Chapter 8"What the hell?! I did not try to kill myself! Just because something happened and I have scars on my wrists doesn't mean-" I started to rant, but I was cut off.
"Honey, there was enough ibuprofen in your system to kill a small animal instantly, and someone broke into the stores of drugs here, and two bottles were stolen. So, was it you?" Mom asked, and I just stared at her in shock for a second. Obviously whoever's trying to kill me did a good job of making it look like a suicide, but there was one thing they couldn't cover up. But first I had to ask.
"Axel, does my Mom know where she is?" I whispered in Axel's ear, knowing Mom would've killed me if she knew I was in the mafia.
"Zexion has her illusioned to think she's at Oblivion Hospital, and that you're in your last year of college for a medical degree, however, if you choose to tell her the truth, the illusion will break, at least that's what Zexion told me." Axel whispered back. I nodded. "Also, she thinks that I'm a resident here and you were coming here to see me when you overdosed."
"So you think I attempted suicide?" I cautiously asked.
"Yes, you did, correct?" Zexion asked sleepily from the recliner near my mother, the other one across from him being occupied by Arcee, and I could see where they had been playing cards until they fell asleep.
"One question, does anyone have gardener's gloves?" I quickly asked, and everybody shook their heads, and I reached over to my left arm, pretending to scratch it. When people looked away for a second, I immediately disconnected all the cords connecting me to the hospital bed and ran out of the room, in search of gardener's gloves so I could get the roses without getting hurt again, and I decided to also get books and clothes while I was there, because the hospital gown was very er-revealing.
"Someone stop her!" I heard Mom yell, and I could see Arcee jumping up from the recliner in my mind.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" I heard her yell, which proved my suspicions true. I ran all the way to Marluxia's garden to quickly grab a pair of gardening gloves, and ran to my room the opposite way I came, grabbed some clothes and books, and quickly slipped on the gloves and, carefully, grabbed the roses.
"There she is!" I heard Saïx yell, and I cursed.
"Other way!" I said to myself, and ran the long way to the room, but unfortunately there were more members on the other side.
"Now, stay calm, Grace, we're just going to take you back to your room..." Axel said, slowly coming closer.
"That's where I was going, dumbass! And don't come any closer, I'm armed!" I said, and he backed up.
"With what?"
"The roses that almost killed me." I simply stated, and he rolled his eyes, but backed up. Instead, Vexen and Marluxia came forward.
"Intriguing, so this is what caused the ibuprofen overdose?" Vexen asked, and I nodded, slightly freaked out, I didn't think I would ever get over the shock of Vexen's oddly shaped eyes.
"Interesting, this is a species I've never seen before, may I examine it?" Marluxia asked formally, and I nodded.
"Yeah, but be careful, obviously the thorns are poisoned." I stated, then took one glove off and handed it to him, and handed him the roses and the other glove. "Now if you all don't mind, I'm going to go back to my hospital room, put on the clothes I got from my room, and recover." I said, then pushed my way through the crowd, ignoring the pain around my left kidney that had been going strong since I started running, and calmly walked to my room.
X-x-X-x"So what exactly happened after I passed out? And just how long have I been out?" I asked, on pain killers again but at least I was awake.
"Well, you've been out since Friday, and today's Thursday, so almost a week." Axel stated, and I stared at him.
"...WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP SOONER?!" I yelled, freaking out.
"Vexen said you needed sleep..."
"NO ONE NEEDS TO SLEEP FOR ALMOST A WEEK!"
"I was just listening to the doctor..." he said, and I sighed.
"What happened after I passed out?" I asked, resigned.
'Well you called me but when I answered, you didn't say anything, I just heard a thump, so I went to your room to check it out, and I found you on the floor. I immediately called Vexen, which is pretty much the equivalent of 911 around here, and had him check you out. By the time we had you here you were in critical condition, but Vexen managed to isolate the damage to one kidney, however you were gonna need a transplant, but the only donor-" Axel started to explain, but was cut off by my brother.
"Was me. So Axel called me up and told me to get here fast, because you were in trouble, and apparently it's rare for a Somebody and Nobody's organs to be compatible, however, it's possible when the two are related, which in and of itself is rare, but I was the only available donor-" Leon started to say but was again cut off.
"So he rushed over here, I was surprised to say the least, and you were both immediately prepped for surgery, and we thought it might've been the end, but you pulled through the surgery and was set to recover for a full week, maybe more, however you woke up a week early, and if I play one more game of Go-Fish, I will hit someone. Can we pleeeeease play poker now, Zexion?" Arcee continued, and ended the story, not to mention reminded me of how much she
hated Go-Fish, and how good she was at poker.
"Poker is for those who are willing to gamble all their money away and are confident they will win, and I am neither." Zexion stated, and I nodded in agreement. I hated poker with a passion, and it was well known that I sucked at it.
"Cooome onnnnn, Grace never lets me play poker with her, and I'm good at it! Nobody ever plays poker because nobody I know is good at it!" Arcee tried sympathy to get to play poker, but I knew that would never work on Zexion.
"I do not care, I have no skills at poker, and I do not wish to play." Zexion stated, and I gave him a thumbs up.
"I'll play with you, Arcee..." I heard a voice similar to Xemnas' come from the doorway, however, instead of Xemnas, I looked up to see Alcatraz standing in the doorway. I looked up at Arcee to see that her face had taken up a nice shade of red. I raised my eyebrows at her, then turned to Alcatraz.
"Go on and make yourself
comfortable Alcatraz." I said with a smirk, looking at Arcee as she gave me a look that told me she was gonna chew me out later.
"Eh, I'll play too..." Axel muttered, then looked at me.
"Okay, fine, I'll play with you Arcee, but we're not betting money, we're betting something even better...secrets." I said with a smirk, because I was tired of losing money and I couldn't wait to hear some of their secrets.
Chapter 9I groaned, glaring at the envelope on the side table with details as to my mission. That's right, two days awake and I've already been assigned a mission. A mission with Axel as my partner and it was one only I could do, but could Xemnas at least wait a few days? Although, no one was more pissed off than Vexen, who insisted to no avail that I needed more rest, until Xemnas threatened his life(he wasn't in a very good mood that morning) and he shut up, sulking down to his lab.
"May as well get it over with, Axel..." I muttered, yanking off the thing that went on your finger that connected to the heart monitor. Yeah, that thing. You know what I'm talking about if you've ever been to the hospital to visit anyone or for yourself. I popped open the envelope, and took out the paper.
MISSION OVERVIEW
Mission Location: Night Club That Never Was (This is what I would've named a nightclub...)
Mission Overview: Your attempted-murderer has been reported to be here tonight, you are to infiltrate the nightclub and track him down, and demand his motives. Beware, as he is reported to be highly dangerous, and force may be needed
Target Description: No description is available, however, my sources tell me you may be slightly familiar with him, and has also been known to occasionally paralyze people in fear with his gaze alone.
"I'm going to go get ready, Axel, meet me by the Aston Martin in twenty minutes." I stated, smirking.
X-x-X-xAfter I'd showered, put on my black trenchcoat, deciding to leave it unzipped over a blue tank top, black skinny jeans(both of which fit me a little tightly, but it made my curves look good) and black boots, and even put on some perfume for good measure, I quickly grabbed Axel's necklace and a few hair ties just in case I wanted to keep my hair up later.
"How can you always make it exactly twenty minutes?" Axel asked, usual suggestive smirk on his face.
"Maybe because I'm amazing?" I said with a smirk.
"You were indeed instructed in the art of being amazing."
"Nuh-uh, I was born amazing!" I said as we got in the car. I held up the
Believers Never Die Fall Out Boy CD, and smirked at him, while pulling out my sunglasses and putting the CD in as Axel and I put on our sunglasses at the same time, nodding our heads at each other before singing to every word of Dead On Arrival.
X-x-X-x"You have the limited edition?! I wanted that but I ended up just getting the regular one." I said as we pulled up and From Now On We Are Enemies started to play. I still had my sunglasses on even though it was night, though I could hardly see, but Axel obviously had to since he was driving.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Axel asked concernedly once the car was parked.
"Honestly? I'm not sure, but I'll have to face it sometime, right?" I said, opening the door and getting out, leaving my sunglasses in the car.
X-x-X-x"Whiskey for me and a strawberry daiquiri for the lady." Axel told the barman, and I smiled, because he knew what I liked. And well, he knew that I wouldn't go up there myself.
"Hey, sexy, I saw you from across the room and I thought you might-" I heard a voice, eerily familiar but I knew for a fact would never speak again, from behind me.
"A-Axel, I think we found the target!" I said, frozen by Vanitas' gold eyes seemingly peering in my soul.
"You-you're alive?!" Vanitas asked incredulously, and I narrowed my eyes at him, finding the anger and resentment hot enough to thaw me out.
"I could say the same, I thought my brother said he killed you." I stated coldly.
"A knife in the back is nothing when you're a freak." Vanitas stated, waving a hand as if we were talking about the weather or something.
"Why do you think he's the target, Grace?" Axel asked from behind me.
"Because, you obviously don't know who this is." I stated, rolling my eyes. "Axel, I would like you to meet the thing that haunts my every nightmare. Axel, this is Vanitas Kuratai."
"So, you're Grace's abusive ex that is the reason she has scars on her wrists and in her heart?" Axel asked, eyes visibly darkening when he looked at Vanitas.
"I take it you're her new toy, for her to throw away when she's done just because of a few bruises?" Vanitas answered with another question, glaring viciously at Axel. I was shocked, however, when Axel's fist connected with Vanitas' jaw.
"OH IT'S ON, BITCH!" Vanitas shouted, tackling Axel in an effort to punch or kick anywhere he could, while Axel fought back desperately, however, in the back of my mind, I knew that Axel was going to lose. Axel was simply a nobody while Vanitas, as he stated, was a freak, an abomonation. He wasn't a heartless, or an unversed, he wasn't a nobody nor was he a somebody, but some strange combination of all of them. Instead of having the slowed heartbeat of a nobody, his was accelerated, and he had the dark powers of the heartless and unversed, yet he was completely humanoid, something unheard of among the unversed and heartless alike, while some can morph their appearance to look human, none of them actually had a human form, and he was most definitely not a somebody. I knew he knew how to throw a punch, being on the receiving end of them for a year before I left, however Axel was more of a weapons specialist.
"Stop, hasn't he suffered enough?!" I shouted, standing in front of Axel, attempting to protect him, as Vanitas backed up for an ending blow. Axel was already fading towards unconsciousness, I could feel it.
"Not as far as I'm concerned, I say if it's not me that has you they should die." Vanitas simply stated as if he were stating that my shirt was blue or that he was a freaking murderer.
"That just makes you more heartless than we are, and we're nobodies! I left because you abused me so I wouldn't leave, but unlike some other women, it didn't work on me, it just made me work harder to leave. You thought that by threatening and hitting me, I wouldn't tell anyone your little secret? Honestly, how stupid are you?" I said, crouching down to Axel's level, glaring at Vanitas all the while. I stared agape as he just disappeared, he didn't even have to go to a door, he just disappeared into thin air. "How you feeling, Axel?"
"My head hurts, Cammy..." he muttered, and I noticed a large, bleeding cut on his forehead. "You haven't been here in a while, Cammy, have you seen your sister? And why are there two of you?" Axel asked, and passed out.
Chapter 10I knew I was speeding well above 60 in the back of my mind, but I didn't have the presence of mind to check the speedometer to see just how fast I was driving. All I could think about was how Axel probably needed stitches and I didn't have a first-aid kit, and he might have a concussion, by the looks of it, and I needed to get to Vexen as soon as possible. Not that I would need to tell Vexen that I was driving despite his direct orders not to drive until I got the green light of complete recovery. At this point, he can go to hell. It wasn't until I saw cop lights behind me that I even gave a damn about stopping, and I immediately pulled over.
"Problem, officer?" I asked, rolling down my window.
"Yeah, is there a reason you were going 120 in a 60 zone?" I heard Sora ask from the other side of the door.
"Yes, actually, I do have a reason." I said, gesturing to Axel bleeding in the passenger seat. At least he was unconscious instead of rambling about some Cammy.
"Holy- Did he get in an arms race?!" Sora asked, knowing of Axel's, and possibly my own, involvement in the mafia, however, he didn't seem to have the patience to arrest either of us at the moment.
"No, he got in a fist fight with Vanitas. Which, depending on your point of view, could be easily more dangerous. I was just headed to er-where he needs to go, to get fixed up."
"Fine, I'll let you off with a warning this time, but at least be careful, okay?"
"I will, thanks, Sora!" I said, and when he walked away I rolled up the window, and took off again.
X-x-X-x"Ugh...what have you been eating?!" I said, mostly to myself, as I tried to help Axel out of the car, realizing I would need help. And, as fate would have it, Vexen walked in to the garage right then to get something, what it was, to this day I have no clue.
"What.The.Hell." Vexen said, almost seething, and I wasn't sure if it was more that I'd been driving when I wasn't cleared yet, or Axel's condition. Which was covered in blood, still bleeding a little bit, and passed out.
"Vanitas." I stated, glaring at the ceiling as if it were Vanitas, before continuing. "Would you help me get him inside?"
"Fine, but you're going to tell me what happened once I get him taken care of." Vexen stated, then grabbed Axel's arm, and I grabbed the other. We somehow managed to drag him all the way up to the infirmary, where Vexen immediately began examining him, and I watched with a curious eye as he knew how to do everything medical just right.
"How do you do it?" I asked absentmindedly, currently watching him stitch up the cut on Axel's forehead.
"Do what?" he asked, not even looking up.
"
That. What you're doing now. How do you remember exactly what to do? No matter how hard I study it still takes me a while to remember everything..." I asked, watching Vexen finish up the stitching, and examine Axel's head for any signs of other trauma.
"Years of practice, I've been the medic since Xemnas brought me here, and that was twenty years ago, at age 16." He told me, so I finally figured out his age. Arcee always called him a creepy old man, but I knew he had to be younger than 40, and I was right, even if not by much. I settled into a chair, deciding that I wasn't going to be able to help much anyway, and I needed to figure out what I was going to report to Xemnas, especially since this was my fault. Had I just ignored Vanitas, I would've just been fine, reported to Xemnas that Vanitas was the culprit, and gone on my merry way, but no, I had to speak to Vanitas, which led to Axel speaking to Vanitas, which led to the fight. I should have known what would have happened, and attempted to avoid it. But nope, I didn't, and now Axel had to pay the price.
Stop wallowing in your own self pity, and go report to Xemnas. I decided to listen to the random voice in my mind, and I got up.
"I'll be back soon, if he wakes up before I get back, let me know." I said as I walked out the door to the infirmary, which may as well just be called the hospital, headed for Xemnas's office. I took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
"Come in." I heard Xemnas say from the other side of the door, after a few papers started rustling.
"Xemnas?" I said more than asked, feeling my brain have the need to be bleached after I a girl, barely dressed, with black hair and brown eyes, right next to Xemnas. "You do realize my brain is going to have to be
severely bleached now, right?"
"Ahem. Sasha, go wait out in the hall." Xemnas said, unmessing his hair and buttoning up his shirt. Basically, I was going to be scarred for a long time. "Yes, XV?"
"I am forever scarred. Anyway, the mission was...sort of a success, we found the assassin, my ex-boyfriend, Vanitas, however, Axel got into a fist-fight with him, and...well, it didn't end well, and he's currently passed out in the infirmary..." I said quietly, feeling slightly ashamed that this happened.
"Vanitas...You don't mean..." Xemnas trailed off, waiting for me to finish.
"That's right, the apprentice of the leader of the Unversed."
"Not anymore, my
dear brother died last fall, and Vanitas is the current leader."
"So...Axel just got his ass handed to him on a silver platter by the
leader of the Unversed..."
"XV, could you describe him for me? I read about him becoming the leader, but I have never seen him."
"About six feet tall, black spiky hair, golden eyes, pale skin tone, can throw one hell of a right hook, very sadistic when drunk, and whether he's sadistic when he's sober depends on who you are, and is a freak."
"What do you mean by a freak?"
"He's not an Unversed, Heartless, Nobody, or Somebody. He's a combination of all four, an abomination by some people's standards, but Vanitas just calls himself a freak."
"I think I've heard enough, send Sasha back in on your way out, will you, XV?" Xemnas told me, waving me off. I pointed at the door as I passed Sasha, shuddering at what would be going on in there. I sprinted so I could get out of there before I could hear
noises.
"Man, I've been waiting for this all day..." I said, plopping down on my bed exhaustedly, falling asleep right away.
"It felt so much like we were high last night when we stayed up that late..." Arcee muttered, giggling and falling against the locker. Something tells me she got into the special chocolates again. Then again, I was the same way from sleep deprivation...
"Miss me?" Vanitas whispered in my ear, lips brushing my ear in just the right way that felt good, and I let loose a shiver of delight.
"Of course." I said with a smile before kissing him, loving the feel of his lips against mine. The memory-dream suddenly lurched forward a few years, as I watched from a distance this time, as a sober Vanitas sat on the couch with an extremely shy me.
"Vanitas? Do you think you could, maybe, if it's okay with you, you could, possibly, not go out drinking tonight?" I asked quietly, attempting to not offend, or anger, Vanitas.
"Well...I don't know, it's important that I meet up with the representatives of each of the groups, a member of the Heartless, a member of the Organization, and a Somebody police officer." Vanitas informed me for the thousandth time, and I looked down.
"Yeah, but you do that every night, I wanted to, if it was okay, spend time with you tonight?"
"I guess so, if it's that important to you..." Vanitas said, trailing off at the end.
"Thank you." I whispered as I went to hug Vanitas as tight as I could. When he was drunk, Vanitas was abusive, I had always known he had a dark side, however, when he was sober, he kept it restrained around me, but when he was drunk, he didn't give a damn about it. I couldn't see it from here, but I knew from the fact that this was my memory that I was crying tears of happiness, as it was a rare occurrence where I got a night without a drunk Vanitas at that time.
"What's wrong?" Vanitas asked, generally concerned.
"Oh, nothing, nothing..." I muttered. Then the dream lurched forward to that night at the movie theater.
"Oh hey, look it's my friends from the other groups, I never introduced you!" Vanitas said, and I turned around quickly, and there they were. The taunters that usually went with Vanitas on his really drunken nights.
"Excuse me for one second, Vanitas." I said politely, then walked up to them, knowing they spotted us. "Listen here, this is my
special time with Vanitas, and you monsters aren't ruining it. Not today." I said, grabbing the collar of the one with black, wavy hair and emerald green eyes. "Got. It. Memorized?" I added, then put him down.
"All taken care of!" I said when I walked up to Vanitas, and we went to watch our movie.Chapter 11I woke up from the dream craving
somebody, however, I knew I would have to wait for Axel to wake up. When I went to check on him before breakfast, he was still asleep, so I resolved to bring a poptart in there and wait.
X-x-X-xI was in the middle of reading
The Science of Medicine: Superhuman Edition, which was about medical treatment of various non-humans such as Nobodies, which is probably boring to you, when Axel woke up, around noon.
"What kind of truck hit me?" he asked vaguely, as most people do after being asleep for a while. I should know, I was forcibly sleeping for a week recently. Vexen, Axel, if you're reading this, I'm still mad about that.
"The Vanitas kind." I said with a smile, and he did this weird cross of a groan and a laugh.
"Dammit, how did you stand it?"
"You just gotta learn to take it like a boss. If you came at me now, I probably wouldn't feel it that much. That's why landing from about 20 feet from the top of a ladder didn't kill me, because I had to deal with that for so long." I said, and felt what was similar to a brick fall on my head, and I looked up to find Xigbar standing at the top of the ceiling, grinning.
"Xigbar, I'm gonna -bleep- you up for messing with my brakes!" Axel yelled, jumping up there after Xigbar, and I grinned.
"Don't kill each other!" I yelled, before continuing my reading.
X-x-X-x"Mmmm...dammit, how do they make this stuff so addicting?" I muttered as I ate my sea-salt ice cream bar on top of the Clock Tower with Axel. It was past due our time to come up here, the last time we came...well we jumped off.
"Do you remember who gave you your first one?" Axel asked, gesturing at the ice cream in my hand.
"No, I remember the moment, but whenever I try to pull up the face, or even a name, it's just a big blur and I start getting a headache right here." I said, pointing to the side of my head, around my temporal lobe.
"Dammit, I wish you would remember all ready! I...I'm sick of it! Why can't you remember yet, they said you would regain your memory eventually!" Axel yelled, frustrated, before walking off.
"I don't get it, why does he care?" I muttered, finishing my ice cream before tossing the stick.
X-x-X-xThat night my dreams were filled with memories of Vanitas taunting me for forgetting about someone so important, which he knew was a sensitive topic for me, when I was awoken by Axel.
"It's okay, Grace, it's just a dream..." Axel muttered as he held me.
"It's not just a dream, it's a
memory, and besides, how did you know I was having a nightmare?" I asked suspiciously, giving him that look most abnormal people give you in suspicion. Maybe I'll show you a picture some time.
"You were screaming in your sleep. You only do that when you have a nightmare, Grace."
"I know," I sighed, before patting the bed next to me, "Mind staying with me tonight?" He hesitated, before climbing in next to me.
"Sure." he said with a smile, then started humming Amazing Grace under his breath. The sound of it tugged at my memory, attempting to remember something distant. I settled in closer to Axel, and fell asleep.
This time I wasn't in a memory of any sort, instead, I was facing a long, illuminated hallway.
"Your lost memories are at the end of the hall." I heard a quiet voice say from behind me, and I turned around to reveal a short girl, she didn't look like she could be younger than sixteen, with blonde hair swept to one side and blue-purple eyes like Kairi and Xion, and a short white dress with a black Organization coat on top of it.
"Who are you?" I asked, staring at her petite figure.
"My name is Naminé." She said simply, before disappearing. I was too intrigued by getting to the end of that hall to care, starting the walk down there. After what felt like an eternity before I realized that I was literally getting nowhere. I decided to pick up the pace, sprinting until the doorknob was within my grasp. With a lurch, the hallway, attempted to bring me further back, however, I had all ready grabbed onto the handle, and was waiting for the hall to stop moving before twisting the knob.
"Hey, I remember this!" I said, watching my five-year-old self cry under the willow tree on the playground, clutching her neck where Vanitas scratched her in that fight. Yeah, even then, Vanitas and I didn't get along. Basically, what happened, was Vanitas pulled Arcee's pigtails, I got PO'd, I told him to pick on someone his own size, which was a mistake considering I actually was
his size, and, well, we got in a fight, he scratched my neck, and I still have the scar to this day.
"You're pretty cool!" I heard a voice come from in front of me, standing in front of five-year-old me. The boy was a little taller than I was at the time, and had red spiky hair that had been attempted to be pulled into a ponytail. "Standing up to Vanitas like that, most kids wouldn't have the spunk, especially not a girl." He handed five-year-old me a sea-salt ice cream bar, and I stared at him confusedly.
"What's this?" Five-year-old me asked in suspicion.
"It's ice cream, stupid." I watched as I took the ice cream, took a bite, then smiled.
"It's so salty, yet sweet! I'm Grace, what's your name?"
"My name's Axel, got it memorized?" and then he sat next to five-year-old me, eating and ice cream of his own, and now I could clearly see his face. It really was Axel, even with little purple tattoos under his eyes. The person I had been trying to remember had literally been standing right in front of me for the past few months, which made me feel like an oblivious idiot.I woke from the dream with a gasp, waking up Axel as well.
"What?!" Axel asked, sounding slightly panicky.
"I just remembered. Why didn't you tell me it was you that I've been trying to remember this whole time?" I told him excitedly, wrapping my arms around him without even thinking about it.
"I...I promised your Mom I wouldn't..."
"What?"
"When you were about seventeen, I came up with your cousins for Thanksgiving. Can you remember that?"
"Yeah, I remember it all, up until just after I saw you get out of the car, then it just goes blank..."
"Well you came out running, but you forgot to check the traffic, you got hit by an SUV, the doctors said you were lucky to be alive, but when you woke up, apparently you got hit right here." he said, touching the spot where I used to get headaches when I tried to remember some things. "You didn't remember me, at all. It hurt, but I never blamed you. Your Mom took me by the arm and told me to never come back looking for you, if we met by chance, or you remembered me on your own, then it would be null and void, but she said if I came looking for you, she threatened to castrate me, but I secretly hoped you would find me, and, well, I've been with a few women since then... I thought it would be good enough with Cammy, a couple years ago, but that didn't end well, and she ended up killing herself, after she dumped me, and I started dating Larxene. I thought it might never happen, that I had lost you forever, even if it was just to Vanitas, when I met you again in the gas station. I bet you thought I was weird for dating some chick from the gas station, but I recognized you. I wasn't completely sure if it was you, but I was willing to take my chances, and it obviously was."
"I just have one question...when you say Cammy, do you mean my dead sister, Cammy?"
"Yeah, she was involved with the Organization for a few years, but she never really fit in, because she was a Somebody, we used to go out, but she dumped me, and, well, I guess you can figure out what she did at the SOLDIER party..."
"Yeah..."
"You know, you look a lot like her."
"Nah, she was always prettier than me..."
"Grace, you look exactly alike, I saw Cammy just before I passed out, and I thought there were two Cammy's."
"Let's just go to sleep, and discuss this in the morning." I said, before laying back down to go to sleep.
X-x-X-x"OH MY HELL!" I heard Arcee yell, yanking me out of a peaceful sleep.
"WHAT?!" I yelled, staring around the room for any danger, getting out the gun I keep in the drawer in my bedside table.
"I CAME TO BORROW HALO 3, AND I FIND OUT YOU HAD A ONE NIGHT STAND WITH AXEL?!" She yelled, and I just facepalmed.
"Arcee, I had a nightmare, and I asked him to come in here. I swear that we did NOTHING. Otherwise, I would have a look on my face that you would totally recognize as the face that I've seen YOU make." I said, giving her an evil grin as she turned a nice shade of red.
Chapter 12"Why are you getting so dressed up today?" Axel said after I came back into my room from the closet wearing a short, one sleeved black dress, and holding my silver heels that my sister gave me, that I hardly ever wore.
"I'm going to the graveyard in Radiant Garden. Today's Cammy's birthday, and Leon and I always go to the cemetery around noon together to visit her grave." I told him, putting on the heels.
"Oh yeah, I remember her birthday was the day before Halloween, and we would always get a sugar overload because of having birthday cake on her birthday then tons of candy on Halloween..."
"You could come with me, if you wanted to."
"Uh...sure, let me go get dressed..." he said before leaving the room, I invited him because he had once gone out with Cammy, and even before that, they were sort of friends. Leon and I always made it a tradition to at least wear one thing that Cammy had once given us, however, I couldn't remember if I had told Axel about this tradition, however, I figured one of us had when Axel came in, as he was wearing a black t-shirt with "Property of CAMERYN" on it.
"Dare I ask when you got that?"
"No, you don't dare, are you ready?"
"Yeah, I think I am." I said with a smile, as I walked to the garage.
X-x-X-xWhen we got there, Leon was muttering under his breath, much like I probably would be, so he didn't hear us walking in the grass. We walked up to him, and I grabbed his hand, smiling at him.
"I didn't think you would come." Leon stated. He was wearing the tie that she gave him the day before she died. She told him that she saw it and thought of him, as it was a black tie that had the characters that they watched on TV together when they were growing up.
"Of course I did, Leon, I haven't missed it since she died." I stated, and he fell back to his muttering and I started mine. "Cammy...I miss you so much, you know that. I wish you were still here, I need your help now more than ever. Axel told me that before you died, you were a part of the Organization, and that you used to date. I'm in it now, as well, but I don't know what to do. My conscience tells me I'm doing wrong, but I'm so afraid to leave, I have no clue what to do. I had no clue what you were doing, and who actually did in our family? I'm starting to wonder, was your death even a suicide? I-I need advice from my sister. And you should have known that I would have made your mistakes, then you went and died. And now, when I need you most..." I started crying at this point, or maybe I was the whole time and I just didn't realize it. I felt Axel squeeze my hand that wasn't holding Leon's, and looked up.
"Pretty girls shouldn't cry, how many times have I told you now?" Axel said with a smile, and I smiled back.
"Well, we've known each other since kindergarten, you've said it pretty much every time you've seen me cry, so I would say a lot." I told him, still smiling, but I knew, deep in my heart, that I was obviously not done mourning my sister. I probably never would be. When she was alive, she was the one I talked to for my problems. And I was too oblivious to ask about hers. And now I couldn't talk to her about the major problems I have now. I could never tell anyone this, though, for obvious reasons.
"Grace, can I talk to Axel for a second?" Leon asked from behind me, and I nodded, and walked to Axel's car. Stupid Vexen still hadn't allowed me to drive yet, so I had to have Axel drive me here. It took a little while for Axel to get back, and when he did, he looked extremely stressed.
"What's wro-" I started to say.
"It's nothing. Let's just go home." Axel said, cutting me off, voice completely stressed.
"O-okay." I said looking down, sighing.
X-x-X-xAxel was still stressed when we got there, and was now looking like he was dreading something. He walked me to my room, he knew that I would want to change because the dress was fancier than my tastes for normalcy, and the heels were killing me.
"Grace...I-I have to tell you something." Axel told me, and I looked up at him. "I...I haven't loved you for a while. I've been pretending for a while for your sake, but I can't do it anymore. I...I'm leaving you." I stared at him for a few minutes, feeling one tear fall down my cheek, taking what he said in. All this time searching for him, and now I was losing him. He didn't love me any more. And then I got angry.
"FINE THEN, ASSHOLE! GO ON THEN, GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE!" I yelled before slapping him, opening the door to my room, and slamming it, before collapsing on the bed. "Fine then, I don't need him. I don't need anybody." I said, deciding to get up and get dressed. I was sick of wearing this dress, and I was certainly sick of these heels. I put on my Fall Out Boy hoodie, a pair of blue jeans, and my black converse. I had just laced them up, when I heard a knock at my door. I opened it up, hoping, but not expecting, it to be Axel. And it wasn't.
"I have the best news!" Arcee said when I opened the door.
"What is it?" I asked, voice sounding slightly depressed, but not too much. I wasn't going to let Axel rule my life...was I?
"Mark's coming home!" she said, doing this little happy dance.
"Really?!" I said, sounding genuinely excited.
"Yeah, I got the call last night, and he's coming home tonight!"
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Because, I wanted it to be a surprise that your
best friend from Kindergarten was coming home, but I heard er-what was going on out here, and I figured you would want some good news."
"Arcee, there are two problems with that sentence. For one thing, Axel is my best friend I've been searching for, not Mark, despite how long you guys have been lying to me, I knew it wasn't him. And for another, I'm fine, okay?" I told her, but she just shook her head at me. "Fine then, what do you want me to do?" I asked with a sigh.
"What we do every time one of us gets dumped." She said with a grin, and I was suspicious.
"Plan 32 or going to the shooting gallery?"
"Plan 32 can be saved for later, right now we're going laser tagging and to the shooting gallery." She told me, grinning at me before dragging me back to the garage.
"Just one thing, real quick." I told Arcee before going into the infirmary, and seeing Vexen.
"Vexen, I want my licence back. Now. I proved the other night that I can drive just fine, and I want to be able to drive again, as Axel won't be driving me around anymore." I told him, holding out my hand. Yeah, he physically confiscated it.
"And just why not?" Vexen asked, eyeing me suspiciously. Or just normally, I can never tell with him.
"Just ask him. And give me my licence." I told him, glaring, when he complied. "Thank you."
X-x-X-xOkay, so you know how Arcee said that Mark's plane was coming in at night? Well, when we got to the place we were supposed to pick him up, it was as bright as noon, so it really didn't feel like night. I could see the faces of every Marine, glad to be home, as the stepped off. And then, the last one off, Mark came off.
"MARK!" I shouted, tackling him in a hug. Even if he wasn't who I'd been looking for for so long, he was still Arcee's brother, and like a brother to me.
"Hey, kiddo." Mark said with a smirk, hugging me back.
"I missed you." I said, sounding slightly childlike. Which didn't happen often, lately.
"I missed you, and Arcee, and maybe even a little bit that boyfriend of yours, Vanity was it? Maybe."
"Vanitas, and you were right, he was a complete ass. We aren't together anymore, and haven't been for about a year."
"Really? What happened?" By now we were just talking in Arcee's car as she drove.
"I...I don't want to talk about it right now..."
"I'll tell you later, Mark." Arcee said, ending the conversation.
X-x-X-x"Let me know again why I'm not only going to a stupid Halloween party with the Organization, including one guy I'm not talking to and will have all the mafias at, so both my exes will be socializing, but I'm going in an extremely revealing outfit?" I asked, as Arcee helped me with my costume makeup and such things. I was going, apparently, as a sexy mafia bitch, as Arcee called it, which was way more revealing than I'd like.
"Trust me, they had costume a lot worse there, but I thought sexy mafia bitch would be appropriate." Arcee told me, smirking as she did my hair.
"Arcee, I really don't care about going as, ahem, a sexy mafia bitch. Is this 'to help me get over Axel'?"
"Maybe, you need to find a guy to replace him, even just for a one night stand, both to make you feel better and to make him feel jealous."
"You should know by now I don't give a damn about making someone feel worse."
"You should have thought of that before you depended on me to do your costume."
"Fine." I said, daydreaming as she did my hair and makeup and things like that. I was all ready wearing the clothes, she didn't want me to mess anything up getting it on after she did it, so all she had to do was tell me to look up or look down at the right times, or tell me to open or close my eyes. Honestly, I didn't think anything was necessary, but I still let her do what she pleased.
"...Arcee, you are a genius." I said after she directed me to a mirror, and frankly, she did a great job. At first I didn't even recognize the girl in the mirror. Arcee had straightened my hair, then curled it, so that the curl looked different than usual, more...professional, and she had done the makeup light enough that it didn't look whore-ish, but heavy enough you could definitely tell I was wearing it, and, well, she made me look good in the er-outfit I was wearing.
"Aren't I? Now get out, I need to put my costume on." She said, shutting the door to her bathroom. Yeah, we were in her room, because apparently mine didn't have the right stuff, or something. So yeah. Instead of my fire-and-ice themed room, I was in her room, in which the walls were painted, yes painted, camoflauge, and there were numerous Crysis and Marines posters on the walls, and, unsurpisingly, a bed set that had pictures from all of the Crysis and Halo games on it. She also had a few camo bean bags on her floor, and a green and dark red couch on one wall. Yeah, she definitely had different taste than me.
"Well, what do you think?" She asked, after she walked out in an er-revealing camo dress, that I won't go into great detail about, with camo boots, She had done her makeup, too, with red lipstick that was kind of heavy, but other than that, it was fairly light, and she also had her hair in a side ponytail, but she had just straightened hers.
"It's very....you." I told her, opening the door so we could leave.
X-x-X-xWhen we were walking into the nightclub this party was at, which was on the border of the territories of the three major mafias(The Heartless, The Unversed, and Organization XIII), which was, you guessed it, the Nightclub That Never Was, I couldn't help but notice Axel's costume,which consisted basically of a suit and a gun, and I remembered him saying he was going to go as James Bond this year, for some reason.
"Dammit...he's looking good tonight..." I muttered, spirits starting to fall.
"So do you, remember that, Grace, you don't need to come crawling back to him. Make him come back to you." Arcee told me from behind me, and I realized, I wasn't as over him as I thought I was. I was probably going to get drunk off my ass tonight, just to try to forget about that fact. And, I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew I would do
something I would regret.
X-x-X-xThe next morning, I woke up, and sure enough, I had
definitely done something I would regret. And that something involved Vanitas. At least he had the decency(or maybe it wasn't decency?) to not follow me home. I felt the tears start to come down, just like every time something happens to this extent with Vanitas, and I wondered absently if Axel even cared how much I'd been crying lately. Probably not, he's the one who dumped me. Even though I was actively crying, for the most part I was numb, but at the same time I felt so
dirty, and it felt like I could still feel Vanitas' hands all over me.
"I need to go take a shower..." I muttered, shuffling to my bathroom, I was starting to lose the numbness, and this horrible feeling wouldn't go away, and I hoped a shower would help.
Chapter 13"Grace, open up!" Arcee yelled outside of my bathroom door, some time later. I honestly wasn't sure how long I'd been in here.
"It's open if you want to come in!" I yelled back.
"Grace, you've been showering for two hours. You need to get out, some people
want hot water, you know." She said, sounding annoyed, and I sighed.
"I'll get out of the shower when I feel clean. And I still feel dirty as hell."
"Look, I know you did it with Vanitas last night, but you were drunk off your ass, and it's not like-" she started to say, but I cut her off.
"That's not the point. The point is, I said no. I said I didn't want to take it that far, and he gave me a choice. He told me that I could either let him do what he pleased, and he would make it worth my while, or I could struggle, and make it hell for myself. Normally, I would've struggled, but last night...I was sick of it. I just let him do whatever he damn well pleased. And he followed through, he definitely made it worth my while...I enjoyed it, and I hate it. I feel so dirty, and when I'm not concentrating on something else, I can feel his hands...all over me..." I started crying again, i hadn't told anyone about this yet, for obvious reasons, but Arcee was different. She understood the situations I often got myself into, whether it be a bad breakup or a bitch trying to shoot me, Arcee had my back.
"Just get out of the shower, I'll be waiting in your room, I want to know everything that happened last night." She told me, I heard the door open, close, and I was alone. I sighed, shut off the shower, and put on the clothes I had taken in here, which was just a baggy "To Write Love On Her Arms" t-shirt, and sweatpants.
"So what exactly did happen last night?" Arcee asked when I walked into my room, as I plopped down on my bed beside her.
"Well, I realized that I wasn't as over Axel as I thought I was last night, so I ended up going straight to the bar, and got drunk off my rocker. I don't remember much of last night, actually, just bits and pieces, I remember at one point after I was cut off, and I was just wandering around, Vanitas found me, and kissed me, and, well, I didn't have the will to resist, because, again, I was drunk off my rocker. I can't remember anything until the backroom where I told Vanitas no, then didn't struggle, and then after that I don't remember anything. At all." I told her, but after I said it, memories came flooding back. "Oh my hell. I was a trainwreck last night. No wonder Vanitas thought I wanted us to do it, I wouldn't leave him alone for five minutes last night, and I'll be damned if 95% of that wasn't spent making out. Dear hell, Arcee, what have I done?!" I said, falling down into the sheets and crying some more. Yeah, I have been crying a lot the last few days, but I've been an emotional trainwreck, can you blame me?
"Shhh, it's okay Grace, no one's judging you..." Arcee said, comforting me in the way only a best friend could. "I'll be right back, but I'm not abandoning you."
"Okay..." I muttered, watching her leave, and come back not five minutes later, with none other than Axel.
"Axel!" I said, feeling relief, then pride, looking any other way than at him. "Have you come to apologize?"
"No, but I figure, I missed out on about seven years of being your best friend, so I figured it was high time I filled in." He told me, and I stared at him, attempting to see if he was telling the truth, and wasn't just here to hurt me more. He was looking me in the eye, which was a good sign that he was being truthful. When he was lying to people he cared about, he couldn't look them in the eye. Usually. Every once and a while, when lying was essential to survival, he didn't do that, however, it wasn't often. "So, tell me what happened last night." And that I did. I told him everything, and held me when I cried like a good guy friend should, or, even though I shouldn't even think it at this point, a good boyfriend should.
X-x-X-xThat night, my memory dream was close to when the accident happened when I lost my memory, about a year beforehand, when the court system sent Axel to Oblivion with Xemnas instead of, well, the people who were mentioned in the will for Axel to stay with. Also known as, us. My family. And then, right before I woke up, Naminé showed me the scene of Axel's accident, but from a different angle. I could clearly see Xemnas and Xigbar in the front seat. The perfect team, Xemnas knew which person to look for to hit, and Xigbar could get both of them out of there fast. Which was what led to what I like to call the hallway confrontation. It started quite simply.
"Hello, XV..." Xemnas muttered as he passed me by in the hallway.
"Go to hell." I said back, still pissed off at him, because he blatantly lied to the judge among other things, which led up to Axel going with Xemnas instead of us.
"What?!" Xemnas practically choked on the words when he turned around quickly after he heard what I said.
"You heard me, go to hell." I said, before pushing Xemnas against the wall, hands closing around his throat. "Do you know how many of the ten commandments you broke those days? Honor thy father and mother. Technically it wasn't your mother and father, but Axel's, that you killed. You shalt not murder. We've both broken that one, but you murdered Axel's father and mother that day, just so you could get Axel into your little Organization. You shalt not steal. You stole Axel away from me, and the life from Axel's parents. You shalt not lie. You lied so much to that courtroom that it's not even funny. Thou shalt not covet, you sure seemed to covet Axel before you acted upon getting him. My conscience tells me we're both doing wrong, does yours?" I said, before being tackled by a flash of blue long hair, and this time I was the one in the choke hold. I looked up to see Saïx in his beserker mode, probably planning to choke the life out of me, as I also saw Xemnas get up off the floor, not quite passed out, but not as strong, either. I realized that I had done extreme wrong as the spots clouded my vision.
"I'm sorry, Xemnas..." I mouthed out, attempting to speak but near no sound was coming out, before I blacked out.
X-x-X-xI woke up in my room, completely alone, and I knew this was my chance. I had to run. I had to get out of here, before I died, or I killed anyone else. I grabbed some clothes from my closet, mostly clothes I wouldn't normally touch like airy sundresses and tight tank tops, and Twilight shirts, but I also grabbed a few of my favorite shirts and jeans, as well. Definitely plenty of jeans. I grabbed the heels Cammy gave me, my makeup that I rarely wore, a few more heels, a pair of converse and my car keys. I scribbled down a quick note to Axel that he probably wouldn't ever see me again, and I got in my car, and drove.
X-x-X-x After I'd gotten some money from my account from an ATM in the darkest corner in Oblivion, I drove to the border between Nobody and Unversed territory, and went to the nearest store. I picked up a bottle of black hair dye, a pair of green contacts, and some more clothes. I put up the hood on my hoodie, and walked up to the cash register. I recognized Aerith as the cashier, and quickly glanced around.
"I was never here." I said as I paid for my things.
X-x-X-xWhat nobody, not even Leon, knew was that I had an apartment that no one knew about, a nice one, that people took care of for me, employees of the complex, in case I ever had to go into hiding. And now I was about to use it. Coincidentally, it was right by where I used to work at the grocery store, so I figured between the large amount of money I'd gotten from working in the Organization, and starting up work, I could keep the apartment, afford my bottles of hairdye I would go through, and still be able to live life. As I stood in front of the mirror, I was careful to keep furniture in here just in case, so I was safe, I chopped my hair, right down to chin length, with bangs to boot, and started applying hairdye. I was going to start over, with a clean slate, and no one would know it was me.
X-x-X-xI was surprised at how easy it was to get a job at the supermarket I used to work at, apparently they still hadn't replaced me, and Arcee still worked here, so they didn't even have to look at any papers to get me working there, all they had to know was basic contact information and a first name, and if I had any allergies, and I was in.
"Hi, my name is Arcee!" Arcee introduced herself cheerfully, her blue eyes staring into my now green ones.
"My name...is Cameryn. Cameryn Gracy, but you can call me Dark." I told her, shaking her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Arcee." I now had a full name, and luckily enough for me, as I found out that night, a neighbor of mine could make any sort of papers, death certificates, birth certificates, fake IDs, anything. So now, I would even have papers to boot.
There's a looot in this chapter that would've gotten me banned on BVF 
) because certain people were screaming 
Yeah, I like the songs I chose too 
noooo jenga!!!!! 
yessssssssssss, oh you know he'll like it! ^_^