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Saïx vanished off to his next task, leaving the pair to their own devices; if he'd even heard Axel at all, there was no indication of it.

The corners of her mouth tugged upwards, and Xikkuyo raised one slim gloved hand to cover her mouth, giggling quietly--like she could actually feel mirth to need to politely restrain, like his lighthearted cheer was something contagious.

(Welcome. Thank you for coming to the Amagi Inn today. Your room is right this way. If we can help you in any way, please let us know immediately. It's our honor to serve you.....)

He sounded flattered. He probably liked the respect. Who ever didn't like someone humble and grateful to serve them, someone who made them feel important and special? Someone who would laugh at their jokes and listen to their stories, cater to their every need and whim, be impressed by their money and credentials..... Playing your part and fulfilling your role made people happy. That was her duty, wasn't it?

She'd flown from one cage straight into another. That was just the way it was. Xikkuyo nodded and moved to follow Axel, looking up at him as they went. "What are we doing today?"

Of course he liked it. Who wouldn't? But he wasn't after a loyal little follower. Just someone he could work with. Perhaps these kids'd be immune to the infighting that'd so often been the way, around here.

A giggle from her, too: really? When did some of them ever get the hang of when to laugh? Axel looked back as he spoke, gesturing casually.

"We need to see what you're capable of and get you up to speed with the basics of the kinds of missions you'll be on." Whatever those missions would be. He had ideas, but the specifics would have to wait until they had a better idea of the kids' capabilities. It wasn't like it'd been for Roxas and Xion, after all, their roles so clearly laid out for them...

With a casual wave of a hand, a portal sprang open. "And here's our ride. Come on. We're heading for another world. Hope you weren't planning on hanging around the castle all day..."

Perhaps. Hopefully. With any luck, they'd retain the bonds they once shared, and work together more effectively than any of the original Organization members ever seemed to. It was hardto say, when Axel--or anyone, really--had seen them spend a bit of time together since they were brought in and shown before the others, in yet another meeting at Where Nothing Gathers. Xikkuyo had buried herself in the middle of that group, the last time they'd stood together as a team, silent and small, intimidated by the dark figures looming over them on their tall white thrones.

She didn't remember seeing Axel there. She didn't really remember almost anything about the meeting, except the dizzying height their new superiors sat above them, except the endless echoes of their own footsteps, except that she hadn't wanted to go, when it was time for them all to be separated again. Saïx had told her that her questions were ridiculous, when she'd asked when she would see the others again; they were all part of the same Organization, weren't they? It wasn't as though they would be taken away from her.

She hadn't fought, then. She didn't fight, now.

Xikkuyo followed after Axel in obedient acceptance, shaking her head at the question. She hadn't really believed they'd do nothing but sit around the Castle all day, Saïx and Xigbar had prepared her for that much..... but she hadn't expected to be teleporting, either. At least the TV world had accustomed her, to some extent, to the idea of different worlds..... Xikkuyo hung back for a long moment, staring at the portal, before hesitantly moving to enter.

The group had looked so small from Axel's point of view atop his seat. He'd listened to Xemnas' speech - that so many had been chosen to wear the coat, that they would move forward together - with what approximated to boredom. The youngsters, their new hope, their new generation - they'd been more interesting. He'd regarded them, trying to work out what little he could from there, but it was hardly the best place to work out who was who...

And now, one of them was in his care. "Go on. It's perfectly safe for us," Axel said, gently placing a hand on Xikkuyo's shoulder to steer her forward and through the Corridor. "They're pretty easy to deal with, once you know how." Perhaps that wasn't the most accurate statement ever, but he wasn't going to drop too much on her all at once, if he could avoid it. And after all, what harm could the corridors do to them?

He led her onwards, keeping her close by as they headed through - and out into the fresh air and evening light of Twilight Town's sandlot.

The guiding touch was all it took; Xikkuyo's shoulders dropped under Axel's hand, and she started forward as though a key had been wound up on her back. Slow, precise steps, one foot in front of the other, echoing hollowly on the stone until the shadowy Corridor swallowed every sound she made completely. She went through the motions, for lack of anywhere else to turn.

She'd been one of the smallest of their small group then, dwarfed and nearly hidden behind the boys, pressed close to Chie's side for reassurance. Xikkuyo was small now, too, given the way Axel towered over her, and she made no effort to stray from his side as he led her through the Corridor, just as docile as she had been with Saïx. Even as strange as the Darkness was, pressing in around them..... well, she couldn't feel unnerved.

Even if she could, Axel would protect her. People always protected her. She never could save anyone herself, not even herself, not when it actually counted.

She didn't break stride with him as they emerged, but she did look around in evident confusion. The fresh air and wide open sky, the ruddy glow of the setting sun..... The World That Never Was had been dark every time she'd ever looked out the window, and she was fairly sure they'd left while it was morning. What was going on?

Hm. Perhaps she was more like Xion than he'd thought, Axel mused. While she'd seemed like she'd be willing enough to volunteer information at the start, all he'd done since then was pilot her, puppet her, onwards... hopefully this would just be a temporary state of affairs. Hopefully, she'd pick up soon. After all, he just had to look at how far the Keyblade duo had come, and they'd started from a far worse position...

He'd show her the way.

"Wasn't so bad, was it? Come on." He gave her a smile as they stepped out. "Welcome to Twilight Town. You can see where it gets the name, huh?"

Xikkuyo echoed Axel's smile back at him as they emerged, nodding in agreement. "A world of endless twilight....."

It didn't make sense to her. How could plants grow, if the sun was frozen as it set? How could the seasons turn? How could people measure time? (Presumably with clocks, the same way they must in The World That Never Was, if it was always that dark.....) The sunset was beautiful..... But if it never changed, then even that beauty would ultimately lose its meaning. It would become just as hollow as she felt, looking at it and registering nothing.

She should feel more than numb wonder at the sight, shouldn't she? A beautiful sunset, a whole new world unlike any she'd ever dreamed..... Though perhaps not as strange as she might have imagined. It reminded her, disorientingly enough, of Inaba--the same sleepy small-town atmosphere seemed to pervade it, just from her first look around. Which seemed just a bit off, considering what he'd said when he mentioned what they'd cover today.

She might have been as quiet and easily led along as Xion, but at least she was a little better at asking questions, a little faster on the uptake, rather than waiting to be passively fed knowledge until she could cope. "How are we going to..... test my capabilities here?" Surely they weren't going to do anything to the people who actually lived here?

"Got it in one," Axel commented back to her first remark. "You're good at this."
If he'd ever asked the questions on her mind, it'd been a long time ago. Worlds differed so wildly, didn't they? How many worlds had he seen where the sun never even touched they sky? They had their own ways, they had their own systems in place. They weren't his to concern himself with.

He glanced around for a moment: no locals coming? Good. They wouldn't have to head into the tunnels for this test. Warm her up a bit before they started any actual combat tests, perhaps...

"Let's look at your weapon, for a start. What tricks've you got up your sleeve?"

"Thank you." Xikkuyo's smile brightened a little at the praise, every bit the model student eager to please. She'd only guessed, after all--it would be a little odd to name a town for it sunsets normally, wouldn't it? That made little sense, when it could be so hard to see in so many towns..... It was much more comment to hear of places like Sunset Hill, actual locations where you could get a clear view of the sun as it set. So that suggested there had to be something special about the twilight here itself..... and given the time discrepancy, the name had been easy to reason out.

She still wasn't sure about what to think of setting foot in a whole new world, but..... well, she couldn't leave her new teacher waiting, could she? Xikkuyo brought her hand up slowly, focusing intently as she murmured; it still felt odd, trying to do this without her glasses, without the fog drifting thick and soft around her. "I am thou....."

The pain was enough to make her knees weak. It was like she was reaching out into the icy void of oblivion, like her whole soul was crying out in anguish, like she'd laid open a raw fresh wound to the air. Xikkuyo bit back the whimper that wanted to escape; she'd been practicing summoning her weapon since they had first shown her how, but she wasn't sure she'd ever be used to not reaching for her Persona when she did this. She tried to shape the image of the weapon in her mind, instead, as clear as she could make it.

A broad fan of sleek white feathers, each quill securely knotted into place with braided red silk cord that knitted together into a lace-like pattern to pull it all into a coherent whole, a gleaming charm in the shape of a Nobody insignia knotted into the dangling tassel..... Yume no Ukihashi slowly shimmered into being in Xikkuyo's hand, manifesting in a shining halo of pale blue-white light and a soft fluttering rush of sakura petals.

It was the only hint of color to her at all, and frankly, it looked like it would be torn to shreds the second a Shadow got its claws on it; still, Xikkuyo smiled regardless, eyes lifting to Axel to seek approval and direction. This was what he wanted, right? Or was there more to it he was asking for?

Edited 2014-01-22 02:28 (UTC)

The quiet incantation was enough to have Axel raise an eyebrow. Who was she talking to? What was she talking to? A strange way to go about it, that was for sure. Then again - whatever helped her get through it, at this stage. She'd done what he asked, what more could he ask?

He returned her smile, his own full of approval and warmth, as he looked the fan over. It was definitely a hint that she wasn't going to be a front-line fighter, that was for sure... still, it was hardly the most unlikely thing that a member of the Organization had ever wielded.

"Alright, we're off to a good start. Hopefully, you're not going to have to do too much fighting, but there's always a chance. Nice little show with the flower petals, too: that your element?" Not that he had any intention of even letting her know that Marluxia had existed, insofar as the term applied. They'd go on, a full Organization again, never look back on what had to be done in Oblivion.

He seemed to like it. That was good enough for Xikkuyo, for the moment; it would have made her happy, if she still could be. It was the sort of warm approval Yukiko had always sought, once upon a time, in another lifetime altogether. The smiles and nods of her parents, of teachers, of people in positions of power and authority--striving always for people to like her work, to like her, desperate to ensure that she was worth keeping around. Xikkuyo's own smile brightened in return, quietly hopeful as she clutched her fan to her chest.

She nodded in understanding; hopefully, it wouldn't be the case..... But if it was, she'd have to bear with it and do her best, for everyone's sake. Even in the TV, she had never been the best fighter of the group. Souji was probably the best of them all--he was an amazing natural at leading them all like that! But Chie had trained for years to hone her Kung Fu, too, and Kanji was so strong, and Yosuke was so fast..... She wasn't much good at it, herself. She wasn't much good at anything, really. Anything useful, at least.....

"No, they just..... show up. When I do things, I mean. Saïx said I'm..... that my special talent is healing."

That was what the 'test' had determined, anyway, awful as it had been. The assumption had been forcing them into a life-or-death situation would be enough of a shock and push of necessity to force their powers to emerge, out of sheer desperation and survival instinct..... Having a berserker rushing at her with a drawn claymore was harrowing enough; she'd ended up cowering and sprawled on the floor, covered in sakura petals and knocked prone from when she'd tried to run. She'd been bloody from where Saïx had slashed at her, and her clothes had been torn, but..... she'd been completely unharmed, when she'd gotten back up.

Now that wasn't something Axel was expecting to hear. A specialised healer? Definitely new. Still: Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero - all spells mirrored in one of their members' elements, why not Cure? He'd at least have been glad to hear that she had it worked out, were he able to be.
No idea just what these kids had been through beforehand, after all. It had all been so different when it was his turn, when the Organization had been new...

"You know, that's not a bad skill to have at all." He smiled again. "Not the flashiest of things, but it's something that's always going to come in useful. We'll have to get you up and running with some different magic, too, so you can defend yourself." Take out the healer first: fighting dirty, but a logical tactic. She'd have to be able to keep herself safe before she could take care of the others.

A harder power to train than some, though... hmm. He'd have to work this one out.

It was definitely different. There was a well-established protocol for everything, now, not just the basics. There were no arguments about whether or not new members should be allowed. There wasn't even such a clean, sharp divide between founders and Neophytes anymore--half of each camp was dead, after all. And now that the kids were here, they constituted a third wave of membership, one that ostensibly put the first two in the same boat, so to speak. There was almost more in common between them, these days, than there was different, now that they had such a radically changed membership.

Xikkuyo didn't know anything about the politics; she logically couldn't have. But if nothing else, she still understood a little bit about the need to fight and defend herself. She still understood the concept of attacking the healer, first and foremost, even if the Shadows they fought weren't usually that smart..... Xikkuyo nodded in understanding. "Yes, sir. What do I need to do?" How did she even do it, for that matter? Without her Persona, she was..... she was just.....

Nobody? But they were all Nobody, after all, everyone in it together. Each a void, but part of the same whole. And if it had had to change from the way things were - it'd had to change. After all... they couldn't have gone on the way they were.

Axel reached into a coat pocket and pulled out a number of what looked like crystalline panels, pausing to put one back away safely. This girl wasn't going to need Cure as an extra, after all.
"Take a look at these. Your basic magic spells... fire, ice, lightning." He pointed them out in order. "How about we start with the fire one? Go on, take it. You'll be talking to the expert, after all." After all, who could teach her how to use it better? A shame for any of the kids who were ice or lightning aligned, but ... well, he was sure they'd work it out, after all. Even he could get his head around Blizzard if he had to, and with an alignment like hers he doubted there'd be any problem in teaching her the full range.

No reason she shouldn't do just fine.

"So your element is fire?" Xikkuyo looked up at the panels obediently, nodding. Fire, ice, lightning..... Fire had been for her, once. Ice and lightning..... she wasn't sure if those were still Chie and Kanji's specializations--they hadn't had almost any time together since they'd gotten here..... It wasn't very fair. But maybe they'd be able to practice together, later? They could talk about how their first day of training went, and it could almost be like the old times.....

Xikkuyo carefully accepted the Fire panel, turning it over in her hand. It shimmered a vibrant red-gold against the black of her glove, almost glowed in her hand like a live coal. Maybe it was even warm..... She couldn't quite tell like this. but it was fascinating, holding what seemed like a piece of frozen fire, crystallized in her hand. She was curiously reluctant to tear her gaze away, lifting her eyes back up to Axel as her fingers curled around the panel. "What do I do with it?"

"You got it," Axel replied to Xikkuyo's first comment. He tried to think back to how it'd been for him to first learn these things, first had to call on the flames that lay inside him - but it was a little strange. Perhaps, on some level, he'd always known. He'd always responded strongly to fire and warmth, after all - how could it have been anything but natural for his soul to take on the form it had when all else had been lost?

He nodded at her and looked around. No Heartless here for easy target practice: hm.
Well, he did have one usable target that'd hardly be hurt by the flame...

He stepped back, away from her, once she'd grasped the panel.

"Okay, so here's the drill. I want you to concentrate on it," he said, tapping at his temple. "Imagine it connecting with you. Imagine the spell within it coming to life. It's yours."

Xikkuyo nodded in understanding, taking several steps back herself as she realized what Axel meant to do. They needed a good arm's length or two between them, or it wouldn't do much good to cast, would it? Farther was better, in this case; thankfully, the sad lot was fairly wide, easily enough accommodating them. "As long as you're sure you'll be okay....." She didn't want to hurt her teacher, after all..... or was that supposed to be the point? Learn how to use her powers by healing him, after she'd hurt him? What a strange way to do things.....

"Okay, focus....." Xikkuyo took a deep breath, narrowing her eyes and concentrating. She tried to remember exactly how it felt, summoning Konohana Sakuya, calling down a torrent of flames to rush upon a Shadow with Agilao..... what had Konohana Sakuya felt, doing this? What would she think, of her other half trying to do this without her now? Was she even still there at all? She wasn't trying to connect with her Persona, now..... she was trying to connect with this spell she held, this little shard of fire, a burning instant frozen in time.

If it had burned once, it could burn again, then..... Let the flames rise once more. The panel grew hotter and hotter in her hand, as Xikkuyo raised her fan above her head; she brought it down with a sharp snap of her wrist, and anything more she might have said lost in the sudden roar of flames. A sizable fireball sprang from the feathers as though blown by an unseen wind, rushing forward to engulf Axel in an explosive haze of flame and smoke. Looked like a simple Fire hadn't quite been enough for her.....

As she stepped back, Axel grinned, nodded - he made a 'bring it on' gesture with one hand, before spreading them wide, making himself the most obvious target he could. After all, what could go wrong? His own affinity, or healing: either was a good enough option. Of course, he'd prefer this to work as planned, but what was he going to do?

The sheer scale of the rushing flames was definitely not as planned, though. He'd expected a spark, perhaps, something that wouldn't even kill off a Shadow. A quick pulse and that'd be it. What he'd got? That - that was on Fira scales, at the very least! It hit Axel hard, sinking into his core - and he smiled. Impressive, for someone whose affinity wasn't anything close.

Waving the smoke away, he asked - "Are you sure you've never done this before?"

Xikkuyo let out a breathless giggle, beaming and bouncing in place--a nearly perfect facsimile of excitement and delight. "It worked!" It wasn't quite a lie, perhaps--she hadn't been certain that she'd be able to manage it at all, without Konohana Sakuya doing it for her..... but it certainly was quite diplomatically dodging the question, while offering up enough implications that Axel could draw his own conclusions, wrong though they probably would be.

Either way, it was a relief to see that he hadn't been hurt by the attack; she'd been..... well, maybe not worried, but concerned, even if Axel had seemed entirely at ease. She opened her free hand, now curled into a fist; the panel was gone, melted away as though it never had existed at all. What had happened to it? Would she need a new one? Xikkuyo looked back up at Axel, still smiling. The others probably wouldn't be that easy..... "What now?"

Almost as an afterthought, she fluttered her fan to help blow the smoke away; that was what it was made for, right?

Once again, Axel couldn't help but think - a natural. Definitely. Were they even sure that they'd gotten her element right?
He laughed at her fanning away the smoke - a friendly sound, proud of her all the way. "Now you've done it once, you'll be able to repeat it any time without another one of those panels. It's there now. Just concentrate, aim and fire." A pause, and he added, "... I'd say we probably want to work on your control more than anything as far as that spell goes. You've got a lot of raw power there... we've just got to make it work for you. Do you want to give that one another go, or do you want to try one of the others?" Although he could hardly call himself so willing to put himself in the firing line for the Thunder test, never mind the Blizzard...

"Okay." Xikkuyo nodded readily enough; she supposed that made sense..... She didn't understand how you could solidify a magic spell, but still, it made as much sense as pulling a fan out of thin air, right? Or a man taking a fireball straight on without seeming to have so much as a scratch on him, or a single scorch mark.

It was strange, though..... she'd never been the powerful one. She'd never been fast, or strong, or brave. She'd never been good at this. Was Axel really sure about that? That she needed to work on control, of all things? Xikkuyo looked down at her fan again, thoughtful; maybe it was just a fluke..... After all, she had a little practice with fire, unlike the others.

"Maybe we should try one of the others first....."

As sure as he'd ever been. It'd taken so long before he saw Roxas or Xion use anything of that caliber, how couldn't he be?
"Sounds good to me." Axel pondered for a moment, before handing over the Thunder panel. As talented as she seemed to be, he still didn't particularly want to risk being caught by a stray blast of ice. That definitely wouldn't be the best start of things...

"Don't try and hit me with this one, okay?" he said with a spot of a grin, stepping safely behind her now - just to be sure. After all, if she skipped up the power range in the same way this time, it'd likely be hitting more than the one spot. "I just want you to aim into the middle of the lot. It's a lightning bolt: don't throw it out, pull it down."

Xikkuyo took the Thunder panel, feeling a tiny jolt of something almost like static electricity as she did so; her fingers tingled at the touch, and she rubbed a thumb over it thoughtfully, studying the electric blue flicker and wondering how this try would go. It would certainly be different than anything she'd ever done before..... Souji and Kanji had always been the Lightning-users, not her. But she'd watched them use magic, right? Maybe that would help?

The way Axel stepped behind her, like he was hiding..... Xikkuyo raised a hand to cover her mouth as she smiled again, shaking her head. "I won't....." If she hit him now, then she'd probably end up frying herself in the process, anyway. She clutched the panel tight in her hand, concentrating on the way it buzzed against her, trying to picture Souji and Izanagi casting their spells. Souji always looked so cool and confident fighting, like it was effortless, and Kanji always seemed so tough and enthusiastic.....

"Concentrate....." Xikkuyo took a deep breath and raised her fan again, this time holding it poised high overhead, imagining a lightning rod. She didn't know a lot about lightning, but they'd learned a bit in school, like about magnets and positive and negative energy, about attraction..... It was all physics, right? She was usually pretty good at science. Don't bother trying to throw it out. Pull it down..... It didn't come from her, even if she was the one who made it.

It was hard to wrap her mind around the paradigm shift. It took a moment or two, but slowly, buzzing sparks started to crackle through her fan. She bit her lip, grasping the magic as tightly as she could manage and trying to will it towards the center of the lot. "Let this hit!" Her fan came down with a sharp snap of the wrist, and an ominous rumble of thunder followed. A streak of lightning came crashing down immediately after, then another and another, a thin line of bolts snaking forward and scorching the sand as they went.

They petered out into harmless sparks after only a handful of strikes, considerably more in line with the sort of power levels she probably should have been displaying, right from the beginning. A short but respectable Thunder, maybe enough to kill a Shadow if she was lucky.

Axel was just taking precautions. Could he be blamed? It gave him a good enough view, in any case: and yes, far more what he'd been expecting. Good for a beginner, solid, but very much a beginner's attack. What, exactly, had powered up that Fira? Was that going to be a fluke?

He was still sure she had the potential... just, perhaps, she wouldn't be the instant prodigy he'd expected in other fields. Still, if she kept on this way, he was sure she'd be able to handle herself - hardly like he could have a problem with the idea of excelling at fire alone. No worries, nothing to be disappointed with.

He smiled, nodded, put a hand on her shoulder - "Nice. You've got it."

He definitely couldn't be blamed. Xikkuyo's face was lit up as she looked back over her shoulder at Axel, jubilant; she knows exactly how she should be acting, at a time like this. She knows how she would have acted, at least, and that's as good a guide as any other. She even finds herself daring to actually be optimistic, to go with it. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, after all--maybe she'd do okay with these spells. Maybe she'd be able to do what they expected of her.....

She hadn't known what to expect from the Thunder spell, other than it probably would be less effective than the Fire one. No surprise, there..... But what would the Ice one be like? Would she really be able to manage that, when it was so far opposed to Fire? Hopefully so..... Axel obviously wanted her to know the full complement, if she could learn them. She had to try for him, at least. But what would happen after she'd tried them all? Were they going to make her fight straight away?