Chapter Text
DAY 8:
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Morning came way too fast for Sora, like it usually did. But at least it was morning this time, and not the middle of the freaking afternoon again.
He expected to feel well-rested but the ache in his chest was still thrumming just as strong as the day before. Man. hopefully that would go away soon, and he’d finally feel better.
Sora glanced out the window again for a moment, before deciding to get up. He lingered at the window before yawning loudly and rubbing his eyes to get the leftover sleepiness out of them. There thankfully was a bathroom connected to each of the bedrooms in the castle, apparently- that way he didn’t need to try and find one -so he went in to splash cold water on his face to help wake himself up more. He was about to leave and collect the coat to start finding where he needed to go, but something stopped him. His reflection in the mirror...that wasn’t his face, was it? Or maybe it was his hair that didn’t seem like his? Something didn’t seem right, but Sora genuinely wasn’t sure if he was just making things up, so he shrugged at himself in the mirror and made his way back to his bed. He noticed it the day before too though...
He reached out for the coat splayed over the end frame. It would probably be better for Sora to get to the Gray Area sooner than later. Saix told him he had to be earlier today.
The bed, once again left a mess, caused him to smile at it as he left the room. Something about the gesture was comforting. A messy bed? Definitely still Sora, despite the new name he had been given.
Oh. He really did need to get his new name memorized, as Axel had put it...he had to keep reminding himself that he was Roxas now.
Now to find the Grey Area again...mhm, which direction was it again?
This time it didn’t take as long to find where he was looking for. A few of those weird squiggly white creatures he’d seen around the castle helped him find his way so that was nice. They did freak him out a bit at first though, but they were definitely helpful with what they had to say.
Axel and Saix were in the Grey Area already when Roxas stepped into the room. As soon as he came within earshot he got called over harshly by Saix... he seemed mildly irritated, and Roxas wondered if that was just his default expression. He’d yet to see the guy look any different than indifferent mocking. That x-shaped scar on Saix's face kept catching his eye too. It looked almost nastier than Xigbar’s cheek scar, and Roxas kept having to tell himself not to stare at it.
Averting his eyes from Saix, Roxas’s eyes trailed to the window behind him, his eyes resting on his own reflection once more. Something definitely wasn’t right. What was up with his reflection? It was different than what he was supposed to look like, right?
“Roxas,” Saix’s deep and unexpected voice drew his attention immediately, his eyes shooting back up to the blue-haired man, “your work begins today. I will issue missions to you, which the organization expects you to carry out.” Saix droned, looking at Roxas expectantly. “You will report to me each morning to receive them, and upon your return, you are expected to write a report on your progress and success and return it to me.”
Roxas glanced to the clipboard Saix was holding, and looked back, not knowing what to say. What was he saying? Missions?
Saix nodded and, unamused with the lack of response, continued, “Think of these early missions as... exercises . You still have much to learn before you’re anywhere close enough for us to put you to a real test.” Was that an insult to his skill? He was a hero! Well, Goofy’s happy tone reminded him in his head, they were still Junior Heroes. But that was close enough in his book! The three of them had saved like 7 worlds and a space whale from the Heartless. Whatever Phil said was just him being a stink.
Roxas made a face at the man in his distaste, “Wha? What’s that supposed to mean?” Roxas exclaimed. “Pardon me, but I think I’m already pretty good with my Keyblade!” But then the silencing look that he received in response made him stop abruptly and rub at the back of his neck...oh would you look at that? The floor was suddenly very interesting.
“Oh, I, uh...sorry, I guess I could...do that. Oh!” He blinked, remembering that the floor wasn’t actually interesting anymore, “I’ll use the missions to prove it to you!” His arm lowered from his neck and he held it in a fist in front of himself with a determined smile on his face. He...admittedly wasn’t really in it and it quickly faded.
Dummy, that’s what the man meant by the early missions anyway ! But Roxas had to go and blab his big mouth again. He really had a nasty habit of digging holes for himself verbally, but usually, his company appreciated it. He didn’t think Saix did, though.
“Right. If you’re quite done , Roxas, then you should be off. Axel will be joining you your first time out.” Saix glanced over his shoulder towards the window once more to where Axel was leaning. “Isn’t that right, Axel?” His voice held a bit of a knowing edge to it that Roxas couldn’t place.
With an indignant sounding noise, Axel uncrossed his arms, “What? Oh boy, you’re making me the kid’s mentor now?” It almost sounded like a friendly jab. Friendly? Hmmm, Roxas liked the idea of Axel being his friend.
Though Roxas didn’t hear the rest of the short conversation or notice when Saix walked away, he quickly forced a large smile on his face. “Woah, woah, now kid, yeesh. It’s just a practice mission. Just me, tellin’ you what to do, and you doing it. Easy peasy.” Axel muttered.
The half-formed smile slid off his face as he nodded to the dark corridor that Saix had made to their mission destination. Or maybe Axel had made it, Roxas hadn’t been paying attention. “If it’s that easy and boring, then let’s make the most of it.” Was Roxas trying too hard? He had wanted to sound excited, but he just couldn’t quite grasp onto the feeling himself, and it sounded much more flat than intended. He rubbed the back of his head, then shuffled over to the portal.
What was up with him? It felt as though he were trying too hard with everything he’s said so far this morning.
Axel did follow, but not before muttering, “Man, what happened to being a zombie? Kid’s really a ball of energy now...what’s a Nobody got with forcing energy like that anyway? And what’s a Nobody like me gotta deal with it? Gee.”
Why does Axel keep calling both of them Nobodies? Wasn’t that kind of rude?
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In hindsight maybe it wasn’t the best idea to walk blindly into a dark corridor not knowing where exactly it led, but Axel soon came to take charge. Roxas took a moment to look around, to find an ordinary underground...area. It wasn’t particularly special, or remotely threatening due to the bright orange lighting and large numbered walls. A little claustrophobic maybe, but not uninviting.
There was...nothing there. Axel cracked his knuckles and looked around as well. “Erm… what’re we supposed to do on missions, Axel?” Roxas questioned.
“Well, you...um, usually there’s a briefing or...I dunno, a brief synopsis of…” Axel scratched his chin and trailed off. But then he grimaced and slumped his shoulders, “This one’s a bit vague, and you know what? Talking is dumb. Let’s just go. Probably some Heartless somewhere in these tunnels you could slash with that key thing of yours. Bit hungry too, so get slashing on those Emblem brats. Just make sure to leave some Purebloods for me too though, can’t have you hoggin all of them, you know.”
He...eats heartless? You can do that?! Did he expect Roxas to eat them too? That sounded disgusting, but why didn’t he hate that idea though!? He’d have to evaluate that thought later.
Woah, wait, Heartless ? There were still Heartless around?
Oh, that’s right! He’d never actually got to seal the keyhole in Hollow Bastion with Donald and Goofy! That would mean that the Heartless were still at large...how could he forget something like that?! And he had left both of them and Kairi there with the Heartless. And he didn’t even know about what had happened to Riku. How could he just leave them like that?
But he didn’t know how to get to Hollow Bastion right now. He didn’t have the Gummiship, the time, or...man that wouldn’t really work anyway.
Shouldn’t he be more worried about this? But...
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to...start getting rid of the Heartless that were here. And then work his way up? Along the way, he was bound to find Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy, and at least make sure they were okay. Maybe Leon and the others too. And then he would figure out what exactly to do about his position in the Organization, which he was still pretty convinced was a cult. Whether or not that was a bad thing or not was strictly undecided. So far, it wasn’t bad, and who knew, maybe he’d enjoy it?
Roxas responded nonverbally to Axel by summoning Kingdom Key and jumping up the platforms into the main area of the tunnels. The redhead followed suit. The tunnels were a bit of a maze, the Heartless appearing in random places. There were the large painted numbers on the walls and arrows accompanying them for further guidance if necessary, but Roxas wasn’t paying attention to anything but the Heartless. Why'd he need to pay attention to where he was going if he was just gonna get distracted by Heartless?
He also decided to not watch Axel as he disintegrated and...ate like three Shadows. He decided to further ignore his own hunger. He didn’t want to contemplate the idea of eating...Heartless, he’d pass, thanks.
The monsters that manifested themselves were in small groups only ever getting so big as a Creeper Plant or a Requiem of some kind, but it mostly consisted of Shadows. Easy stuff, but for some reason he was struggling more than he should have been. Was his lack of power due to that week of grogginess? He’d need to regain his strength from the beginning!?
At least he had Axel helping him, he’d just have to build strength as fast as he could! Prove he knew what he was doing. Especially if he was ever going to go out and look for Hollow Bastion again. Couldn’t be too hard, right?
Mindlessly chopping through Heartless though, even with his strength considered, was what he was unfortunately very used to doing lately. If he had access to getting rid of the Heartless like before, then he’d catch his strength back up in no time.
“There ya go, nice job!” Axel told him after they finished dispatching what looked like the last group of Heartless for the time being. Roxas was about to thank him, but he continued, “But don’t go thinking you can just run and jump your way through every mission, Roxas.”
“Oh, but that’s what I do best, Axel! Usually works out just fine.” Roxas dispelled his Keyblade and crossed his arms behind his head in a comfortable manner. He leaned back to hold most of his weight on one leg.
Axel shook his head, “Don’t think so, buddy, after all you’re here in the organization aren’t ya?” Roxas didn’t have time to contemplate that before he yelled “You’ve got to BE AWARE!!” The fiery redhead bent down and exclaimed with a dramatic swinging of his arms. Roxas’s arms fell slowly from behind his head.
“What...what do you mean by that?”
Axel rested his hand on Roxas’s head again and gestured to the tunnels around them, this time the teen decided to actually push the hand off of his head. At this rate the redhead seemed like he really wanted to mess up Roxas’s hair spikes on purpose, so he took one of his own gloved hands and ran it through the mess in a futile attempt to ‘fix’ it.
“What I mean is that you hafta look around sometimes, Rox. Take in your surroundings, not just rush through things. Sometimes what you’re lookin’ for’ll be right under your nose. Got that memorized?” Once again, Axel pointed a finger to his temple. He really liked doing that, didn’t he?
“Y-yeah that makes sense…” Busted. Roxas was never good at finding secrets, usually, it was Goofy who noticed those things, being exceptionally observant of their surroundings. After all, he and Axel had already combed through a good part of the tunnels already, and Roxas hadn’t been looking out for any chest or secret. If they had already passed something like that, he wasn’t sure.
“Great, so let's take a little road test, then, shall we? There’s a chest hidden somewhere in these passageways, and I want you to find it. Now lead the way, kid, and don’t hurt yourself tryin’.” He rested his hands on Roxas’s back and lightly shoved him forward. Right, okay, finding one chest wasn’t hard. Axel was touchy, he found. Roxas could be like that too sometimes, but only with people he really knew.
Finding the chest only took a few sweeps of the hallways, thankfully, the prize rested in front of a blocked-off grate. Wasting no time in opening it, Roxas pulled out the potion that was hidden inside of it and looked at Axel questioningly. “Yeah, you can keep all the spoils, bud. Now, all we hafta do is RTC.” The tall redhead gave him thumbs up and a wink.
“RTC? What’s that mean?” Roxas asked as he shoved his newly earned potion hastily into his pocket.
“Oh, you know, RTC. ‘Return To the Castle’. All that jazz.”
Was that all that was expected of him to do for a mission? That was it? Roxas grumbled under his breath, “I could have done that with my eyes closed…”
Axel scoffed. He had seemingly heard the retort. “Well, you didn’t. But okay smart ass, you’re coming with me for a little icing on the cake before we RCT then. Because you did such a good job finding that chest.”
The icing on the cake sounded oddly familiar, and Roxas heard the friendly tease in the older man’s voice, so he let the ‘smart ass’ comment slide too. “Um. Aren’t we supposed to report back right away? Saix seemed so...grumpy about it.”
“Later. Don’t you remember our hangout?” In fact, Roxas did not. But that didn’t stop him from following Axel out of the tunnels regardless. The town the two of them walked through was beautiful with a lazy haze blanketing each and every one of the red and orange buildings, and a sky so bright a mix of orange, red, and pink that it almost danced like fire.
Had Roxas been here before? He didn’t think so.
Axel told him to wait while he popped into a shop on the edge of what looked like one of the more populated areas, though with the lazy and comfortable haze he didn’t see too many people about, most likely enjoying their time doing whatever it was that people did here.
The town was calm and comfortable.
And so was the top of the clock tower above the train station where Axel led him. They used the rickety stairs to get up there, which was rather tiring.
Even being as high up as it was it was such a relaxing place, Roxas couldn’t help but lose himself to the view. It had to be one of the most beautiful things Roxas had ever seen, and he’d seen a lot of pretty stuff on the many worlds he’d been to.
The ice cream that Axel had gotten for the both of them, Sea Salt as Axel had reminded him, was tastier than anything he’d had before. He thought, at least.
The redhead was adamant that a week ago they had both been up here with ice cream just like this. The icing on the cake to commemorate him for joining the Organization apparently. He was called a Zombie again for this, just like he was for most things. Roxas didn't remember being up here with Axel last week, but he was glad that Axel brought him back up here.
Axel was nice company, and Roxas enjoyed the comfortable silence that settled around them. Until he broke it, of course. He did rather enjoy talking, especially when he had a new friend to entertain. Axel seemed to disagree, but he had to be bluffing, Roxas would argue the point that he did enjoy Roxas’s company. And he did argue it. Why else would he take him up to their ‘hangout’ as he had put it?
Roxas was almost uncharacteristically excited to write about his day in that journal too, skipping through dinner and uninterested glances from the other organization members. If only he had ever been this excited to write anything for school, but hey this was different. He didn’t enjoy writing the mission report though and had trouble coming up with something fulfilling to say for ‘I found the chest’, but settled for writing just that. Saix looked unamused, but he seems like a huge stick in the mud. Seems like his assumption that Saix’s default mood was grumpy was right.
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DAY 8:
“I went on my first mission today. Thankfully it was with Axel and not one of the other members. I don’t think they like me very much, but I hope to change that if I can! They keep throwing around the term ‘nobody’ as well, that doesn't seem very nice either. Doesn't seem like they're just calling me that, though.
Axel took me up to the top of the clock tower in Twilight Town after our mission and we had ice cream. He said it was called Sea Salt ice cream, and it has to be my new favorite flavor. It... really reminds me of the islands. Also, apparently, Axel had brought me up there for the same thing when I first joined the organization a week ago? I don’t remember that.”
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