Chapter 11: The New Stronghold
Part 1: The Burning Water
They came out together, roughly colliding with the rocky surface underneath them in a jumbled mess. Axel was greatly disoriented. His vision was blurred, and he grasped his head with his hand as he again failed at getting to his feet. He heard some gravel being shuffled, and suddenly he heard a desperate cry from right beside him, “MOVE!” He heard a body duck to the ground, and suddenly, with a grievous blow to his gut, he found himself soaring through the air.
As Axel smashed into the rising falls behind him, Zexion quickly awarded himself a small smile at the force with which he had hit him. The darkness was still radiating out of his palm as he rapidly helped Xigbar to his feet- he had ducked to the ground just in time to avoid the blast. As all this transpired, Saix lazily waved his hand to call forth a portal. Within a few seconds of their arrival at the base of the falls, they abandoned it inside another puff of darkness.
Axel found himself to be dripping wet as he slowly regained his balance upon the rocky floor. What had happened? He had come through the portal with them, and suddenly he was here. But where was here?
Rubbing his eyes to clear the water from them, and pushing his dripping hair from his face, he could only marvel at where he was.
He was standing on the lowest platform within the rising falls. The floating cliffs before him interested him just as much as they had during his last visit, and the endlessly rising water was still rushing with as much vigor as ever.
Axel couldn’t help but recall when he had been here with Roxas. Although it was only a little more than a year ago, it seemed like it had been during a different lifetime- so much had changed. Axel chuckled a little at the thought. What a twist- now he was the one turning on the Organization.
It didn’t matter though, and letting those thoughts go, he cautiously began his ascent. Axel moved swiftly, leaping from platform to platform at a steady pace. He took no chances- his chakrams were clenched tightly in his hands, and he was taking special care to make each jump.
Despite the lucid way he moved through the falls, Axel really had no idea what he was planning to do. He was moving closer and closer to the far off castle that he assumed now housed the Organization, but what did he hope to accomplish? He was just one person going against the entire Organization… and again his thoughts trailed off to Roxas.
Pushing them aside, he continued moving. He’d figure out what to do as he went, he decided. Axel was nearing the top now, and with a final leap, he found himself at the base of a short staircase. He jumped up the steps two at a time, but when he reached the top, he stopped short at the sight before him.
Sitting lazily at the side of the tram, with his feet swinging carelessly over its edge was Demyx, beaming as he turned his head to face Axel.
“Boy, I thought this lookout job was never gonna pay off, but now here you are!” Demyx had a surprisingly uncharacteristic malice in his voice. Axel raised an eyebrow, but allowed him to continue as he got to his feet.
Demyx gave a little chuckle as he continued joyfully, “You have no idea how sweet this really is.”
Axel was taken back by his unusually confident nature, and so he meant to break it.
“Talk all you want water-baby, you know you can’t beat me,” he taunted (he allowed his chakrams to vanish as he said it for added affect), “So why even bother?”
Demyx barely took heed of what he said, playfully toying with his tidy blonde hair as he continued, “Don’t bother Axel, look around you,” he gestured wildly with his arms, “Surrounded by water. No wonder they stationed me-”
Axel caught him by surprised. He came colliding into him with such force that he knocked him straight off the platform. As soon as he got to his feet, Axel commanded the platform to start moving- he had to get away from the falls. Twirling the chakrams he had once again called to his hands, he stood rigid in the middle of the station, prepared for anything.
With a roar of water, Demyx came rising up to the platform with jets of water supporting him. There was a wild look in his eyes as he strummed at his oversized sitar, and the water seemed to pulsate with every chord he plucked.
Axel jumped into action, hurling both his weapons at him and sprinting up behind them to meet him in midair. Demyx slammed down with his sitar, and the water beneath him seemed to follow as it went smashing into Axel and his weapons.
The force of the water sent Axel flying way off the platform back towards the falls. Under Demyx’s command, the liquid surrounded itself around Axel and speeded him all the way back to the stairs of the falls.
Axel came smashing into the ground in a watery mess. With a wave of his hand, a small fire came to life in front of him, rapidly evaporating the water around him. He jumped to his feet, his lost chakrams reappearing in his hands as he did so, just in time to see Demyx coming at him. The young nobody was riding a massive wave at break neck speeds, twirling atop it as he played his sitar wildly.
“Nowhere to go!” Demyx roared, swinging the sitar once more in a downward stroke over his head. The wave seemed to follow the sitar’s lead, and converged directly at Axel, Demyx riding upon it the entire time. The water came smashing into the platform with tremendous force, but not in time to reach its mark. Axel had vanished in time to only narrowly miss the mighty current, reappearing moments later on the next, lower platform.
Demyx landed exactly where Axel had stood, allowing the water around him to surrender itself to gravity. He was laughing playfully and twirling his sitar about his body as he called down, “You might wanna say sorry about all those names you called me, hot head!”
Axel cringed at the awkward nature of the pathetic taunt and put a hand to his forehead, “See, it’s that sort of thing that always made you the laughing stock of the Organization.”
Demyx glared angrily at him, and stopped the sitar in its tracks. With a remarkably serious edge in his voice, he called down with great contempt, “No. You did that to me.”
Allowing the sitar to disappear, Demyx raised both his hands. The already rising falls followed suit, and rushing further upwards, they formed a watery dome that surrounded the area, to Axel’s great astonishment and distress.
Knowing he had to do something quick, Axel once again hurled himself at Demyx, but to no avail. Demyx, reacting just in time, swirled his arms in Axel’s direction, and a large stream of water from the dome followed their direction. Tossing and turning as he flew through the air, Axel barely managed to fight loose of the current. He crashed into a cliff very near the bottom of the falls, and got to his feet just in time to see Demyx running along the falls. With another upwards gesture with his arms, another stream came hurtling at Axel, but he flipped himself to another, even lower platform just in time to avoid its crushing force.
Demyx ran higher along the dome’s watery walls, until he was all the way at the top. Axel, being too beaten and too tired to even attempt an offensive strike, could only manage to brace himself for what was about to come. Axel jumped down a few platforms to the very bottom of the area, all the while Demyx did a wild, upside down dance at the top of the dome.
“Dance water dance!” he cried.
With that roar, Demyx flipped down from the top of the dome, the entire body of water following his suit. He landed on the platform directly above Axel’s, and threw his arms out in front of him, all the water in the entire area obeying his command. Axel threw his arms out in desperation, a massive wall of flames emerging between himself and his foe. The water came smashing into it with a great roar, but Axel stood strong, and soon the overwhelming sizzle of the thousands of gallons of water burning filled the air.
Axel’s arms were shaking with the effort, and the chakrams he had been clenching inadvertently disintegrated in within his grasp as he steadily weakened. The fiery divider itself was weakening, wide holes forming in it, and the water began to pour through as if a dam were breaking. Demyx seemed un-phased by the strain, and continued to twirl the water with stunning strength.
The blaze continued to dwindle, until all that was left to combat the waves of water was a modest flame directly surrounding Axel’s body. Knowing his victory to be imminent, Demyx took a few slow steps towards him, all the while smashing more and more water at him. Axel knew he was done. Dropping his hands at his side, he let the last of the flames die, and was thrown into unconsciousness as the water hit him like a brick wall.
As soon as he saw Axel get launched, Demyx let the water relax. The dome came crashing down around him, drenching all of the rocky outcroppings. He found Axel’s dripping wet body lying next to the falls, and walked to it without hesitation. With a quick check to make sure he was truly defeated, Demyx grabbed him by his coat’s hood, and began dragging Axel’s limp form up to the castle.
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So, mystery resolved! This was the battle I had really wanted to see in KH2 when I first heard about Demyx controlling water (not necessarily against Axel... I just always pictured fighting him there). I'll definitely be making edits to this... I feel like I rushed it, so point out any errors or anything that doesn't seem to flow, ok? =D
So.... next chapter. Although I do have it written, after completing this one, I decided to re-read it, and the transitions seem so forced that I'll have to make some major changes....
So........... expect Chapter 12: The Other Story sometime in the next two weeks (sorry... school and other crap >< )
*Oh, and part 2 is well on it's way.... got a little ahead of myself there, huh? =D
