On the Edge [Axel]

[Fate]

Too Much to Think About
Sly by Massive Attack

It was only two days after Zexion had sent the Dusk to Axel, not receiving an answer. He wasn't quite sure what to make of this, though he supposed it was better to meet in person anyhow; the Dusk network was not completely reliable anyhow, the creatures not having the mental capacities as the humanoid Nobodies. There seemed not to be much else to do besides try and track down Axel, meet up with him again, and discuss things, which, quite honestly, did not sound appealing. He had given himself quite the headache from trying to find Sora before and was not about to give himself another one.

That was what brought him to his current location, the Neverland clock tower. He had no assigned missions at the moment aside from continuing to track down the Champion, which was proving to be extremely difficult. The Champion seemed to have this ability that removed himself from this realm completely; Zexion could not sense him no matter how many times he tried. It was going to be by chance that he saw the Champion again.

The Champion wasn't his main concern at the moment though. He was still contemplating what he had told the Dusk to deliver to Axel, his consent into helping the Flame dispose of Xemnas. It was completely out of line for him to do, almost completely unlike him. He was never a Nobody of action but rather of words, always getting someone else to do the dirty work. However, that was simply not going to work anymore. Things needed to work faster and he needed to stop merely watching from the sidelines as his plans succeeded or failed. This plan in particular needed to succeed; there could not be an option of failure.

This was what he kept telling himself as he sat against the wall of the clock tower, his eyes closed as he attempted to have just one moment of peace.

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[Axel]

mmmPunchingBag

This might have been a clock tower, but it just wasn't the same.

Nevertheless, Axel found himself here, high above the civilization of this world, and decided to take the opportunity for a breather. This particular clock tower had ample space to walk around in while still affording a nice view of the starry sky. He sure had been spending a lot of time underneath night skies lately. Saïx's fault.

To the Flame's surprise, none other than Zexion himself was sitting against a wall, eyes closed. How perfect. In the span of about two seconds, an idea formed in Axel's head that would give him some personal satisfaction and also help cover his tracks.

Approaching the Schemer quietly, he crouched down to a better level, drew a fist back behind his ear, and punched Zexion square in the face. With a practiced scowl, he ranted at the probably reeling Number Six.

"Why the hell have I heard nothing from you in four days, dammit?! You just love to do that to me, don't you? Leave me hanging, promising instructions, and then never giving me any! You're a tease, Zexion! That's what you are! And I won't stand for it any longer!"

For good measure, he stood up and dug a boot into Zexion's ribcage. He knew he should probably back off a little, but there was still a trace of aggression in him left over from the Dark Meridian. In a huff, he plopped down next to the Schemer. One second later, he was now acting as if nothing had just happened.

"So. What's new in the world of Zexion?"

[Fate]

What Is This I Don't Even--

It took a few minutes, but Zexion finally got to a point where he was somewhat relaxed. His senses were no longer alert and he could almost feel himself getting drowsy. It had been far too long since he had just sat down and didn't have something that sent his mind on a warpath. This was the perfect world to relax in too. No one from the Organization, or even any possible civilians, enemies, or even allies, would bother him here since it was too far away. He was not going to be hounded to go look for the Champion, be attacked, or anything of the sort.

Well, so he thought. It turned out that a certain someone had different plans.

He thought he had sensed something, but he pushed it off in favor of keeping his eyes shut for a minute longer. That was a mistake since he was punched yet again in the face and sent reeling from his current position. His eyes widened to this, not even really sure what was going on. Why were people so fond of punching him in the face lately? It was not as if he had done the same to anyone else... excusing the fact that he was shorter than most and would have a rather difficult time doing so. That wasn't important; what was important was that now he was lying flat on his back after he was sent reeling and Axel was yelling at him. Loudly.

Honestly, the Schemer was too startled to really come up with any sort of comeback to this. He probably could have if Axel hadn't gotten him by surprise like this, but his brain was now muddled. This was what he got for lowering his senses; he got punched in the face and yelled at. Oh, he also got a boot in his ribcage too, which wasn't really pleasant. Had Axel lost his mind? And he did communicate two days ago! This was just sheer madness.

Once Axel had his fill of yelling and digging his boot into the illusionist's ribcage, he plopped down and started speaking casually as if the moment before had never happened. Zexion sat up as well, releasing the breath he didn't know he was holding and coughed before going back to leaning against the wall of the clock tower. His face was throbbing again, but by now he was starting to get used to it. "Well, I was recently punched in the face and yelled at by some red-haired Nobody," he stated casually, "Quite odd really. It's not something that happens everyday."

With sarcasm out of the way, he crossed his arms and cast his gaze over to the Flame. "I assume you didn't get the Dusk that I sent two days ago? I should stop trusting the Dusk network it seems..." He paused for a second. "I ran into Sora and Kairi a couple of days ago. I brought Kairi to Sora and managed to establish some trust there. Hopefully, that will allow me to work much faster. I might end up resorting to similar methods that I did with Riku to expose him to darkness, however; the sooner we have Roxas, the better."

And here was the fun part that Axel might not even believe him on. In fact, he almost didn't believe himself. "I will be joining you to dispose of Xemnas. We should do this within a week." That was all he said, now waiting to see what the flame would say.

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[Axel]

mmmNarcotics

Good. That problem was completely solved. Zexion wouldn't be trusting the Dusk network from now on, so the Flame should be able to meet with Saïx without worry.

"So, you think Sora trusts you, huh? And how did you manage to do that in such a short span of time?" Axel wasn't stupid. Sora would never trust a member of the Organization unless that member were to do something extra-heroic for him. Like sacrificing oneself to clear a path to Kairi, he supposed. Zexion may have reunited Sora and Kairi, but there had to be more to it than that.

Here it was again. Except this time, it was coming from the Schemer's own mouth. He really was planning on killing Xemnas alongside the Flame?

No offense, Zexy, but I think I'd rather have Saïx with me than you. You know. Less of a chance of getting stabbed in the back and thrown at Xemnas if things start going horribly.

He might have said that, but then he decided not to. Instead, his mind was wandering on a totally different track. Maybe it was the fact that they were sitting on a clock tower. Despite the absence of that eternal sunset, it was still vaguely nostalgic.

"Say, Zexion. You look a little, uh, haggard. Maybe you shouldn't think so much, y'know? Relax. Let's not talk about the plans for right now."

Shifting a little, he reached a hand over to the side away from Zexion. When it reappeared again, it was holding two sea-salt ice cream bars that he had pulled out of pocket space. That's really the only way he could describe it. He could always pull ice cream from out of nowhere whenever he and Roxas had been on that clock tower in Twilight Town. Maybe it was a clock tower thing. He really didn't know for sure.

Regardless, he kept one of the bars for himself and offered the other one to Zexion. "You should give this stuff a try. It'll really relax you. Trust me."

[Fate]

Secret Weakness Has Been Found

Zexion wasn't expecting Axel to go on the track that he did. He seemed to discard the information the Schemer gave him and instead told him he should relax. Well, he was doing that before he got punched in the face. Once Axel showed up, his mind had gone straight back to thinking about plans, Sora, and all of that other stuff. The Flame had asked him a question before that, which he would answer, but it just seemed odd. Was he missing something here? He most likely was, but he wasn't about to go down another ridiculous mental track.

Oh now he was handing him ice cream that he pulled from nowhere? What was going on here? Nonetheless, that ice cream did look rather tempting and he did know of how delicious it was. He did have it quite a bit with Ansem. It was probably not the wisest idea to trust Axel who was all of a sudden giving him ice cream, but he made a point. He could stop thinking for a bit and relax.

"He trusts me more than before, which is at least a bit of progress," he said, taking the ice cream and holding it for a second, "I happened upon Kairi in Destiny Islands while trying to find the Champion. It turns out she wanted to see Sora. I brought her to him and he seems not to be so angry with me anymore for that. Though, it was odd. She mentioned having been kidnapped by someone else in the Organization." He shrugged and took a small bite out of his ice cream. Almost immediately, he could feel himself start to relax and mellow out. "Just as I remembered it."

He looked away from Axel and out at the sky, staring at it for a moment. "So you and Roxas did this. Everyday. After every mission." He paused for a minute, taking another bite out of the ice cream. He should have wondered why it was mellowing him so quickly, but at the moment, he didn't seem to care. "I should've done that. Hmm... And how are things in the world of Axel?"

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[Axel]

No Sunset Here. What Are We Going to Talk About?

Axel restrained a grimace at the mention of someone else kidnapping Kairi. It would be best for all involved if that little incident wasn't memorized. "Huh. Someone else in the Organization kidnapped Kairi? I have no idea who that might have been... Maybe Xemnas was looking for someone new so he could practice his monologues." He took a bite of his ice cream to keep from letting anything unnecessary slip.

The ice cream was helping Zexion relax, which was good. At the mention of Roxas, Axel looked out toward the horizon. "Yep. Every mission. Though, to be honest, it did get kinda monotonous after a while. There are only so many ways to have a conversation about how the ice cream is salty yet sweet and about why the sun sets red."

Zexion was mellowing out faster than Axel had thought he would. Maybe it was just the sharpness of the transition between dispositions. After all, even without the ice cream, Roxas hadn't been nearly as high-strung as the Schemer could be. All the time. "Might want to slow down there, Zexion. Don't hit the ice cream too hard."

Hmm. What was going on in the world of Axel? Quite a lot, if he was honest. Which he wasn't, of course. "Eh... not too much, really. Mostly just waiting around for you to get me some info." He shrugged and took another bite of his ice cream. Zexion would have be way more "relaxed" before the Flame would start giving him significant details.

[Fate]

I Don't Like Sunsets Anyway.

"If that is truly the case, then I suppose I can understand why she acted so harshly toward me at first," Zexion replied. In reality, Kairi wasn't all that harsh to him, but that didn't really matter. He also probably should have been suspicious of Axel's last statement since it was very unlike the Superior to ever leave the castle. But he wasn't. "I almost feel sorry for her. Xemnas loves to go on and on and on..." He waved his hand in the air to emphasize this. "Why you think I try to stay away from the castle so often? I'm the one he likes to monologue to now." He gave an exasperated sigh.

Though, now he got suspicious. Axel told him not to go into the ice cream so fast. "Why? It is only ice cream. It's not going to have any adverse effects on me. Don't worry." That last word was drawn out and slightly cheerful. The Schemer took another bite to emphasize his point, listening to what Axel had to say. Apparently, Axel land was not quite that exciting either. He was just waiting for Zexion to give him information. Well, how nice of him to be so patient.

"You've been very patient with me and I appreciate that," he said, "I'm working as fast as I can. It's not that easy though. Xemnas seems to love getting me to do everything. 'Zexion, I need you to go do this. Oh, good job Zexion; now go do this for me. Oh, you need to go risk your non-existent life now Zexion; hop to it. You're still alive? Good, go do this now.'" He did ridiculous hand motions with this to emphasize that it was the Superior. "Everyday, it's something different."

The Schemer didn't realize quite how much he was rambling right now, but continued to eat more ice cream; he was almost done this one now. "Your world sounds much more preferable."

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[Axel]

No Stopping Now

No question about it. Drugged Zexion was fun.

"Heh. You don't wanna be in my world. You probably couldn't handle it." He smirked in Zexion's direction. It was interesting how much stuff came to the surface when all inhibitions were stripped away. The rambling rant against Xemnas amused Axel, as much as he could have been. No wonder Zexion had agreed so easily to staging a coup. Even if he ignored the fact that Xemnas was greedy and power-hungry, Zexion couldn't ignore the fact that Xemnas was a complete jerk.

"What makes you think my world is better than yours, hmm?" He couldn't wait to hear the answer to that question. Even though Zexion was probably higher than a kite right now, that didn't mean he wasn't capable of telling the truth.

Speaking of being higher than a kite, Axel decided it was time to start the Schemer on another bar of ice cream. After retrieving one from pocket space, he held it out for Zexion. "Here, have another one. It's good stuff, right?"

[Fate]

Too High to Think of a Title

"Your world does not have Xemnas in it," Zexion replied as if this was the most obvious fact in the world, "Simple as that. What's so awful about your world that I couldn't handle? Unless you've found someone that monologues more than our dear Superior, then I think I can handle it." He finished his ice cream and looked at the stick. It didn't say anything on it, though he didn't expect it to. He simply pocketed it and took the second one Axel produced. Part of him wondered where they came from, but he wasn't going to ask about Axel's magical ability to produce ice cream.

"Face it Axel," he said, taking a small bite of the new ice cream he was given, "Your world is an ideal one compared to mine. You're allowed to do whatever you please, burn things when you want, and it's cool. Well, not literally; it's sort of hot... But you should know that you're very cool." That word didn't sound right coming out of the Schemer's mouth, but almost everything he said right now didn't sound right. "Superior never lets me watch things burn. Or do anything I want for that matter! But you get to! It's not fair."

If he ever figured out that he had said all of these things, he would probably hide in his Lexicon for the rest of eternity. After he had killed Axel of course for drugging him. Right now, he changed the subject as he held the ice cream bar out in front of him and marveled at it. "Thank you again for reintroducing this to me." His eyes widened as he suddenly got an idea. "Perhaps we should give some of this to Sora. We could use this to persuade him! After all, it worked on Ansem the Wise and Sora is much more susceptible than him. I should have thought of this sooner. Isn't this brilliant?!"

Well, he thought it was brilliant and that was all that mattered right now. He took another bite of the ice cream, oblivious that it was indeed having an adverse effect on him.

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[Axel]

Are You Fawning Over Me?

Zexion thought he was... cool? Axel never would have imagined that word coming out of Zexion's mouth. "Well, Zexion. I'm so flattered. So, what? Are you going to start hanging all over me like Larxene did?" Now would not have been an appropriate time to throw fire around, but Axel was very, very tempted to do it anyway. Just for kicks.

"And yeah, I get to do whatever I want because I choose not to base my activities around someone else's orders like you do. Loosen up. Don't be such a rigid follower of the rules. Got it memorized?" He tapped a finger to his temple. "That's all it takes to be me. Well, and you'd also have to gain a few inches, cut your hair, dye it red, and get rid of that book. Oh, and you'd have to get the ability to summon fire at will. Plus, let's not forget the wonderful sense of humor I have." He looked Zexion up and down. "On second thought, you could never be me. You're too uptight."

Oh, boy. Giving ice cream to Sora? That was the best plan the Schemer could come up with? "Sorry to shoot you down, but I don't think that would work. Sora probably has an immunity to ice cream, thanks to mystical ties with Roxas or whatever. Roxas could put away ice cream like no one's business. It was almost scary."

He finished up his first ice cream, checked the stick out of habit, then pulled out another bar and took a bite. He wondered how long Zexion might last before he finally crashed.

[Fate]

Are You Real?

Zexion got a wide-eyed look at Axel's first question and scooted a couple of feet away from the Flame, shaking his head. "Don't be absurd Axel," he said, sounding almost completely horrified now, "Though, now I know that it was a good idea to stay in the basement..." He trailed off, his horrified expression fading away. He took another small bite as he listened to Axel about he could be like him. Pfft, he could do all of that. Did the Flame forget who he was talking to here? He could make himself look like anything he wanted to.

"I believe I can," he said, snapping his fingers. In a second or two, he changed form into Axel. "You mean like this, right? Though, I can't make fire like you. Eh, wouldn't want to be you anyway; too much hassle." He changed back into his normal form a second later, taking another bite out of the ice cream. "Though, maybe I should someday and have myself 'killed' so to speak. It would make Xemnas think you were really dead, which would mean far less work for me."

Axel shot down his 'genius' plan, though he didn't particularly care. He was probably right since he knew Roxas better than anyone. Heck, Zexion only ever went on one mission with the Nobody before he was sent over to Castle Oblivion. "Oh yes, the mystical ties. I forgot about those. That explains a lot. Why do Keyblade Masters get all of these mystical ties yet we don't?" He didn't really expect an answer for that question, though it was something to think about.

He then cocked his head to the side curiously, staring intently at something. "Axel, was that there before?" He was pointing at what looked like an upside down version of the clock tower they were currently sitting at, though it was a good distance away. The sky also wasn't that much of a night sky either. It was now blue, green and yellow clouds. Zexion seemed to think nothing of this and shrugged, continuing to eat his ice cream. Then he looked at Axel and raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't know you wore hats Axel," he said. Indeed, there was an illusion of Axel wearing a purple hat on top of his red hair, sort of just sitting there. In fact, almost everything was an illusion at the moment; the sky, the upside down clock tower, and the hat. Zexion probably should have cared that he had lost control over his power, but he seemed to just care about his ice cream at the moment. Though, he would be telling himself tomorrow that all of this was just a massive illusion brought on by stress and he should sleep more. Yeah, that's it. Certainly not Axel getting him to drop his guard completely and see what else he could get out of him.

Because that would just be mean.

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[Axel]

This Just Went From Amusing to Bizarre

"Yes, you were lucky you stayed in the basement," Axel muttered. "At least, until your luck ran out and you ended up dead."

The Schemer was wildly out of control, and Axel knew it was probably time to stop with the ice cream. He had wanted Zexion to relax so he might not grow suspicious of the lack of response via the Dusks. But this was starting to get ridiculous.

For just a second, he was looking at himself and hearing his own voice. Odd experience, that. But Zexion didn't hold that illusion for long, apparently. The Schemer's next words caught in Axel's brain, whether Zexion had intended them to or not. He'd already died once. Why not give it another go, so to speak? How much easier a time would he have if Xemnas thought he was dead?

Oh, that's perfect...

Before Axel could get anything out about this idea forming in his head, Zexion rambled on about bonds between Keybearers and their Nobodies. He didn't find it all that intriguing a topic, to be honest. It was because of that stupid mystical bond that Roxas had to go back to Sora in the first place. Unless Zexion had any bright ideas on how to sever that bond without damaging either party involved, he would rather not speculate.

Great. Now, Zexion was letting his illusions run rampant. And apparently, Axel was the new owner of a hat. Never again would he do this. If he had known how low a tolerance Zexion had for this ice cream, he wouldn't have started down this track in the first place and would have run the risk of discovery instead.

Trying his best to ignore what he knew were harmless illusions, Axel returned to his previous emerging idea. Perhaps the Schemer would be coherent enough to listen and comprehend. "Say, Zexion... What would you think if I told you I was dead?" Quickly deciding that might not be the best way to phrase the question, considering the circumstances, he rephrased. "I mean, if I told you I was thinking about pretending to be dead?"

[Fate]

You Are So Dead When I Crash

This probably wasn't good. Zexion stopped with the ice cream and put the unfinished one down, looking at the sky skeptically. He was starting to see that this wasn't real and he was letting this out of his control. He was still high, but his control was coming back. This would probably last for another hour or two before he could return to the World That Never Was, but that was fine. The Superior would not be too suspicious of his second-in-command trying to collect data from every world he could, or supposedly.

The illusions faded as he focused on Axel's questions, going into his pondering position. What if Axel pretended he was dead? Now that would be interesting. He spoke again, his tone still showing he was high. "It wouldn't be the simple," he said, "For it to work, you'd have to have someone there to witness your death or 'kill' you. Then, all that person would have to do is go report to Xemnas and say that you're dead. Then I could back them up and say 'Oh I don't sense Axel anywhere. He's really dead.' Superior would have to believe me since I'm the only one that can sense others."

He then paused, attempting to think again. He figured out quickly that this wasn't the easiest thing to do. "The only problem is that someone else from the Organization would have to pretend to kill you. It'd look pretty suspicious if I came back and said that you were dead. Sure, I have a good motive for doing it, but everyone knows me as someone who's not about to go pick a fight, even if it's with a former traitor. No, it has to be someone else with a motive to do it. I'd suggest Vexen, but that's ridiculous." He found that amusing and let out a chuckle.

"It would make everything so much easier though," he went on, "All you would have to do is lay low for a bit so no one else will find you and then on the day of the coup, it would be much easier to sneak you in and dispose of Xemnas. Sneaking you in would be no problem at all and Xemnas wouldn't expect it one bit." Illusions formed again, but this time they were more controlled. It showed the Altar of Naught and Xemnas standing in the middle of it with Axel standing behind him. The Xemnas illusion turned around and the Axel illusion snapped his fingers, setting flame to the Superior and thus killing him. The illusion faded shortly afterward.

"The only problem is that I can't think of anyone else that would have a good enough motive to seek you out and then be able to kill you. The rest of the Original Six aside from Vexen and myself don't really care and neither do really any of the Neophytes. Unless I'm missing someone...?" If he were more cognitive, he would have gotten to this already, but he wasn't and was giving Axel a look. Did he get on the wrong side of some other Organization member that he didn't know about?

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[Axel]

It's Very Important, After All

Axel snorted at the idea of Vexen killing him. "Good one, Zexion. You sure do like to joke around when you're... relaxed. Yeah, relaxed."

Zexion was now wondering out loud who could possibly agree to "kill" him. The answer should have been obvious, but Axel excused Zexion's momentary lack of intelligence. Saïx. Saïx was perfect for this. A need to prove his loyalty? Check. Motivation for killing him? Check. Bonus points for killing not only a traitor but also a former friend? Double check.

The Schemer was clear-headed enough to recognize the beauty of this idea. No one would suspect a dead Axel to be any threat, especially not to the Superior. When the illusion appeared of Xemnas bursting into flames, Axel smirked. In the real thing, he'd probably draw it out a little more than that. Wouldn't want the Superior to die too quickly. Plus, Axel wanted to make sure Xemmy knew exactly who it was who would take his non-existence.

"I might know someone who would help..." It probably wouldn't take too much convincing to get Saïx on board. They hadn't been able to find Marluxia yet, and plans didn't need to slow down just because Flower Boy was being elusive.

"And yes, you did miss someone." The Flame stared out at the sky thoughtfully for a moment. "Did you forget about the moon?"

[Fate]

How Could I Forget About Something So Important?!

Zexion wanted to hit himself. Hard. He settled for hitting the back of his head against the wall.

How could he forget about the moon? It was incredibly important, after all. That simply put everything into place. Saïx had the perfect motivation to do something like this. Axel had betrayed him specifically when he chose to be friends with Roxas and go so far as betray the Organization for him. There was also tension between the two already from this, setting Saïx up to be the perfect candidate. Not only that, but it would prove to the Superior that he was loyal to the Organization, not Axel.

"How could I forget?" he asked somewhat rhetorically, "That would make things easier. The question then comes if he can make it believable. I do not doubt Number Seven's lying abilities, but Superior has been suspicious of him as of late, which will make things harder for him. And the Superior will only believe me up to a certain extent even if I am his favorite." He cringed as he said that. "He might be starting to get suspicious of me. We would have to make this as believable as possible. There might need to be another witness, someone who has the complete trust of the Superior outside of myself..."

He paused, going into his thinking pose. Though, not too much thinking was going on this time now that his head hurt and his mind was all foggy. He should have known that he had a low tolerance for ice cream and should have gone slowly with it. After all, he had when he was persuading Ansem to build the laboratory. He should have know of its power. Unfortunately, he had forgotten and had let this get the best of him. The best he could hope for was that he pretended this was all just a massive illusion the next day and carry on normally.

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