A/N: Hello again friends, another chapter for you! I'm happy with the pacing of how these chapters are coming out, which is something I hope to keep up, but writing times are unpredictable. Hopefully you all enjoy, and feel free to check out my facebook fanpage that's linked in my profile, or the Zee/Axel AMV that's linked there too!
Chapter XVII: Seldom Dared Dream
There's no relief,
I see you in my sleep
And everybody's rushing me,
But I can feel you touching me
There's no release,
I feel you in my dreams
Telling me I'm fine
Where...
Darkness surrounded him, but not the usual yet uncanny nature of the darkness the Nobodies harnessed, but natural darkness. A night-drenched land that seemed to stretch infinitely in every direction... The only features were knee-high grasses and cattails that blew gently in a barely there breeze. The plant life danced about him as he looked around, finding no trace of mountains, cliffs, trees, roads or any sign of life to speak of. Just him there, nobody else but The Flurry of Dancing Flames. Axel didn't recall how he got there, in fact the last thing he remembered was getting home to the castle late at night after making an emergency visit to the Commercial District. It had been so late when he even just ventured out that he had to beg the Dusk running the store he went to to stay open passed closing hours just for a bit. Axel was lucky that Dusk was so lenient about the rules... and also that Dusk knew it could be easily replaced if it pissed off Axel and ended up dead.
It's so dark here, I've never been to a night land like this... Axel thought, Wait a minute... Night... Night means stars!
Axel nearly broke his neck as he rapidly looked straight up, with a grin spreading across his face with equal speed. There above and around dotting the endless blackness were tiny twinkling white specks in the sky – it was no mistake, he found a star-filled sky... Now the problem was getting Zee to this place, which looked impossible as it was since he had no idea how he even got there in the first place. His head sank from high to low in no time, punctuated with a deep, groaning sigh.
"Can't believe this." He muttered, raising his hand to his face and rubbing his forehead as if this ordeal were giving him a literal headache, "The perfect place and I'm having an amnesia attack."
"What is am-nee-sha?"
No way, it couldn't be. If Axel had a heart it would have exploded out of his chest in delighted shock. That voice was unmistakable, he didn't have to see to know who it was, but he turned around without hesitation anyway.
"X-Xirena?!" He exclaimed.
And there she stood, just as he expected. The violet headed girl nodded excitedly with a sweet smile, sending her locks bobbing up and down around her face. It was hardly important at the time, but it was just a reflex at this point for Axel to answer any question she presented to him.
"Well amnesia is when you lose some amount of memory. Either a little or a lot." Axel explained, "See I said that because I forgot how I got here... Which... Wait, how did you get here?"
"Um." Zee began, but after a pause she shrugged her shoulders, "Beats me! I just got here."
"Huh..." Axel said, shoving his hands in his pockets and pondering, "None of this makes any sense..."
Something in his pocket stole his attention away from the bizarre situation, however. In his right pocket he felt an object in it that he fingered at curiously for a moment. Axel couldn't possibly discern what it was just by feeling through his glove and swiftly pulled it out. In his hand laid a light blue, silky ribbon.
