“Axel, we’ve decided that if you’re really serious about joining us, ridding us of our traitors, and taking over the Organization with us, then we will let you join. Are you willing?”
“Yes.” Axel said, as he got up. “Yes I am.”
“Oh...alright then...uh...you may go to your chamber for now. Larxene will be in shortly to brief you in on what we’ve done so far.”
“Good.” Axel said, casually.
Upon saying that, Axel got up and proceeded slowly towards the guest room. Before opening the door, however, he stopped and turned back towards the two.
“Oh, and Marluxia, Larxene...before I go along with this, I’d like to take the time to apologize about what happened earlier.
“Do you mean how you thrashed Larxene?” Marluxia said. Larxene responded by elbowing him in the stomach.
“Well, the whole fight sequence was completely out of line, I really feel terrible about it...well, I mean: I would feel terrible about it, if I could indeed feel those emotions. You know what I mean...”
“Oh...yes, of course.”
“You were completely right-”
“As always.” Marluxia interrupted quite abruptly.
Axel stared at him strangely for a few seconds before continuing where he had left off.
“--I should never have left the castle in the first place. This time, I’m going to be quite aware about what’s going on.”
“Well, that’s a nice thing to say, Axel. I’m glad to hear that coming out of your mouth.”
“So, no hard feelings?”
“Oh...of course not.” Marluxia answered. “I’m just glad you were able to apologise, Axel.”
Axel smirked.
“All right then. see you later.” He said, as he turned back and entered the guest room, leaving Larxene and Marluxia to scratch their heads.
- Status