Ch.10

The next several days were pretty easy for Roxas to fall into. He would wake up and get ready and then head to the Grey Room to get a mission for the day. After it was done, the day would always end with him going for ice cream with Axel in Twilight Town.

It was something odd to get used to, but slowly Roxas found himself enjoying the little meetings they had. At first they didn't talk about much. They would quietly sit and eat the ice cream with the occasional question how the day went.

Eventually they started to talk about more things than just how the missions went. Though they didn't get too deep into certain subjects. Axel never asked about Roxas's past or anything else that seemed too personal, and Roxas did the same. Though he did find himself literally wondering about Axel's past, he thought to not mention anything figuring if Axel didn't ask him, he should do the same. But the two did end up talking about various likes and dislikes and various other things.

From there they did learn they did have some things in common, such as a good extra cheese pizza, to which Axel said one day they would have to have a party up at the clock tower for pizza and ice cream. Roxas totally agreed with the idea and started looking forward to the day that it could happen, even though they never exactly planned for an actual day.

Honestly it felt nice to have someone be as friendly as they were. The Organization was still something Roxas wasn't too sure about, but he was sure about the fact he could trust Axel. There was just a… familiar friendliness to him that he couldn't explain.

Though one day came where Axel and Roxas were finally sent out on a mission again. It wasn't terrible hard, only needed to defeat a Guardian Heartless along with its surrounding Watchers. The two worked together easily and defeated the heartless in no time flat. Even if Roxsa was still not sure on the Organization, he did know that their missions and training were helping him improve.

He had learned plenty when journeying around with Donald and Goofy, but a lot of that was just learning as he went. He had no teacher and he just had to figure out things for himself. Now he had people to show him the ropes and teach him things he never even knew about. Even if none of them had a keyblade, he was able to discover new techniques and methods to fight based on what the others were teaching him.

"All right, mission accomplished. You know, you really have come a long way since your first days here."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Roxas asked.

"Oh you know, just how you have been improving. I still thought you were going to be a total zombie on day one."

"Well we already established that I am not a zombie," Roxas scoffed.

"Yeah, you're a zombie with a keyblade," Axel said jokingly.

Roxas laughed a little before the two of them finally started walking. "If I am a zombie with a keyblade, then what does that make you?"

"Hmm," Axel hummed as he tapped his chin. "A guy with a great sense of humor and great hair?"

"That's the best you could come up with?" Roxas said, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, it's hard to come up with this stuff on the spot, I'm sure I can get something later," Axel replied.

The two of them sat on top of the clock tower, staring off into the sunset as they always did. Though today felt a little quieter than usual. There was just something in the air between them that felt different than the other days had been. Roxas glanced to Axel, seeing him stare out at the sunset and then at his ice cream.

"Something wrong?" Roxas asked, no longer wanting to wait in silence.

"Ah, it's nothing. Just thinking about things. Thinking about how I am going to miss doing this."

"Huh? Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be away. Don't know for how long though, but I wouldn't be able to make it back here for ice cream anymore. Not anytime soon at least."

"Oh… I see. I guess it must be some big mission, right?"

Axel nodded. "Yeah. But I didn't want to leave you without you knowing. Since we're buddies and all I wanted to tell you a bit about it. At least as much as I can. The mission is going to be at Castle Oblivion."

"Never heard of it before," Roxas replied.

"It's a second castle the Organization has. Situated in the world between worlds. Just remember the name, Castle Oblivion. Got it memorized?"

"Okay," Roxas sighed before biting into his ice cream again. "Sounds pretty cool at least for a world between worlds."

"I guess so, but I've never seen it before. But hopefully it will be something to write home about," Axel said as he got up to stretch.

"Well then, be sure to see as much as you can to tell me about it!"

"Yeah… I can try that…" Axel said, trailing off slightly. He looked off at the sunset once more, a more distant look filling his eyes. A second later he cleared up his throat. "Well, I gotta head back. Prep and all that 'fun' stuff. Just a whole lot of fun… anyways you take your time."

"Yeah, I will. Thanks, Axel," Roxas replied.

"See ya, Roxas," Axel said before heading off.

Roxas let out a sigh after he was left alone on top of the clock tower. "What am I going to do now? Without Axel coming here it will just be quiet and boring. But… I can't think of anything else that I would want to do afterwards. Maybe I will still come here. Like the days when Riku or Kairi couldn't make it to the play island but I still went anyways to relax and have fun there."

Sighing again he ate his ice cream while letting his thoughts of the past reflect in his mind. It still came as such a surprise how much had happened in what felt like a short amount of time. He knew a lot had happened and so much had changed, but now it felt like even more things were changing.

"Is there ever going to be a time when things can just stay the same and be nice? It would be nice if that were the case…"

Roxas finally looked down to see that he had finished his ice cream, but to his surprise there was something written on the popsicle stick. He looked at it carefully and let out a small gasp. Written on it in black lettering was the word 'WINNER'.

"Whoa!" Roxas exclaimed. "I had no idea there could be things like this. Man… why did Axel have to leave early. I bet he would have thought this was cool. I wonder what you win… Hmm… I should find out, but I also wanna show Axel first. Maybe tomorrow I could catch him before he leaves for Castle Oblivion."

Now that Roxas had finished up he stood up and headed back to the castle. Since Axel wasn't there to talk, there was no point to stay extra long. He could be lost in his thoughts back at the castle anyways, it didn't matter the location. Though his thoughts would mostly wander the most when he was alone in his room. With no one there to talk to it gave him the most space to think and just that.

Once he was there in the boring grey room, he shuffled over to the bed and flopped down. Right as he did, his thoughts picked up where he had left off. "Axel… he's been my only friend since coming here. The only one that I enjoyed talking to and hanging out with. I doubt any of the other members are as friendly… at least not from the ones I went on missions with. Though…"

Roxas rolled onto his side so he could stare out the window. "There still is Xion… I still haven't had a real good chance to try and talk to her. Maybe now I can. She does have a keyblade after all, it shouldn't be too hard to try and talk to her."

Slowly Roxas started to smile, a new idea and plan coming to his mind. "All right then! That's the plan! I will try and talk with Xion tomorrow!"

And a new chapter is completed. Trying my best here to write a Nobody Roxas but with Sora's memories. How am I doing with that? Let me know! I just want to know if there are things I could improve on. Anyways thanks as always!