A Friend in High Places

They found us. In a detour, Axel and Xigbar found Xion and I in a series of hedges surrounding a tea party garden. Xigbar laughed.

“What a blast from the past!” He bellowed.

Xion and I poised, ready to fight.

“Xion! Xzylair! Stop!” Axel exclaimed.

“Of all the faces… Why do I look at you and see theirs?”

I was surprised. Did he mean Kiera and Ventus? Did he know us? Or did he mean Sora? 

“Why is it that you always have to glare at me like that?” Xigbar added.

“SHUT UP!” Xion shouted.

Xigbar disappeared and reappeared behind us. He tried to get the upper hand, but Xion and I were swift. We were determined to win. Axel only watched, indecisively. Finally, we defeated Xigbar. He fell to the ground, and vanished in a puff of smoke. Xion turned to Axel.

“I’m sorry Axel.”

“What did you do!?” Axel demanded.

“Please…let me go. I have to do this, or else— Just look-!”

Xion removed her hood. What Axel saw, what I saw, startled us. Xion’s face was no longer her own. It was a boy’s face. It was Sora’s face. Xion quickly covered her face again.

“Please Axel, you have to take care of Roxas!” She pleaded.

“But…! You’d be-!”

“Please!”

Axel sighed, irritably. He glanced at me.

“And you’re on her side too, eh?” He asked me.

I nodded. He sighed again, then signaled for us to leave.

“Thank you Axel” Xion thanked.

And with that, I summoned a dark portal, and we slipped away.