Holding Half of my Heart

Sixteen

"So she escaped? I still don't understand why you didn't destroy her." Saix glared at Xemnas through the corner of his eye.

"Axarhs isn't a priority anymore. Our main focus should be on Sora and Kingdom Hearts."

"Then why did you keep her? She managed to escape on her own, so who knows what kind of damage she can do to our plans?" Saix growled.

Xemnas chuckled, "I think she had some help escaping."

"Axel?"

"Yes."

"I see," Saix smirked, "Axel is an idiot who has a bad habit of thinking on his feet and ending up knee deep in trouble."

"He'll end up doing something stupid and get Axarhs involved-sort of like killing two birds with one stone. It'll give us some entertainment until Sora gets here." The two men continued down the hallway in silence, unaware that Axel had been listening the entire time.

 I'll show you who the real idiot is. Axel snuck through the maze of hallways, determined to make it to the one room that was off –limits to everyone but Xemnas and Saix. He needed to know more about Axarhs, why she has a heart and why she's so important to Xemnas. Axarhs deserved to know the truth-she knew just as much as Axel when it came to her past.

 There has to be something in here, Axel thought as he pushed on the large door. There was a sleeping pod in the center of the room, a hospital bed next to it with several metal tables and carts surrounding them. Everything was covered in wires, glass tubes and multi-colored liquids. One of the carts was overflowing with discarded papers and folders. There, Axel smirked and started going through the mess. Nothing grabbed his attention; just a bunch of stuff about medicine and other medical mumbo jumbo. The last thing on the cart was a yellow folder marked XIV.  Curiosity peeked; Axel opened the folder to find all of Axarhs's information.

Name: Sarah T.

Age: 7

Mothers Name: Brenda T.

Fathers Name: Xemnas-

Home-World: Twilight Town

Purpose in the Organization: Experiment   

Axel was disgusted with what he was reading. Xemnas used a seven year old girl-not just any seven year old, but his own daughter as an experiment! He kidnapped her, erased her real memories and replaced them with lies. He brainwashed her! Axel looked at her picture on the left side of the page. So, her natural hair color is brown? I need to show Axarhs! He stuffed the folder into his coat and hurried out. Gotta get back! Gotta get back! Gotta get-

A sudden throbbing in his left temple caused Axel to stop in his tracks; he's on his way to the castle...sorry Axarhs, I need to take a little detour.

—

"Don't stop moving, or the darkness will overtake you!" Axel jumped in front of Sora and attacked two Dusks, "go!" He shouted.

"Why?"

"Don't ask. Just do it!"

A few Dusks managed to tackle Axel to the ground; Sora quickly getting rid of them. "Leave us alone!" He shouted.

Axel was exhausted, he could barely manage one attack without losing his breath, but he was determined to help Sora...Roxas? Maybe he didn't want Xemnas and Saix to have their way, probably a little bit of everything. Right now, he needed to focus on getting rid of the Nobodies so Sora could make it to the castle.

"I think I liked it better when they were on my side," he said jokingly.

"Feeling a little...regret?"

Axel hesitated, I'm sorry Axarhs. "Nah...I can handle these punks. Watch this!" Axel jumped into the center of the invading Nobodies and used every last drop of his energy to defeat them-a suicide mission. He heard Sora run over to him after the flames settled.

"You're fading away."

"Heh, that's what happens when you put all your energy into one attack." He managed a smile, "Kairi's in the castle dungeon. You have to save her!...Sorry for what I did."    

  "You can tell her that yourself!" Sora shouted.

"Think I'll pass, oh and one more thing; do you remember the girl from Hollow Bastion? Axarhs?"

"Yea."

"We saw her in the Underworld too, didn't we?" Goofy asked.

"Axel chuckled, "that's her. Listen, she probably already knows that I'm...fading away and I know she'll come after you. Promise me you won't hurt her, she's not like other Nobodies. She has a heart."

"What?!" Everyone shouted. "How is that possible?"

"The folder in my coat will explain everything-give it to her and my necklace." Sora nodded. Axel opened a portal, "go," he whispered before fading away-leaving nothing behind but the folder and his necklace.

—

Axarhs sat on the beach with her knees pulled to her chest, hurry up Axel. What was so important? She watched the waves slide up and down the sand, Axel. She rested her head on her knees and closed her eyes.

She stayed like that for a few minutes, just listening to the waves when something inside her snapped. Her eyes shot open; Axarhs moved out of the way and emptied her stomach into the water. She started shaking and sweating. Another nausea attack swept over her, bringing horrible chest pains, a headache and...something else.

After the profuse vomiting, Axarhs ripped the necklaces off, they're both empty. She stood and that 'something else' feeling intensified. She balled her hands into fists and screamed-the water in front of her parted and froze, the sand and some of the pillars around her froze as well. This 'something else' feeling was power consuming her. Ice blades shot from her palms-now long enough that they were touching the frozen sand.

"You left me! I gave you everything I had and you left me!" She screamed, tears running down her cheeks. "No...he did it didn't he? Sora did this to you!" She opened a portal as the ice melted-the pillars cracked, sand turned into mush beneath her and the waves fell back into their place. The water coming up and splashing onto her face and hair. A twisted grin spread across her face, "Sora...I'll kill you. I'll kill you!" She screamed and ran into the darkness.