Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts(any version), nor do I own the subsequent characters.
Bent
Chapter 1: Infiltration
By Calkat
There.
A small, pale hand emerged from the corner of his vision pointing to a rusting old mirror at the far end of the blindingly white room.
His squinted his eyes trying to subdue the pain of the radiant light that he knew if exposed to long enough would cause a mammoth headache. Another unwelcome irritation that the fiery red-head could pass on instead of adding it to his life-long, or what little life he had experienced, list of uninvited troubles that had walked the same road as him, along side of him, in fact.
He pulled the dark hood from his cloak over his head, allowing it to droop low enough in the front to hide him in his makeshift darkness. The heavy cloak had other benefits other than announcing your intentions and the nature of your relationship to Organization XIII, a high-ranked member.
But while the cloak singled him out in a crowd, likewise it also protected him. The sanctity that was the protection that the Organization offered once you joined was irreplaceable. It meant that they would protect you no matter the circumstances, a sort of brotherhood code that Axel had come to respect if not appreciate. There had been several occasions when he had rode to the others playing the role of cavalry, but also many situations he had brought upon himself where the others had swiftly come to deal with the problem by means of litigation or other more physical methods.
Axel looked over his shoulder, trying to see if he could find out who the arm belonged to. It would be all a vain attempt, he knew to his disgust, but he would try anyways. He always was a sucker for the hopeless cases.
Nothing but ethereal white light filled his vision, no figure appeared in his view, just another disappointment to add to the list. He had many lists all numbered grimly and dismally high in number.
The only dimness provided in the room that didn't mangle his eyes was the mirror and his black cloak that was trailing along the floor as he again faced the decrepit mirror. He took a few quick steps forward with his heavy boots making heavy sounds that resonated through the floor of the room instead the clacking noise that they would have, should have made in the real world. It was a sound that touched the soul, tugged at it with a feeling of despair, a sound that the Organization prided itself on. The sound could cause an unquestioning fear to rise up in the victim. It felt as if the sound would pull your soul clean out of you if it kept pounding through your ears. Axel wasn't worried, he possessed no soul to worry about losing, but even so Axel felt his pulse rise in his throat with the unconscious feeling of hopelessness, or maybe it was a feeling of resentment.
He would never have a soul to lose. Now, that caused a thread of desolation to wind it's way through him. A soul was just one more thing to lose, he told himself, along with freedom, happiness and hope. All of which he had conceded upon his existence.
'What?' He questioned standing in front of the mirror. It was the same as always and it made the endless fury he possessed rise through him. He still had no reflection in the damn mirror, only the endless white of the room was shown to him. Same as the night before and the night before that, same as it always would be.
Nothingness. A nobody. They were aptly named if nothing else.
And the mirror was mocking him and his pain of non-existence.
A growl rippled over his lips, causing him to lift his chin as far back as he could go, eyes closed.
Patience, the voice chided him, a soft lilt in the soprano voice almost made Axel's anger flare higher, maybe even climb the chimney where only the smoke, the remnants of his anger, should go.
'I have been patient,' Axel shouted, throwing his hands in the air, then he dragging them over his face exasperatedly, the gloves pulling on his skin. He couldn't keep doing this. The white room has to be a torture chamber, he assured himself. Castle Oblivion was just a massive, endless torture chamber.
Axel heard a sigh echo throughout the room, reverberating through him, a ghostlike feeling reaching through his torso. He grabbed his chest with his hand unconsciously keeping one hand free for a weapon, reacting to the stream of sound pulling itself through the center of him. It was unnerving. He waited for another sound or for her to continue talking to him, but nothing happened as he scanned the room around him. Nothing but white. Nothing but silence.
He kept his hand at the ready to summon his chakram.
'Let me out, I'm not getting anywhere by being stuck here, I'll accomplish nothing.' he yelled spinning abruptly, his cloak flying in a circle behind him, a semblance of anger. Why would he want to look into something that held nothing, only infinite white abyss?
Please look harder. There was no source to the voice, it was echoing inside of his mind, not inside of the walls, this white prison. His pulse sped slightly at the thought that someone had the power to enter the sacred ground of a mind, his mind.
He had no heart, a given, he had no soul, fine with him, but his mind, he raged, that is mine.
Please forgive my trespass, she offered and after a brief moment of dizziness he envisioned her bowing her blond crown in submission to him in his mind. To say it appeased his sense of superiority was a slight understatement. Axel fed off of dominance issues, he was a goddamn handbook on the superiority complex, he knew it and accepted it. Next issue, please.
Axel thought that being obstinate would have been his first choice, dragging out her pitiable requests, make her beg for his help, but he relented at the sound of pleading from her melancholic voice. She was a sly and crafty being in her obviousness, but she had no Machiavellian fixations that he knew of.
He surveyed the room again and finding nothing else, approached the mirror that really couldn't have been a mirror in his mind. After all, he had no reflection.
I have no heart, he argued, but I am a corporeal being and that can't be taken away from me…..easily.
His eyes slid upwards at the metal mirror gauntlet. It was tall, Axel thought as he approached the only other physical object in the room. He touched it just to make sure that it was real and not another illusion in a world that he had grown accustomed to. At one time, he could tell that it had once been a silver plated mirror, but now either time or lack of care had tarnished the metal and left it as copper-colored frame, with sizeable pieces flaking off.
The mirror towered over him by nearly three feet, the sides were considerably skinny compared to the haltering height it possessed. He leaned against it, propping one arm on the edge, not worrying that he might break the brittle framing of the mirror. So be it. Good riddance if he broke the worthless mirror.
He tilted his head at the mirror, glaring at it and then when nothing happened rolled his eyes at the sorry mirror. Even at this proximity, Axel bore no reflection; the glass was unable to reflect the snarl that was curled into his lips.
'What now?' He ordered, pounding a fist against the rusty mirror's edge. A platinum glow emitted from a spot toward the left side of the mirror and he would have missed it had the light not glinted in his eye obnoxiously. He swept a finger over the glass that was cool to the touch. The room darkened briefly before lighting up again.
Ow, the tiny voice squeaked. Axel shrugged and smirked, enjoying the little game that had started. He had found the source of the voice, no matter how microscopic it was.
He ran his finger over the glowing spot and again the light dimmed.
Enough, she yelled, sounding peevish and slightly perturbed at the fact that Axel was demonstrating his more sadistic side at her expense.
Axel choked out a laugh, his breath catching noticeably when he noticed the glass in the mirror start to shake and resound with his laughter. He quieted and traced the edge of the metal again, the rough metal brushing over his bruised and calloused fingers that was due to his last assignment for the Organization. Falling off of the summit of a mountain had definitely not been a part of his original plan.
The mirror is reacting to me, he thought.
Good. Work with that idea, she coaxed, you're so close. Her voice was a desperate whisper, a plea or possibly a praise for his efforts.
'Well, help me,' he muttered, squatting on the floor in front of the mirror for a moment before planting himself on the ground, his chin resting between his thumb and forefinger.
Close, huh? He thought. The mirror shuddered and the light in the mirror grew slightly, larger and he felt the response of the mirror echo through his head. Excitement, but it wasn't his. The hair on his arms stood up.
Maybe….
'Closer,' he commanded. The mirror trembled again, unsettling the feet that supported the base of the metal, the feet clattered against the ground. He projected the thought in his head to continue the command until he was satisfied. The dot grew larger, large enough that he had to stop himself from gasping at what he saw.
'Naminé,' he breathed, but it sounded more like 'eh' rolling out of his mouth, stifled from his shock. He stood up abruptly and took a few broken steps backwards, stumbling over his feet before regaining his balance. Awkward at first, but more sturdy after a second, he stood erect at his full height, no longer hunched over.
Naminé's platinum head and willowy form clothed with a simple white dress appeared in the mirror, full-sized. Her hands were pasted to the face of the mirror before she resumed pounding the surface.
Axel, she yelled seemingly panicked. It was out of place for Naminé to yell and it raised suspicions in his mind. Axel could feel her racing pulse in the back of his mind. He assumed that it was the effects of the mirror.
Axel, tell me that you can see me! Please, see me! Axel remained fixed to the spot, his eyes slightly wider than normal. It wasn't every day that someone-- correction, nobody—dreamed about Naminé and if they did, it was normally because she was going to mess with their mind, a terrible event, memories were all they had. Well, most of them at least.
Axel pushed a lock of hair out of his eyes, making sure that he wasn't imagining anything.
He sighed, a resigned feeling washing over him. He was smart enough to know that if Naminé had invaded his mind that it was already too late to stop her from messing with his memories.
With one hand on his face and the other arm carefully supporting it, Axel said, 'Naminé, of course I see, how could I miss you?' It came out more hostile than he had planned, but refraining from expressing his anger seemed a little past the point of saving himself from her clutches.
He could see it now, the white little faux-angel forcing the static to claim him until they, or whoever had sent her, were satisfied, sucking the memories and what little knowledge he possessed leaving a shell of his former self. It was degrading, it was miserable. A sickeningly sweet little smile plastered to her face, completing the feigned look of innocence that she hardly deserved.
Axel raised his flaming red head to scowl at her, noticing that she had a hand clutched to her chest, a look of hope blooming on her features. Her other hand lay against the mirror, a pleading gesture.
Wait, hope? He was in trouble now.
'Naminé, why are you here?'
Not now, I promise I will explain later, but please listen, she pleaded kneeling in front of the mirror and bowing her head. Her eyes, he thought, the sadness and urgency in them, irked him slightly, more because of the fact that she never betrayed any emotion other than her mask of indifference and now she was practically a pinwheel of emotions.
Axel, I need your help. They are forming a plan to use me against the organization.
'Why should I care what happens to the organization?' He said carefully, crossing his arms in a defiant motion reminiscent of callousness. He eyed her reaction, she merely continued on.
They plan on staging a coup, they want to take over the organization, over you, how can that mean nothing to you? When he didn't answer, she pushed forward. She had to spur him into action, but how. A spark flew, the wheels turning in her head.
Axel, she said calmly, if you don't help me, I can't save Roxas, I can't save the nobodies. Axel's head jerked up in response, meeting her eyes and scrutinizing her. Was she lying? He couldn't tell and probably would never be able to. After all, she was Naminé.
The room dimmed and he saw Naminé quickly glance over her shoulder, a gesture that looked scared and paranoid. Of what, Axel thought.
Her blond hair swung around again and she narrowed her eyes at him slightly. Axel offered his hands in the air as a sign of innocence.
'Not me, I didn't do that.' He said, raising an eyebrow. Maybe she had done it in reaction to something he had said, or done, or maybe something he had not said.
I have to go, the thought echoed through his head. I will speak to you again soon, please expect me and don't take nearly as long to find me. Now that you know how to work the mirror it shouldn't take so long.
Lightning quick, Axel found himself against the mirror, pounding the crystal glass.
'You br—' He was stopped abruptly as her impassive face became translucent, a feat in the white chamber. 'Hey! Come back,' he yelled.
Axel upper lip curled in a sign of annoyance. Her message had been so condescending, so superior. Hadn't he mentioned somewhere that he had a mammoth superiority complex?
He hated her words and he was ready to give the girl a piece of his mind had she not faded completely from behind the mirror.
Striking the mirror again, Axel felt something catch in his sternum, an uncomfortable and awkward feeling. The whiteness brightened until he couldn't see anything anymore, shutting his eyes protectively.
The feeling in his sternum jerked suddenly pulling him out of the white world and threw him violently back into reality. A message from Naminé or the repercussions of passing back into the physical plane, perhaps?
He found himself back in his chamber laying in his four-poster bed, the sheets all askew from what he assumed was his aggressive thrashing. It couldn't be avoided, he shifted a lot in his sleep despite the fact that he practically trapped himself under the sheets.
This was the fourth night in the past two weeks that he had envisioned that ugly and rustic mirror. Now, he had progress. He didn't believe in recurring dreams for no reason, so there had to be some purpose to it.
Axel ran his hands over his chest feeling for any injuries that he might have incurred, running his hands over his shoulders and down his arms. The only difference he noticed from the time he had gone to sleep to his awakening now was the fact that he thought himself as some sort of pedophile for dreaming about the 15 year-old( in reality 1-year old) memory witch.
He groaned and sat up slowly, gingerly because of his aching sides. Four yellow and green bruises marred his chest and left side, memories of his latest excursion to the Land of Dragons. Shan-Yu was not the easiest man to deal with, he could attest to that. Hell, his trip off the side of a mountain could attest to that.
He felt the power of the cooling system at work when the air fell over him in a chilly rush. His preferred his room cold, colder than most opted for, but only because he had an elevated body temperature compared to other people. He assumed it was because of his affinity with fire that his body was adjusting to help him cope with the power.
Axel placed a hand at his side, wincing slightly and glanced at the ominous, glowing numbers that were floating to his left. It was a ghostly clock developed by Vexen who had an endless need for experimentation and creation to test his skills no matter how trivial the task. Like the clock.
4:23 a.m. blinked at him and filled his green gaze, causing Axel to groan again. He rolled off the bed which emitted a dull creak under his weight and headed to the door where his cloak was hanging by the door. Staring at it for a moment, he thought about the meaning and weight behind taking up an Organization XIII cloak.
Although he was probably in a more stable lifestyle under the organization, he had also placed himself in more danger and threatening situations under the same group. Was the price of the cloth worth it? Undertaking everything that went along with their end goal? Axel wasn't so sure, but he knew in the end he was out for himself and that thought was more comforting than anything else and probably kept him safer. The organization was secondary, but even with that prominence in his life, was it worth saving according to Naminé's wishes? Had that dream even happened?
He didn't know, but with the throbbing headache that was beginning to form and the sleep that he knew he would be deprived of tonight— this morning— he was going to find out.
Thanks for reading this. Hope you enjoyed it. Pitching ideas at me is allowed and appreciated, I honestly don't mind. If you like it stick around and see where this turns out.
Later on this will venture into AU territory, but will stick with the theme of heartless/nobody theme, but with a separate storyline.
Cal