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CHAPTER 3

Roxas and Axel walked side by side as they headed for the former Mysterious Mansion, which was once the house and base of operations for Ansem the Wise—the REAL Ansem, not the imposter, Xehanort.  Nowadays, Naminé, who had once occupied a single room, had made the whole mansion her own home.  Her lifestyle was a pretty comfortable one, since she made plenty of money as an up-and-coming artist.  The funny thing was that as soon as she had finished redecorating the mansion, she had given Roxas a spare key, saying, “You can come visit me or use the mansion whenever you want.”

“Anytime you want, huh?” Axel remarked when Roxas told him.  “You know…if a girl gives you her house key and tells you to ‘come any time,’ it’s gotta mean something.”  He waggled his eyebrows at the blonde Keybearer.

“Oh, come off it, Axel!” Roxas defended himself.  “Naminé and I are just friends!  She’s just a very sweet girl, you know?”

“Yeah, I know…”  Axel trailed off as he looked up to the sky, just smiling and not looking convinced.

Roxas sighed and shook his head.  ‘Always getting the wrong impression…’ he thought as they reached the front gates, which appeared to be locked.  “Locked up, hm?  Not for long.”  Roxas held out his right hand, and the fabled “Kingdom Key” Keyblade materialized.  He pointed it towards the gate’s Keyhole and a beam of light shot from the Keyblade into it, instantly unlocking the gate and causing it to swing right open.  Stowing the Kingdom Key away, Roxas walked right inside, Axel close behind.

“Didn't the rumor about this place say that it was haunted?” Axel asked, remembering the old rumors about the place, from Pence…

“Those were just rumors,” Roxas explained.  “The ‘Ghost Girl’ was really Naminé standing by the window.  And even if it wasn’t her, don't worry.  As long as we don't see any singing busts, we’ll be cool,” he added with a smirk.

Axel snickered a little at that.  “Ok then…”  As he walked with Roxas to the front door, he looked all around at the statue heads in the garden. He started to sing to himself, imagining them coming to life and singing: “When the crypt goes creak, and the tombstones quake, spooks come out for a swinging wake.  Happy haunts materialize, and begin to vocalize.  Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.”
Roxas cast Axel a slightly strange look in response to his song, then turned back to the door.  He reached into his pocket, took out a regular key, and inserted it into the lock; he turned the key and pushing the door open.

“WHOA!”

“AGH!”

Roxas and Axel stumbled back as their eyes were bombarded with blinding white light. “Roxas, I’m blind!” Axel exclaimed as he squinted against the brightness of the entire hall.

“You too?  Geez, I may never like the color white ever again after this!” Roxas said, shielding his eyes.  “Since when has regular white ever been THIS bright?”

“Not even porcelain is this bright!” Axel complained.

After a few minutes of squinting and complaining, their eyes finally adjusted, allowing them to walk inside and shut the door behind them.

“Naminé’s room should be on the second floor to the left, unless she’s moved it,” Roxas told Axel. They walked upstairs and turned to the left, going across the balcony to the “White Room”—Naminé’s room.  Roxas noticed that the door was slightly ajar, and could hear rustling inside.  “Ah, good, she’s in there.”  He pushed the door open and stepped inside.  “Hey Naminé, I—”

Roxas gasped, stopping dead in his tracks; his eyes widened as he stood motionless in the doorway.

Naminé sighed softly as she finished making her bed, then smiled.  “There we go…all smooth, no wrinkles, a job well done.”  She turned away from her bed and towards the big long table where she did most of her art, looking over a set of new drawings that she had completed.  “It took me a while, but I’ve got a new batch ready for the gallery.  I just need to take them down and get them approved.”  She looked down at what she was wearing and frowned.  “But before that…I’d better change.  I’ve worn this white dress three days in a row now.”  Smiling again, she slid down her shoulder straps, grabbed the hem of her sundress and gently pulled it off, leaving her in her white cotton panties and bra, both speckled with little red hearts.  She was folding up the little dress for laundry when she heard the door open.  Her eyes shot towards it—and saw just who was there.  “OH!” she gasped lightly, blushing all over; in her surprise she forgot to cover up her underwear-clad form.

Roxas was frozen to the spot as his eyes moved from top to bottom, scanning Naminé’s petite yet curvy form; she was clad in only a bra and panties, which were covered with red hearts, adding to her innocence.  And the fact that she was blushing with such a cute expression made the sight even more priceless.  ‘So cute…and beautiful at the same time,’ he thought.

“Uh…uh…”  Naminé’s blush deepened as Roxas gazed at her, her heartbeat quickening. “R-Roxas?” she asked softly, timidly.

As Naminé’s voice echoed through Roxas’ ears, he came to his senses, realizing what he was doing.  “Oh…my…God!  I’m so sorry, Naminé!”  He scrambled out the door and slammed it shut behind him. He leaned against it and panted, red in the face and completely flustered.

Axel, who had witnessed the whole thing, walked over to his best friend, sporting a gigantic grin.  “So, you see anything?” he laughed.  “P-A-N-T-I-E-S.  Got it memorized?”

Roxas growled at him.  “NOT. Funny.”  He flushed deeper, shivering a little.  “It was embarrassing for the both of us…but mostly for her.  She probably thinks I’m a pervert!”

Axel shook his head.  “Aw, Roxas, you worry too much.  I bet you she enjoyed it.  Besides…I know YOU did.”

“AXEL!” Roxas shouted, before turning away, blushing.  “Maybe I enjoyed it a little…”

“A little?”

“Okay, I enjoyed it!” Roxas blurted out.  “So sue me!  I’m a guy!  It’s our nature to like this kind of thing!”

“And how,” Axel agreed with a goofy grin.

Meanwhile, Naminé was still standing there in her heart-printed underwear, blushing all over, heart pounding like a drum. “Oh my,” she breathed, her blush deepening.  Roxas had seen her in her underwear…in her most intimate state.  Sure, she was embarrassed, but she didn’t feel any anger towards him for what he had done.  The way he looked at her, with such awe and innocence…how could she be mad at that?  She started to giggle as she resumed getting dressed.

Outside, Roxas was still flustered over seeing a close—not to mention cute and pretty—female friend like Naminé in her skivvies—seeing the ever-maturing, luscious curves of her body clad in skimpy white fabric, a few hearts here and there.  It didn’t help that, at the moment, Axel was teasing him about it and making perverted comments—even if he was only joking.

“Man, Roxas.  Most guys would KILL to be in your shoes—to see your best girl friend in her panties and not even get yelled at or slapped or anything!”  Axel just kept on smiling.

Roxas was now red in the face and steaming from the ears—half from embarrassment, half from anger.  “Axel,” he growled dangerously, “knock—it—off!”

“Ah, ah, ah, Roxas…  T-E-M-P-E-R.”  He wagged his finger at Roxas tauntingly.  “Got it memorized?”

Roxas was sizzling now, his eyes red with rage.  ‘MUST…HURT…AXEL!’ he thought.  He might just have whipped out the Keyblade and knocked Axel’s head off if Naminé’s door hadn’t opened at that very moment.  Roxas forced his attention off Axel and looked towards the door.  Instead of her usual white dress, Naminé was wearing a soft white tank top, a pleated white short-skirt that ended just a little above her thighs, and a pair of white dress shoes.  Roxas couldn’t help but smile at how beautiful she looked.

Naminé smiled sweetly at her two friends and curtsied daintily.  “Nice of you guys to drop by.”

“H-Hey Naminé…”  Roxas blushed again and smiled shakily…then—“ACK!”—he was caught in a friendly headlock by Axel.

“Hiya Naminé!” Axel greeted with a grin.  “Roxas and I were just talking about you.”

‘ACK!’  Roxas began to mentally panic.  ‘C’mon, Axel!  Cut me some slack here!’

Whether or not Axel could read Roxas’ thoughts, he knew when to cool it and just be sane for once.  “We were…just discussing what kind of art you might have today,” he said, referring to the conversation he and Roxas had had on the way to the mansion.

“Y-Yeah, that’s right!”  Roxas smiled and nodded, though he was sighing in relief inside.   ‘Thank you, Axel…’  “So…”  He squirmed free of Axel’s headlock.  “What pictures ARE you bringing down to the gallery?”

“Well…I suppose I could show you one,” Naminé said as she ducked back into the room to take out her art.  When she came back, her collection under her arms, she carefully plucked out a picture and held it up for Roxas and Axel to see.  “I call this one: ‘Self-Portrait of a Multiple Personality.’”

Roxas and Axel looked at the picture in awe, chills running up their spines.  In the center, dressed in a regal white suit, an intelligent and thoughtful look on his face, was Xehanort, assistant of Ansem the Wise, the one who first brought the Heartless into the universe.  On his right, dressed in black and sporting an evil glare—and grin—was what had to be Xehanort’s Heartless, the false Ansem whom Sora had fought and defeated.  On Xehanort’s left, dressed in a hooded black cloak, his face as cold and emotionless as ice, was one whom Roxas, Naminé, and Axel knew all too well: Xehanort’s Nobody and Roxas’ and Axel’s former leader, Organization XIII member No. 1—Xemnas.

“Wow…  Split personality is right,” Roxas commented.  “Xehanort and his alter egos are the perfect embodiment of it.”

“And our boss, with his quest to gain his own heart, was just one of that man’s personalities,” Axel added.  “And they were, in fact, his undoing.”

“Exactly,” Naminé agreed.  “That’s the image I was trying to show in this piece. All together, Xehanort, ‘Ansem,’ and Xemnas just seemed to be the perfect personification.”

“Well…shall we get going?” Roxas asked.  “Before the gallery closes?”

“Um…the gallery doesn’t close until 11 pm, remember, Roxas?” Naminé reminded him.

“Oh yeah….forgot…heheheh,” Roxas laughed nervously.  In reality, he wanted them to get going so he wouldn’t have to endure any more of Axel’s teasing.  “Well, shall we go anyway?”

“Yes we shall,” Naminé smiled.  “Afterwards, we can go and watch the Struggle Match.”

“Oh hey, weren’t you participating in it today?” Axel asked, remembering watching Roxas’ training.

“Oh, that’s right!” Roxas remembered as well.  “Good thing I signed up yesterday.”  He started to laugh.  “It’s funny…no matter HOW many times I beat Seifer, he always claims, ‘I wasn’t ready!  I’ll get you next time!’”  He rolled his eyes.  “He says that EVERY year.”

“You think he would’ve learned by now,” Axel smirked.  “Especially after yesterday, when Olette bitch-slapped him.”

Naminé was nearly overcome with the giggles at that news.  “Olette…  You mean Seifer got beat up by a girl?”

“Ah, he had it coming, after his showing off resulted in Olette getting pantsed,” Roxas laughed.  “Man, was she pissed!  I wonder how long Seifer’s gonna have that hand print on his face.”

“If THAT doesn’t bruise the little blowhard’s ego, I don’t know what will.”  Axel laughed as he and his two friends headed out of the room, walked down the balcony stairs and left the mansion.

* * * Meanwhile… * * *

The cloaked scythe wielder watched everything from the computer of many monitors.  “There they are…  Apparently, the Struggle Match will be the best time to let them know of my return.  But I’ll need some help…”  He opened his palm, revealing a shiny, sparkling heart.  “How convenient it was that I came across HER heart…  She’ll be just the pawn I need to advance in this game.”  He turned his back on the computer and walked out of the nearest door, heading out into the dark streets of the Twilight Town’s inner big city, formerly the “World that Never Was.”  He walked until he reached Times Square, stopping right outside the tall hotel where Sora had first encountered Roxas AND where Sora had first fought Xemnas, Keyblade to lightsaber.  He looked into the night sky and inhaled deeply.  “A sky of eternal night…this is perfect for the ritual.”

The man started to chant a few words; soon, what appeared to be an unconscious Dusk rose up from the ground in a flash of light.  Sticking his scythe into the Dusk’s chest, the man took out the heart and placed it in the air, right above the scythe.  “Hear me, oh heart of lightning…gather up the bolts of light from the sky, and return to your white husky shell…return to your body to obey me!”  As he raised his hands to the now-thundering sky, his hood fell from his head, revealing his gentle features and shoulder-length pink hair.  He smiled gleefully as lightning crackled down from the sky into the scythe, which acted as a lighting rod, absorbing the electricity and powering the heart, which spun around in the bolt of light, faster and faster, until it drained up all the electricity.  The electrified heart then traveled down THROUGH the scythe and into the Dusk’s chest.

“Excellent,” the young man said, smiling again.  “She should regain her form soon…”

Suddenly, the heart took effect; the Dusk slowly transformed, growing and warping until it took on a human form.  When the change was complete, there lay a young woman with back-length blonde hair; her bangs were combed back, though a strand of hair stuck out like an antenna on either side of her forehead.  The only pieces of clothing on her curvaceous body were a lacy black bra, covering her ample D-cup breasts, and a pair of black lacy panties, covering her broad hips and tight round butt.

“Oooohhhh…”  The young woman moaned softly as she placed a hand to her chest, feeling a steady beat.  “Is this…a heart?”  Her blue eyes opened as she felt her heartbeat—and then she saw the man standing over her.  “M-Marluxia!?”

“Welcome back, Larxene.”  Marluxia grinned evilly.  “I’ve summoned you back because I have a purpose for you, a use if you will.”  The Graceful Assassin watched his former colleague like a judgmental, vindictive god.  “And since I gave you a second chance at life, you owe me your undying loyalty!”  He grinned like a tiger that had made its kill, tightening his grip on the scythe.

At that moment, Larxene knew for sure that she had a heart…because it was full of fear and uncertainty…

TO BE CONTINUED