Past

Besides, it was just a dream... wasn't it?

Xion and Axel were spat out of the portal back into the guest room of Olette's house. Xion slipped on a picture, and with their combined weight too much for them to stand, they tipped over. Axel purposely twisted as they fell so he didn't land right on top of her again. Papers flew into the air as they crashed to the ground, Xion still pressed against him as he fell onto his back.

"Sorry, are you ok? I didn't mean to land on you!" she babbled, flustered once again. Beginning to push away from him, she realized his coat was still zipped up around her.

"It's fine. I didn't want to smash you under all of this." He smirked as he flexed his arms from beneath her. Regaining some of her composure, Xion shifted so she could look him in the eye without their faces being too close. She was a stickler for personal space unless around friends, and Axel... was an ally, until further investigation. But a little teasing couldn't hurt.

"Under all of what?" She tilted her head to the side innocently, her face splitting into a smile at his offended gasp.

"Ouch, Xi. That hurt. Right here." He went to press a hand over his chest, but found her in his way.

He dropped his hand to the side with a laugh, and Xion did the same. It only grew into more laughter as he fumbled with the zipper, unable to unzip it because of their laughter.

Finally getting a grip on it, he practically ripped it down before he lost his hold on it again.

She rolled away onto her back, laying beside him as she stared up at the ceiling with him. "What now?"

"Hm?"

"We can't open portals on command. What are we supposed to do?"

He grinned. "Probably just wait around until another one opens up. But until then, I suggest you get a full night's sleep."

He sat up and ruffled her hair. Papers were stuck to his back, and he peeled them away with a small frown.

"Is it that late already?" She peered over at the window hanging over her tidy bed. Finding the sun in the exact same place as before, she instead let her eyes sweep over the room to the digital clock by her lamp. It was late. "I guess it is. Wait, where are you staying?"

"At that little inn we saw before-" He stopped, wrinkling his nose in irritation. "The one kinda by the clocktower. I've been staying there ever since I got here."

"Oh." There was an inn? Her brow furrowed. She'd have to look for it on her way to school... And school, how would she ever concentrate anymore? There was too much to just ignore.

"Maybe you could stop by...?" he asked questioningly, for the first time seeming genuinely unsure. Hesitation and insecurity were unfamiliar on his face. "You know, after school. I haven't really got anything to do other than help out at the ice cream shop."

"Oh, okay, I will," she said, trying to keep the distraction from her voice. He perked up immediately, the usual calculating and confident mask coming back.

"Sounds good. G'night, Xi...on." With a waving salute, he started toward the door, but a mischievous smile played at his lips. Xion watched curiously as he turned on heel and made for the window.

"What are you doing?"

"See ya!" Flicking the clasp up and shoving the window back, he hopped over the windowsill and out, much to her surprise. She crashed into the edge of the windowsill and leaned out with a worried gasp.

"Axel, are you OK?" she called loudly, voice faltering at the end. A breath of relief slid from her lips when she saw him waving back with a 'it-was-only-two-stories' grin on his face. She may have had only a week's worth of memories, but she was sure that ordinary people didn't jump out windows very often. Especially two stories up. Without breaking anything. But really, Axel was anything but ordinary - and come to think of it, so was she.

xxx

The house was in a silent slumber as Xion made a feeble attempt at rest. Good night's rest... like that would be happening. Her brain felt like it had been put through a spin cycle and crammed back into her head.

If Axel was telling the truth, and there really was some Roxas out there that was her best friend, was Axel her best friend too? And what did that make her? And what happened to her memory in the first place? Axel had mentioned something about them being entangled in that of another. That couldn't be natural.

Questions continued to swim around her head, but she forced them down in favor of sleep. In a mental struggle, she eased herself into steady breathing and blank thoughts, rather than the peace of mind she couldn't seem to achieve.

Stifling silence crept into the raven-haired girl's ears as the blankets seemed to disappear from around her huddled form. The bed was no longer there; only darkness penetrated the thick air pressing in on her. Wherever she was, it was dark. Not only dark, but completely black, nothing but abyss coming at her from all angles.

"Are you certain you can trust Axel?" The words were in her head, and she almost thought they were her own. But they weren't - they were monotonous and deeper than her own.

"No... but I still do." Shivers traced themselves along her cold skin, her bare toes curling back reflexively. Xion drew into herself, trying not to be obvious about recoiling from the voice. Offending an ominous presence did not seem wise, especially when blind from a lightless void. Besides, it was just a dream... wasn't it?

"Then trust me. You should not."

Why was she even answering back? The words came to her unbidden. "Why?"

"He is not who he says. Or rather, has he even said who he is at all?" it trailed off.

"He's - my best friend," she said quietly, questioningly. The voice chuckled hollowly for a short moment, something closer to a scoff.

"Why believe him?"

The edge in the voice put her senses on alarm. "Because... I do."

"What a pathetic answer."

"Because he is my best friend," she said defensively, gaining more courage. Was he really? But... she had sworn she would only consider him an ally, a friend at best until she could confirm anything he said. Maybe part of her just wanted him as a best friend. No matter, it was just a dream, an internal struggle with herself.

A chuckle resounded again, more akin to a scoff than the last time. "If that is what you wish to believe. Perhaps you can ask your best friend about it then..."

Xion frowned and squinted as her surroundings lightened. 'It'? There was no 'it' to talk about, unless the voice was referring to her entire situation. Which, apparently, she could not question about without passing out and having more short term memory loss.

She had expected the guest room, but the dark faded into pure white. The contrast from the black was so drastic she shut her eyes to shield herself from it, but the chaste white still was imprinted behind her closed eyelids.

"The mansion...?" The rhetorical question was meant to be a thought, but somehow it came to her lips. Nothing was much of a secret in her dreams, she supposed. The blank walls indeed resembled those of the mansion's little room (once) littered with all of those pictures, but this place was desolate and had not even the splashes of pastel crayon to bring it to life. Many of the formidable pillars had crashed to the floor - or perhaps had been dashed to the floor - and were lying amidst debris and cracked walls. Whatever force had probably done that had to have been powerful.

The faint tapping of footsteps against the cool tile echoed from its source coming down the stairs at the base of the ornate door at one end of the hall. The source was one standing before another kneeling painfully over the floor , both heavily battened down with the same dark cloak Axel wore.

The one on the floor... it was her.

"No, we didn't." It was Axel. His face was stony, withdrawn, his eyes aimed down at her hunched figure but averted to a spot slightly away from her. It scared the Xion standing by, unnoticed, to see how different this Axel was from the one she had just met. She desperately wanted to melt into the ground even though her mind had formed the conclusion that neither could see her. If she just turned away, shut her eyes as tight as she could...

"Yes, we did! Please Axel, help me..." the memory-she pleaded, and even being herself, Xion couldn't imagine how he could just ignore that. But he did. Nothing on his expressionless face changed. This was her best friend? For someone who used fire, he seemed impossibly cold.

xxx

"Xion?"

"Hm?"

She had woken up straight after the disturbing dream, memory, prediction, whatever it was. Her eyelids had felt as if they had been glued shut in her sleep, and the bedsheets had been crumpled from her curling up and gripping at it. The feeling that it wasn't an ordinary dream had settled into her bones, and there was absolutely no way she could shake it off.

"You're kind of spacey."

"Oh, sorry... Just a lot on my mind."

But that was stupid. A dream? She had been thinking about everything all yesterday; obviously it would affect her subconscious.

"I can imagine." Olette flashed her a brief, if not uneasy smile.

Yet memories were all in the mind, as were dreams. There was no telling where one began and the other ended, if they were the same or different -

"Yeah."

But mostly, the problem was Axel. If it was a memory, she felt at liberty to tell him. If it turned out not to be, then telling him would only drive a stake into the heart of the friendship they had only just begun (at least to her). But even if it was a memory, there was no telling whether or not Axel would tell the truth about it.

Were friendships always this complicated?

"Well, I've gotta go find Hayner and Pence. Do you want to come? We're doing our homework together - or at least, I'll be doing my homework." Xion smiled a little at Olette's pout.

"No, I still have other work to sort out," she sighed, staring down guiltily at the stack of books in Olette's arms. "Sorry."

"Oh, no worries! I completely understand."

With that, Olette and her armful of books exited the library quietly, leaving Xion behind in quietude. The library seemed so much emptier without Olette's welcoming presence around.

But speaking of libraries and books, there had to be something on amnesiacs there. As the silent librarian organized a cartful of books by Dewey system, Xion approached him and whispered her query, to which he pointed down an isle on the other side of the wide room. With a hushed thank you, she set off to find information on her condition.

xxx

"Axel?" She knocked on the door hesitantly. It would be embarrassing to get the wrong room, but with such a small hotel, the concierge had to know which customers stayed where. Especially if Axel had stayed there for, how long had he said? A few weeks?

"Come in!"

She didn't feel comfortable entering without someone coming to the door, nor did she feel comfortable at all with him after the dream. Her research hadn't amounted to anything, but dreams like that were abnormal and perhaps a force to be reckoned with.

The door creaked open. "Where are you?" He wasn't on the bed, which was the first thing in her line of sight.

"Here." There was a sigh in his voice and a shuffling of papers. For every hesitant step she took, a paper sounded like it was being stacked away.

Axel was at the desk in the far corner, its short edge running along the window. Artificial light lit it rather than natural light, which he could have used had he simply thrown back the curtains. He slowly turned in the squeaking chair, most of his attention still on the desk and its contents, his back still to her.

It was strange; he almost looked like an average man organizing his business work. Xion had built him up to be someone completely different in her head, that someone with all the answers. He just looked normal.

He finally faced her. He definitely did not look as if he had gotten much sleep at all that night. His lips moved into a grin, as if it could distract her from how tired he seemed.

A twinge of guilt pulled at her chest. Whatever he had stayed up for, it had done with her. Maybe for her. To Xion, they had only just met, but there was a certain devoted steel to his eyes.

When she didn't say anything, the grin turned from a distraction to a real grin.

"Sorry if I'm all gross or something. I know girls find it absolutely detestable to go a day without showering. I'll go wash up at least." He rubbed his face in a tiredly, never once mentioning why he had stayed up. "Oh, sorry, could you just stay in here for a bit? I'll try not to take too long."

"It's fine." Her lips formed a smile. As he walked past her, they wet themselves, then parted again. "Were... Were you up... all night?"

"That obvious?" He didn't miss a beat, unlike her.

"What I mean is, why?"

There was more hesitance on his part. "Just some research," he said offhandedly. When she didn't ask any more questions, he continued on into the bathroom with a few steps of his long stride.

She stared at the barren, somewhat unclean-looking carpet with a small frown. More secrets, or just chivalry? Maybe not chivalry, but just friendship.

Her eyes locked themselves on the sheaf of papers huddled on the corner of his desk, out of the light. She took a step, but she stopped herself. It would be wrong to look through his things.

Xion attempted to distract herself from them, trailing her eyes everywhere but that spot. They seemed trained on the papers, completely out of her control. When they guided her hand to reach for them, she craftily slid it down to snatch up the pad of blank sheets labeled with the hotel's name. With a triumphant, satisfied breath, she plopped herself onto the springy bed.

She flipped through the pages multiple times, but to both her relief and disappointment, there was nothing written in them. An unusual mischievous look played in her eyes, and she held a hand out and concentrated. The lights flicked briefly, but she took a breath and shut her eyes.

When they reopened, a tiny flame licked at the pad, the edges of the paper curling back. She stared on in amazement, not even bothering to look proud.

xxx

Axel finished washing his face, raking a hand through his hair. He gazed at the mirror impassively, watching his own expression remain emotionless as he ran the water through his fingers. His face seemed... lighter, in a sense. Maybe it was free of mental burdens, or somehow his skin had paled from the trip to the abyss and back. Though how he could have become even lighter than he had been after living in a town rained on with constant sunshine made no sense at all. A long finger traced over his right tattoo. Now, tattoos like THAT - they didn't just fade. It was all in his head.

A cringe-inducing shriek cut his examination short, and he burst out the door and back into the room. Xion was whipping her head back and forth in a frantic search for something, her eyes always coming back to whatever it was on the floor.

"What happened?"

"I - I accidentally set a paper on fire! I don't know how to put it out! Axel, you know how; make it stop!" she said in a rush, desperately pointing at it and shaking his arms uselessly.

With a snap of his fingers, the flames died away to leave behind a charred but still alive piece of paper.

"If you're going to set stuff on fire, you'll have to learn how -"

A blaring alarm was thrown from the fire alarm in one corner of the room, making Xion cringe as she continued to grip his arms tight.

"Better late than never, I suppose. I'm glad to know we're all safe if there was actually a real fire," the redhead said sarcastically with a grin. He had the urge to yell 'Fire!' down the hallway (something he had always been eager to do, but it never would have worked on his deceased comrades) and watch all the people run away like little ants from the spire of a nearby building (because standing on top of buildings was fun), but considering he was staying at the hotel he grudgingly decided against it. With another snap of his fingers, the fire alarm short circuited with a crackle.

After a series of heavy stomping through the halls, the door rattled violently as someone rammed into it and slammed it off its hinges and to the floor with a loud bang.

"The... alarm... fire..." panted the heavyset concierge, using the lonely doorframe for support. Two bellboys accompanied her with nervous looks.

"Uh, you see, the fire alarm -" Axel pointed at it, and they looked at it with confused looks. "It just spontaneously combusted. It's this new science thing; you should look into it. When the, uh, warm air comes in contact with the cold air, the friction causes this sporadic burst of energy. And things just combust, spontaneously. Apparently, it's more likely to happen in hotels. Pretty interesting stuff."

They stared at him.

"Or maybe it just got too HOT in here, I dunno..." He purposely rattled the frazzled Xion in his arms a little, looking at them pointedly.

"O-oh, I'm terribly sorry sir, we'll clean this all up later... I apologize for the inconvenience..." She picked the door back up and tried to settle it back into the doorframe unsucessfully before finally leaving with the two slightly grinning boys.

Xion slapped him across the face, though not hard enough to do any real damage. "Why did you say that?"

"Well how else was I supposed to get them to leave? 'Oh, yeah, my friend, she set something on fire with her magical powers. And I short circuited the alarm with more fire.' Which is also ironic, when you think about it. But that's aside the point!" He shook her again. "You have to be careful! If you can draw anything out of your memories, try to remember - it's all about being stealthy."

"And why do I have to worry about being stealthy?" She snapped her head away from him, crossing her arms.

"Because, you -" An extremely irritated look crossed his face. Not finding words that would make sense without telling her about the entire covert Organization they once were a part of, he groaned and threw his arms up in the air. "Because you just should! It's just this rule you need to follow when you do these kinds of things."

It was elementary; he had followed such for over ten years. Perhaps even into his childhood during pranking expeditions.

"I'm sorry I can't remember everything for you," she said harshly, head tilted down with a darkened expression. She turned for the door, pulling it back so it sat at an odd angle, half blocking the entryway. Already at the other end of the hall, she stormed around a corner and was out of sight.

"Wait! Xion, I -"

Suddenly he found himself running after her, his legs pushing him past confused staff and out the door. He knew she was aware of his advantage over her in speed, so she purposely rushed herself into one of the many alleyways. He flew by, keeping locked on the flash of black hair as it whipped around corners.

He was stupid. The irritated comments weren't even directed at her, but he took it out on her all the same. She didn't know that. And what else she didn't know was that it was just like last time. Screaming at her over something that, granted, bigger, wasn't her fault, that was out of his control. Things that he did, he could deal with. He could hate himself and be done with it. But things that someone else did, whether it was another person or fate, well, he wouldn't take it sitting down.

To see her go after another argument, especially something so petty... He panicked. He didn't like panic. It drove him insane; he could only imagine the frenzied animal he had been on the inside the few times he had panicked.

"Xion, please, Xion!"

Axel was in an all out sprint now, not really going anywhere, just following. He almost thought he had lost her, but there she was at that desolate lot, trapped between the buildings and him. He had her cornered; he really was a frenzied animal.

"Just go away, Axel." Her voice was husky, her eyes hidden from him. "Just go away."

The selfish part of him wanted to yell that she had overreacted. The somewhat selfish part wanted to hold her and keep her from escaping, give her empty promises so she wouldn't leave (him) ever again.

"No." There was a little of both selfishnesses in his answer.

Her little shoulders shook as she stated firmly, "Don't yell at me. I don't understand what's going on. I don't understand anything."

Still, she shook weakly despite her strong words. His eyes widened.

He had done it. He had made her cry. Not even two days to get to know the real Xion, and he had made her cry. Was that the real him, too?

"Xion, don't cry," he told her, borderline pleaded. He despised when girls cried. And Xion was not just "girls," she was Xion.

The Xion he remembered didn't cry. She was abused, told she was worthless, used, but she didn't cry. So why now did she cry? Was he really that terrible, that despicable?

"I..." He could only imagine her eyes running around. Her bangs shielded herself from him.

"I'm sorry," she finally murmured through tears. "I've just felt like I've had to cry, ever since I got here, and I took it out on you, and I'm-"

He smashed into her, embracing her for what was the second time in less than two days - maybe the second time in the time he had know her.

Had she gone on, he didn't know. There was only so much a person, a Nobody, could take.

Xion could hear him through his warmth, and it was as if a friendship she had never had was mended again.

"I'm sorry."

Sorry for being absolute fail (and thank you Taliax for motivating me to finish this chapter up XD). A bit random, but I'd be upset about losing my memories too I guess. (In my headcanon, Axel despises whengirls cry.)

Thank you all so much for you reviews; they're always loved~