☼ 013 - [action; text]
[Axel hadn't been expecting the ambush. One second he'd been confronting Lea and the next he was being swarmed by shadowy monsters. Demyx was right--they weren't Heartless, but they weren't entirely unlike Heartless. Everything had gone dark, and then--
[With a gasp, he snaps awake, sprawled out in the grass, soaking wet and disoriented. He stares at the sky a moment, green-grey with the far-off yellow light of sunrise somewhere fathoms above the bubble, then sits up.]
What the...?
[Why the hell is he drenched? He didn't die, he's pretty sure he would remember dying. The same thing had happened to Demyx: he had just been dropped in the Nook, drenched like he'd died and come back, only without the death part. It looked like he'd been another victim of the Curfew Monster.
[What had happened to Riku? --To Lea? Jeez, what the hell was wrong with Lea, anyway? Sure, the kid was kind of abrasive by nature (Axel would know better than anyone), but he wasn't cruel. He wasn't twisted. Whoever or whatever had brainwashed him, Axel Isn't inclined to suffer the situation. Nobody screwed with this Nobody's Somebody and got off scott-free.
[Getting to his feet and making a noise of disgust at the clammy wet feeling of his soaked coat against his skin, Axel digs into his pocket to pull out his SFC. He has to find out what happened to Lea. If Lea actually kills someone he knows the kid will never forgive himself, and while that's not really Axel's problem it's not a lesson he wants any friend to have to learn firsthand.
[Scrolling through the naming list to send Riku a message, Axel pauses a moment. ... Wait, where is Roxas' name? Roxas' name isn't in the list? No, it has to be a mistake. He scrolls through the names again.
Rider, Flynn
Rihito, Shibata
Riku
Riku (Replica)
Rouyama, Saki
Rue
Ryuugu, Rena
[No, no this can't be right. Where is Roxas' name? It should be there, right under Rouyama, right above Rue! Why isn't it there? Did he get sent to some alternate Vatheon or something? A place where Roxas doesn't exist? Is he still under the strange mantle of madness Lea had somehow inflicted upon him before the shadows attacked?]
Ow--! Dammit...
[Nope. That gash on his leg is still there, and still hurts just fine. He's got his wits about him enough. Does this mean Roxas is really gone? Again? Again?
[He has to get home. He has to talk to Xion--there has to be another explanation. Opening a portal, he stumbles through it, his leg stinging and his head aching, and as he steps out into the apartment foyer he finishes typing up a text message and sends it to Riku.]
[Private to Riku]
Still got all 18 toes? Wolves only have four back toes, right? Where are you?
[Action; home]
Xion? [He scrolls the rest of the way down the list to make sure her name is still there. Phew, it is. It's early, but he's pretty sure she'll forgive him just this once for this situation. Knocking on her bedroom door, he leans his brow against it; why the hell is he so damn tired?] Xion, wake up. Xion!
[Please say it was all just a dream. The crazy, the weird cacophony of memories... Riku being a wolf... Roxas... being gone. It's all a dream, it's all just a dream. Wake up, Axel. Just wake up.]