"Sorry, but she'll be coming with me."
He reaches a hand out and places it on your shoulder, and a whoosh of air hits your body as you're catapulted into darkness. You feel as if you're about to implode due to the incredible amount of pressure surrounding you, until you finally stop moving and appear on top of what appears to be a gigantic cliff. You're in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but caverns and canyons surrounding you.
"What the... Where the hell am I?!" you exclaim, glancing around anxiously.
"Don't worry yourself with such trivial matters."
You snap around, eyes focusing on the man in black standing behind you. You turn your body around to fully face him, your heart racing.
"Who are you?" you ask nervously, almost in a whisper.
He tilts his head slightly as if studying you as he takes a step forward.
"And what makes you think you deserve to know my name?" he inquires.
You open your mouth slightly, at a total loss for words. You can hear him laugh quietly to himself as he continues to make his way towards you.
"I'm Vanitas. Have you heard of me?"
He reaches a hand out and places his pointer finger under your chin, tilting your face up so you're looking right at him as he stands in front of you. You move your head out of his grasp, clenching your fists angrily.
"Don't touch me," you mutter, glancing down at the ground.
"Not too friendly, are you? Hm. Then why are those SOLIDERs so enamored, ready to die for you?"
Your eyes snap up towards him, wondering how he knew you were involved with SOLDIER.
"They're not," you finally argue.
"You're naive as well? I guess that makes sense, from what I've been told about you."
"What have you been told?" you ask, curiosity getting the best of you.
"That you're apparently special... Different. I don't see it, though."
You glare at him as you try to take a step back, but he quickly reaches down and roughly grabs your arm to keep you in place.
"Why do you know who I am?" you press.
"You really haven't heard of me? I'm surprised... Just think of me as a creature born from the darkness and the hatred in people's hearts."
"So... You're not a Nobody?" you ask slowly.
He shakes his head in a silent 'no', but doesn't reply.
"Then... why are we here? So you can... ask me questions?" you guess hopefully.
He leans towards you, placing his mouth close to your ear. You can feel his warm breath lightly hitting the side of your face as he lets out a deep exhale.
"Silly girl; I'm here to destroy you."
Your eyes widen as he suddenly floats up into the air, his arms rising up to his sides. His hands start to turn bright red, and crippling panic sets in as balls of fire suddenly appear in his hands. The fireballs come hurtling towards you, and you let out a gasp before you jump to the side, falling to the ground as the fireballs explode in the ground beside you. You quickly hop back up to your feet, pulling out your gun and pointing it at him. Without hesitation you shoot your gun at him, once, twice, three times. He lets out a laugh as he holds out his hand, and the bullets come to a complete stop. He twirls a finger, and the bullets suddenly whizz towards you. You try to run out of the way, but you aren't fast enough; a cry of pain escapes your lips as one of the bullets lodges itself into your shoulder.
"That was easy," he notes as he floats back to the ground, landing directly in front of your kneeled position.
You gasp in shock as he reaches down and presses a gloved finger against the bullet hole in your shoulder. Blood starts to pour out even faster, and your grit your teeth in pain.
"Humans are so pathetic. You're not even putting up a fight. I could probably stomp you like a bug beneath my shoe..."
Just as he says that you violently shake your body, and are successfully able to wrench yourself free from his grasp. You jump backwards, grabbing your sword and raising your uninjured arm. You dash towards him, slashing your sword across his chest. He's able to dart out of the way just in time and smacks you across the face with his hand, which is holding a small knife. You cry out and momentarily grab your cheek, which now has a long gash across it, before running forward again with your sword. He dashes towards you, ducking underneath your sword before jumping forward and kicking you in the stomach. You fly backwards, your back roughly hitting a boulder as you fall to the ground. You let out a tiny yelp as he runs forward and reaches a hand down and grabs a chunk of your hair, pulling your face up to his. He was too fast for you, much too strong... You had never felt weaker in your whole life.
With his free hand he grabs the black mask covering his entire head, slowly pulling it off. Your eyes widen when you realize that he looks just like a clone of Sora and Roxas, only with jet-black hair and bright yellow eyes.
"How did you do it? How did you make a Nobody fall in love with you?!" he hisses, continuing to pull on your hair. "Did you seduce him? It would make sense, even those without hearts can feel lust."
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," you stutter, blood starting to trickle into your mouth from the cut on your cheek.
"There has to be something about you, something that would make a Nobody risk it all just to be with a pathetic human..." he continues, twisting your head slightly as he leans closer to you.
"I'm not pathetic!" you exclaim, an arm flying up to your hair as he suddenly pulls on your hair so hard that it feels like it's about to rip out of your scalp.
You're able to dig your fingernails into his hand and he lets out a laugh. He finally releases your hair before slapping you hard across the face. You fall to the ground face-first, dirt mixing with the blood on your cheek. Shakily, you move to a kneeling position before standing to your feet, glaring over at Vanitas. You spit out some blood before running a hand across your mouth.
"So, you came here to kill me? Is that it? Kill me as a way of punishing Roxas?" you guess.
He chuckles, taking a step towards you. You cry out as he grabs your neck, his fingers lying over the still-sore scars left by Larxene. Your breath is starting to get labored as he squeezes your neck with unbelievable strength, slowly closing off your oxygen intake. Fingers desperately claw at his gloved hands, but they have no impact on his grasp.
"If that happens, then so be it. But no, I was sent here to study you since I'm a bit more perceptive than the Nobodies. You've caused quite the dilemma with the Organization; did you know that? We just can't figure out who would choose you over a heart."
"Maybe not all of us are completely heartless, got it memorized?"
You let out a small sigh of relief at the recognizable voice behind you. You try to move your head to look behind you, but Vanitas has an iron-tight grip on your neck.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Vanitas asks, his eyes narrowed in anger.
"Finally choosing a side."
You feel a gush of hot air blow past you, and you're quickly dropped to the ground. You take a deep breath of much-needed air before you snap your head up to see a wall of fire surrounding you, separating Vanitas and Axel from you.
"Axel!" you cry out as you crawl to your feet.
"Stay back," he orders as he raises his arms, fire suddenly surrounding him as he turns into a human fireball.
He runs towards Vanitas, who hops backwards before sending a burst of dark energy towards the flaming redhead. Axels closes his eyes as he reaches a hand out, absorbing the ball of darkness. Axel smirks as he raises an arm, sending a wall of fire hurtling towards Vanitas. You can hear Vanitas cry out as he fails to move out of the way in time and his arm catches on fire. He shoots Axel a glare before disappearing in a poof of thick, black smoke. The fire around you slowly starts to fade, revealing Axel scowling at where Vanitas had been standing. He quickly turns his attention towards you, the hardened look on his face softening.
"[Name]," he mutters, walking over to you, "are you okay?"
You grimace slightly as he places a hand on your shoulder, over the bullet wound.
"I'm fine, but what about you? What will the Organization say if they find out you helped me?"
"They can bite me for all I care. I'm leaving the Organization," he replies.
"Wha – why? Won't they kill you?!" you exclaim, eyes widening in surprise.
He lets out a chuckle.
"I'd love to see them try. Fire's pretty indestructible, got it memorized?"
You peer around the male, looking at the scorched ground behind him. He's not wrong; you still aren't sure how he managed to hit Vanitas with his flames, but you're eternally grateful.
"Well... Not that I don't appreciate the help, but what are you doing here, Axel?" you finally ask.
He smiles slightly as he rests a hand against the side of your face, the side that doesn't have a gigantic gash on it.
"Doing something I should have done awhile ago."
Your eyes widen as he suddenly leans down, placing his lips over yours. His hand slowly moves towards your hair as your eyes flutter closed and you hesitantly wrap your arms around his waist, feeling the natural heat emanating from his body. There's an unmistakable taste of blood and sweat in your mouth, but neither of you seem to mind.
"So, this is where your loyalty lies?"
You and Axel quickly break apart, glancing back to see Vanitas and Vexen standing there. Vanitas sneers slightly as he holds a hand up to his arm, which you notice has a rather large burn on it from Axel's earlier attack.
Axel starts to walk forward, holding an arm out to stop you from trying to follow him.
"Yeah, I guess it is. You know what, I think I finally understand why Roxas left. He realized that the more you're around people, the more human you become. Hearts aren't the only factor, got it memorized?"
Vexen scoffs loudly.
"Then you're just as foolish as XIII. Don't throw away everything for which we've worked for some stupid girl."
Axel glances back at you with a sly smirk before focusing his attention on the Nobody and Vanitas.
"I wouldn't expect you to get it, Vex. She's... different."
"So I've heard," Vexen sneers.
"How about I rip her open, see what makes her tick?" Vanitas suggests, summoning a black and red Keyblade in his hand as he starts to march towards you.
Axel turns around and quickly raises his hand, creating a portal behind you. He gives you a sad smile before pushing you through it.
"No, Axel!" you cry out as you fall backwards through the portal.
The last thing you're able to see is a burst of flames before you'resurrounded by darkness.