PUBLISHED: ???, 2014? (Wattpad only shows most recently edited date, so I've lost the publication date)
EDITED: January 15, 2017
RECAP:
- Roxas found out that Saix was looking for Axel. He told him that Axel was in Twilight Town but tried to divert Saix so that he could warn Axel and Raxmi. Saix found Axel and Raxmi despite this. Axel and Raxmi escaped to Twilight Town's underground tunnels before Saix could attack them.
- The lights in the tunnels went out. When they lit again, Axel was behaving strangely. It turned out it was Zexion disguised as Axel, who was knocked out nearby. Axel fought Zexion until he surrendered.
- Zexion revealed that he wasn't the one who followed and fought Axel in the Castle dungeons. They realised that it must've been a Keyblade wielder.
- A mystery person informed someone that Raxmi's mother is Sukara Taylor. Xigbar told Xemnas the same thing.
STORY STARTS:
Raxmi's P.O.V.
Seifer's room had a similar layout to mine, but there were some noticeable differences. It was bigger and less run-down, since his house was in a slightly better neighbourhood than mine. Not to mention his family actually cared about maintaining their property. The clay-coloured walls weren't decorated with faint cracks like mine were, and the dark wooden floors were smooth and polished, not worn-out. A window about the same size as mine, but without safety locks, was to the left of his unmade bed. On the other side of the room was a wardrobe and an aging wooden dresser with a smudged mirror and various products scattered on it. Despite the bed and the dresser, Seifer kept his room fairly clean, unlike Axel. There were no clothes littering the floor and no dirt anywhere.
I entered the room, having just returned from Seifer's kitchen. "Here, you should use an ice-pack," I said to Axel, handing one to him. Seated on a faded armchair opposite the bed, he gratefully accepted the cold relief for his jaw.
"Fuck's sake, Raxmi. Don't waste my ice on this lamer," Seifer cut in, scowling as he flexed his left hand, which was already beginning to bruise.
Of course, when Axel and I had arrived at my best friend's house, I certainly wasn't expecting him to welcome us with hugs and kisses. Yet even a casual nod of greeting from Seifer would have been nicer than the sharp left hook to Axel's jaw. What brought this on? Well, I had warned Axel before knocking on the door to unwrap his arm from around me and take his hand off my waist. But no. "It'll be fine," he'd said. "That kid can't do anything to me," he'd said.
Seifer pointed an accusatory finger at Axel. "What the hell have you been doing with this bastard anyway?"
"'Bastard'? He hasn't done anything to deserve that, Seifer!" I shot back.
He scoffed at my defensiveness, the glare never leaving his face. "He had his hands all over you; what the hell am I supposed to think?"
"Oh, come on! Rai hugs me all the time, but that's no problem, is it?"
"That's different, he's not...wait, why say that? Has he been harassing you? I'll fucking kill him!"
I facepalmed in exasperation. "No one has been harassing me, Seifer," I sighed, not sure of how much more I could emphasize my point.
Axel winced as he pressed the bone-chilling ice-pack against his jaw. "Well, except for our old Xigbar," he muttered.
Seifer snapped his glare from me to him. "Xigbar? Who the hell is that?"
"An...enemy of mine," Axel replied, glossing over the fact that they were in the same organization. I raised an eyebrow at him, to which he said, "Don't give me that look; you know I hate him."
My best friend growled and crossed his arms. "Xigbar...what a dumbass name..." He turned to me again. "And why the fuck does he get an ice-pack and I don't?"
"Because his face didn't punch your fist," I deadpanned. "Seifer, could you please just hear me out before you jump to conclusions?"
Seifer opened his mouth to protest, but then changed his mind. Grudgingly, he seated himself on his bed, an expectant look on his face. "Go on then. Tell me why I shouldn't throw this charming guy out of my house right now." He gave Axel a sarcastic smile at the words 'charming guy.'
Bracing myself, I began to explain everything from the beginning. What Organization XIII was, how Axel was in it, the beings known as 'Heartless' and 'Nobodies,' how Axel's first job for me was to go on recon and I nearly got attacked my Heartless, Axel's powers, and Kingdom Hearts. I knew that at any moment Seifer would cut in with disbelief.
Sure enough, while I was still explaining Kingdom Hearts, I was interrupted by an outraged Seifer. "Bull. Fucking. Shit." He slammed his hand against the wall in anger and stood up, shooting daggers at me. "Are you out of your mind, Raxmi?! How many times have I told you to be careful? You're always trying to convince me that you're not naive, but look at this ridiculous cocked-up fairy tale that you've fallen f-"
The smell of smoke and a whispery whirring noise suddenly filled the air. Axel had also stood up, with a roll of his eyes and a blank look on his face and was summoning his chakrams. By now, I was used to the phenomenon. But it was still amazing to see the flames flicker and pop and dance around his hands, whirling faster and faster until a sizzling flash of light burst out, subsiding to leave behind his shining weapons. "Like what you see?" Axel commented smoothly, flicking his wrists to spin the chakrams casually in his hands. "As it so happens, this cocked-up fairy tale that naive Raxmi has fallen for is not as ridiculous as you so eloquently said."
Seifer opened his mouth and closed it, gaping like a fish. "You...how..."
"She already told you," Axel cut him off. "I'm a Nobody. My element is fire. These are my weapons."
The blonde stared unblinkingly at the air around Axel, searching for some kind of a hint to an optical illusion. I hesitantly cleared my throat and waved my hands in front of his face. "May I please finish?" I requested.
Still stunned, he sat back down again, looking at Axel with awe and a little trepidation. I carried on where I had left on. I then moved on to how Xigbar had threatened me weeks ago, my kidnapping last night because I knew too much, the way Axel had rescued me, how we were attacked in the Underground Tunnels and Axel had fought hard to protect me. Also, how Axel and I had confessed our feelings to each other.
When I had finished, Seifer asked the question that had obviously been playing on his mind from the start. "Does Dawson know?"
I looked at him incredulously. "Of course not!" I exclaimed. "Why would I tell him?" The mere thought was absurd.
"What, you think he won't find out eventually?"
His statement was met with a roll of my eyes. "Don't worry, he'll be too drunk to notice," I replied with a smile.
Axel glanced back and forth between the two of us, and eventually raised his hand to ask a question. "Is someone going to tell me who Dawson is?" he asked curiously.
Seifer scoffed. "You think you can date her without even knowing that? Raxmi, come on!"
I laughed at his reaction. "Calm yourself, Seifer," I told him, then turned to Axel. "I told you my name was Raxmi Taylor, right? Legally, I should've introduced myself as Raxmi Dawson. That's my dad's family name. A few years ago, I decided to go by Taylor instead; it's my mother's maiden name."
"Why?" he questioned, furrowing his eyebrows. "And you've never mentioned your mother before. What happened with her?"
Incredulously, Seifer shook his head. "Are you serious? You haven't told him that, either?"
Ignoring my friend, I sat myself on the foot of the bed so that I could directly face Axel. "That's the reason why I was taking you somewhere. Remember, before Zexion attacked us? I was going to take you to a place where I could explain all of that."
Axel leaned forward, holding my hands in his. "So explain to me now."
* * *
???'s P.O.V.
He leaned back in his chair and inhaled slowly. "Who is Sukara Taylor?" I demanded again. What was so special about this Raxmi's mother?
Instead of replying, a smile played on his lips as he set down his papers onto the desk nearby. "Where did the Keyblades come from?" he quizzed me.
I blinked at the absurdity of his random question. "What does this have to do with..."
"Do you know?"
Combing through my memories, I tried to think of an answer. The original weapon was the x-blade, and Keyblades were created as imperfect recreations of it. They've been in history; before the Keyblade War, obviously, many years before that. But when were they actually made? I thought carefully before realizing that I had no idea.
He chuckled at my loss for words, making me scowl. "Do not be ashamed for not knowing," he stated. "Many people have never questioned the origin of the Keyblade. They simply think that it came into being. But, what in life has ever simply come into being? No, everything known to man has been created."
"Then, what created them?"
"Not what. Who."
"...You don't mean...this Raxmi girl...her mother created the Keyblades?"
He laughed loudly at my theory. "No, child, she couldn't have." Closing his eyes, he collected his thoughts before continuing. "No, the Keyblade was forged centuries ago, long before Sukara Taylor was ever born. However, she is included in the situation. Would you care to take another guess?"
I racked my brain for an answer. Clearly, this woman had something to do with the origin of the Keyblades, otherwise he wouldn't have brought the subject into question. But her age didn't concur with the timeline at hand. The only other option was... "Her ancestors?" I asked unsurely, working it out in my mind. "She couldn't have possibly been there, yet you say she is related to it. So it must've been someone from her family."
My logic was rewarded with a few congratulatory claps. "Excellent deduction. The Taylor family were the ones to first forge the Keyblade, in replication of the x-blade, of course. Originally, the Keyblade was created to harness the power of darkness, in the hopes of confining its powers to unleash upon worlds, in order to rule them. This was the goal of a man named Kurai Taylor. His brother, Kouta Taylor, was against the plan. The two of them fought with the very weapons that they had created, and Kurai overpowered Kouta. However, Kouta's son slayed Kurai after this and, thankfully, Kouta had taught him how to forge the Keyblade. Kurai, too, had previously passed on the knowledge needed to his apprentices. While Kouta's son created Keyblades for those of good heart, Kurai's followers did the same for those who longed for power. Years later, the two sides clashed again, in what you know as the battle called 'The Keyblade War.' Thousands upon thousands were slain in that fight. Only two survived: one from Kouta's side of the Taylor family, the other from Kurai's followers."
"These two survivors fought one-on-one among the corpses of their fellow Keyblade wielders, both with the intention not to let the other live. The fight drew on, until they were both spent of their energy. Eventually, then, the descendent of the Taylors offered a proposal, to which Kurai's follower agreed. They were to separate from each other, and to make their presences unknown to the worlds. Instead of creating the Keyblades in mass amounts to provide to whomever needed it, they choose to place an incantation upon the few Keyblades that they would forge. Only those who were chosen to be worthy could wield them, and the battle of good and evil would be left to them."
"Therefore, they went their separate ways and settled in different worlds. Each of them would only chose one successor to learn the ways of forging the Keyblades. Now centuries have passed. The only successor known to be alive is Eyad, a successor of Kurai. His whereabouts are unknown. Sukara Taylor, the successor of Kouta, is presumed dead."
It sounded like something out of a fantasy novel. Then again, the whole concept of Heartless and Nobodies and the like sounded like a magical tale. "You said one successor had to be chosen for each side," I pointed out. "If that's the case, does that mean she chose Raxmi to be hers?"
He hummed, crossing his arms. "It is the logical answer, is it not?" he agreed. "Sukara was an only child, and her father is deceased, so Raxmi is the only person to carry the Taylor name."
"You said Sukara was 'presumed dead,' though."
"She disappeared about eleven years ago. There have never been so many years that have passed without the creation of a new Keyblade. However, she had broken the norm of creating only a few Keyblades. Instead, she made forty within the few days before she vanished."
I frowned. "Almost as if she knew she would die."
He nodded at my assessment. "It is possible that this Raxmi girl has no clue of her destiny, though," he added, looking down at his papers. "Perhaps...you say she is seventeen years old? That would make her merely five years old when her mother passed away. It could be that the ability was passed onto her..."
"...but she doesn't remember," I completed his sentence.
Chuckling, he lifted his head and looked me in the eye. "The Organization is intent on kidnapping her. We'll need to get her in our hands before they take her for themselves."
His message was clear. I rose from my seat and headed out the door. "Poor Raxmi," I mused, with a half-smile on my lips. "Looks like she's in for another kidnapping."
* * *
Raxmi's P.O.V.
"My mother's in the hospital," I admitted. I was hoping he wouldn't be put off by the truth. Seifer stood by, leaning against the wall near his window. He already knew the whole story, and he was clearly observing Axel, waiting to judge him by his reaction.
Immediately, Axel's expression became that of concern. "What's wrong? Is she sick?" he asked.
Looking down at our clasped hands, I considered my answer. "In a way, yeah..." I said slowly. "She's...she's in the psychiatric ward."
He raised his eyebrows. "You mean she's insane?"
"She's not insane!" I exclaimed angrily, clenching my hands reflexively.
Wincing, he rubbed my hands with his thumbs to loosen them from my death grip. "Sorry..." I sighed, closing my eyes. "It's just...insane is such a harsh word..."
Axel nodded in understanding. Thankfully, he didn't seem like he wanted to run out of the room. "She's...mentally ill, then?" he rephrased himself.
"The doctors say that she has schizophrenia," I confirmed, biting my lip. "She used to be perfectly fine. She worked as a shop assistant, but she spent most of her time at home." I took in a shaky breath. "One day, when I was five, she came home from work looking really scared. She started talking really fast, about dark forces and forgery and people coming out to get her."
"When my dad tried to talk sense into her, she locked herself in our spare room for a week. No matter what we said, she wouldn't unlock the door and she wouldn't talk to us. My dad said that she'd come out eventually, 'cuz there was a bathroom there but no food. But when he left for work, I'd leave food and water outside the door. I didn't want my mum to starve. I thought that I could catch hold of her when she came out to get it. I was never quick enough, though. She'd open the door, grab the food, and lock herself up again before I could even react. And, when I listened at the door, I could hear swishing noises."
"Swishing noises?" Axel repeated.
"Like, small breezes. I didn't know what was going on. They only stopped when she'd start chanting in some strange language." I gulped a little as tears began to well in my eyes. "I was scared, y'know? I was only five. I couldn't figure out why my mum was acting so strange. It was like a twisted nightmare that I wanted to end. I just...I just wanted my mum back."
Axel grasped my hands tighter and nodded encouragingly. "What happened then?" he asked softly. Seifer moved from where he was and sat down next to me, one arm placed behind me. Not holding me or hugging me. Just supporting me.
I fiddled with my fingers, slipping and shifting them between Axel's. "A week passed like that. At first, my dad had thought that she'd hidden a stash of food in there, but he eventually realized that I was giving her food. So he locked me in my room to stop me. Don't get me wrong; he was different back then. He wanted her back to normal as much as I did."
"Then, the day after he had done that, she came out of the room. She didn't explain herself. She just hugged me and said that she loved me and how sorry she was for scaring me. I was just happy to have her back. My dad couldn't get over it, though. He kept asking her, 'What were you doing? Why would you scare us like that? Why were you chanting?' She never gave him a proper answer. She'd simply say, 'It's okay now. I've finished what I had to do.' But he wouldn't let it go. The next day, he can home with three men all dressed in white. They came in a white van with 'Twilight Town Hospital Emergency' printed on the side. Dad told mum that they wanted to give her a 'quick checkup'."
"Obviously, I didn't understand what was happening. I thought he meant that she was only going to the doctor's office to get a checkup and get a cartoon band-aid and a lollipop. But they took her away and I didn't see her again for four years." I managed to blink away the tears, willing myself not to cry. "After I turned ten, my dad decided I was old enough to take the news. Those men were from the psych ward. They'd taken her to the hospital, looked through the information my dad gave them, and diagnosed her with schizophrenia."
"On what grounds?" Axel interrupted, furrowing his brow. "They did that just on your dad's word?"
"Twilight Town barely has any mentally disabled citizens," Seifer spoke up, his voice more gentle than it would ever be in any other situation. "All they did was take what her dad said, look up what they knew about mental disorders, and diagnose her even though she didn't have any other signs. She said she was sane. By their logic, she couldn't be trusted on her word because she wasn't mentally sound." He rolled his eyes.
"Ever since that day, my dad started drinking," I added, figuring that I should clear the air about that as well. "He loved her a lot, but the fact that she had that problem and he didn't know about it really shook him. That's why he kinda hates me, too," I chuckled bitterly. "I look a lot like her."
That was it. I had finished what I had to say. I met Axel's gaze to find him staring into my eyes, and there was...emotion? What kind? I couldn't tell. But it made my heart skip a beat. Next to me, Seifer glared daggers at the redhead. "What're you gonna do now, huh, tough guy?" he challenged, narrowing his eyes. "You gonna leave her? Think she's too much 'baggage' for you?" Normally, I would tell Seifer off for talking like that to him, but I was wondering that too. It wouldn't be the first time.
"You think I'd leave because of that?"
"When people in this town hear stuff to do about mental illness, they get weirded out. It's too rare for them to get be accustomed to it. That's why only Seifer knows about this," I answered. "Anyone else who's asked where she went has been told that she divorced my dad and moved away."
Axel stood abruptly and pulled me up too, tugging me into a hug. I only hesitated for a moment before wrapping my arms around his waist, burying my face into his shoulder. He embraced me for a few seconds, holding me tightly. The action was so warm and comforting, I felt the tears spring back into my eyes. It had been a long time since I'd felt this kind of safety. When he finally pulled away, he tilted my head up to look me in the eyes again. "None of this changes the way I think of you," he declared, his voice soft and serious. "Whatever's going on in your mum's brain doesn't make her any less normal. And there's no way it should make you any different, too. You're still Raxmi, the girl who sees the good in everyone and who smiles at anyone she sees. Got it memorized?"
It felt like a huge weight had rolled off my shoulders. "Really?" I asked dumbly.
He chuckled and tapped my forehead lightly. "Of course, dummy," he replied, grinning when I pouted and rubbed the spot where he'd poked me.
Seifer crossed his arms and cleared his throat loudly, making Axel roll his eyes. Nonetheless, he let go of me, but still keeping one arm around my shoulders. "I gotta hand it to you, man," my best friend commented, sizing Axel up with his eyes. "Perhaps you're not that bad after all." A broad smile spread across my face, eradicating any chance of crying. Was Seifer actually approving this?
"Pfft. 'Not that bad'? I'm the ultimate catch," Axel smirked.
Seifer scowled, but the glare didn't reach his eyes. "I just made up my mind, don't make me change it so quickly." He turned to me. "You said you were planning on taking him to see her?"
I nodded; and explained to Axel. "Ever since my dad told me my mum was in the hospital, I've visited her when I can. I wanted to take you to see her, too. But after Zexion attacked us, I figured it might be easier to tell you everything there."
He nodded, crossing his arms. "I don't you should head out straight away," he mused. "Saix and Zexion were coming after us, but who knows who else they've sent?"
My heart sank a little as I realized the gravity of the situation. "You mean I have to hide?"
He frowned. "It might be best, at least for a few days."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Seifer interrupted. "And where exactly will you be hiding?"
Axel and I looked at each other, then slowly turned to smile at the blonde.
"...No."
***
I hid in Seifer's room for a few days.
***
A/N It's nine minutes past midnight on Monday in my country (New Zealand!). I said I'd post this before the weekend was over, and I failed. FAILED, I say! DX. BUT I think I'll cheat and use time difference to my advantage. It's still Sunday for most of you guys, right? Nyehehehe xD (2017 EDIT: wow I was saying that before papyrus made it cool)
If anything in this chapter confused you, let me know and I'll explain it to you :) BTW, I'm making up my own history about Keyblades and stuff. I'm not following the games.