The Mirror

"He's not frightened enough. You're not doing your job, Xion," he said lowly, staring at the small girl in front of him. "He needs to be coming to me scared out of his wits because the others are attacking him, namely you."

"But sir, he doesn't seem at all frightened by us. That day when he moved in, he moved through my cold spot and didn't even bat an eye at it," she waved her hand to demonstrate her point. "He shrugged it off like it was nothing to him, which it probably was. Plus, Demyx was warning him of you. I saw him appear before Roxas and tell him to not trust you. That you were bad." Her eyes were downcast, as if she was ignoring that fact herself.

The green eyed monster before her puckered his mouth in distaste, turning away from her as his eyes were far off in thought. "We can't do anything about Demyx," he mused, turning back towards her, "but we can get the others to help you frighten him." He had a mischievous gleam in his eyes as his mouth turned up into a smirk, the smirk getting wider, turning into a cheshire cat's grin.

She leaned forward, and he whispered commands into her ear. She grinned at the ideas, and flitted off, telling the others the terrify-the-occupant plan.

_________________________________________~~~

They moved the cereal. Again. Roxas sighed, getting tired of the same boring moves from these ghosts. Is that the only form of entertainment they have? Moving stuff around so the blonde has to search, search, search for it? Apparently. he silently answered.

A few days ago Axel practically showed up on his doorstep, so to speak. He showed himself to Roxas, telling him of the horrible reason he was stuck here, and that Roxas had to help him. And then that mohawk guy showed up, telling him not to trust the likes of Axel.

He decided to brush off the guitar playing ghost's request. Axel seemed like a cool guy. Roxas was actually having a decent conversation with him, unlike how he can at times with Hayner. He was actually getting along better with Axel more than he realized.

A small problem had arisen the last few weeks, ever since he started talking to Axel. It started happening a few nights after their first meeting. Roxas' back slowly started hurting every time he would wake up from slumber. He concluded it was the mattress, or that he had slept wrong.

Roxas poured the box of cereal he found stowed away in the very back of the cabinet. Instead of cereal, a colony of ants poured out of the box, running into the bowl and all surrounding areas, including up the box.

Dropping the box in fright, he jumped away quickly, looking around for a culprit. His back screamed in protest at the quick action, and Roxas hissed, trying to ignore the pain. He looked back down at the sea of ants to find cereal strewn onto the hardwood floor, and cereal poured into his bowl and onto the counter.

"But there were..." his thought trailed off as he sighed, running his hands through his hair. Their tricks were getting more elaborate, and he hated it. Half a box of cereal was now wasted.

"Looks like I'll have to go buy another one," he muttered as he grabbed a broom and swept up the mess, careful to keep his posture upright. He cleaned off the counter before grabbing the milk, checking to be sure they hadn't done anything to that before pouring it over his cereal.

After eating the cereal he put the finished bowl in the dishwasher and moved into his office, starting up his laptop. Since he was on break from college, he needed to find a job, searching on the laptop daily for any openings.

A few more hours and clicks later and he didn't find any that peaked his interest. Leaving the laptop open, he rose up from his chair, stretching the stiff muscles. Roxas walked to the door, and turned off the light of the study, closing the entryway as soon as his fingers left the light switch.

He had nothing else to do, now that he had done his daily job hunt. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out what else he could do. As he climbed the creaky stairway, he could just barely see the pile of clothes in his hamper near the doorway to his room. Laundry. He groaned at the aspect of having to do it, but knew it would have to be done.

Creaky wood sounded behind him just as he reached the top of the stairs, causing him to turn around. No one was there. Not a single soul was on the stairs besides himself. The creaking sounded again, and he could see a wooden panel a few feet below him act as if it was holding weight, bending slightly.

Blue eyes were widened, and he walked quickly into his room, shutting the door behind him. They were really out to get him. What did he do to deserve this sort of attention in one day? First the cereal and now creaky stairs? What's next? A door flung open?

"Well, good afternoon, sunshine."

The blonde turned with a start, finding Axel grinning at him. Amusement at his jumpy behavior, no doubt. "Axel!" Roxas chastised, relieve evident in his voice. "Don't ever do that again. Damn, man. You about gave me a heart attack."

"Oh really now?" The spiky haired man asked. "Well, that sure wouldn't be the first." His eyes scrutinized Roxas' relaxed position on the bed. "How are you getting along in your new arrangements?"

Roxas scoffed. "I'm getting along worse than I thought I could." He crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes taking a particular interest with the patterns of the wooden panels on the floor.

A gleam of satisfaction was in Axel's eye, thought Roxas wasn't paying any attention to him to notice. "Why, blondie? I thought you loved it here," Axel asked, keeping his tone sympathetic.

"Yes, I love it here," Roxas said, his tone one of exasperation. "But what I don't love is all your little ghost friends pestering me. They just ruined one box of cereal that I'll have to go and buy again. Not to mention the chase up the stairs." Okay, he was exaggerating a little bit, but Roxas decided he would explain if he needed to.

"Awe, does little Roxas need a hug?" Axel teased, smiling jokingly.

Blue eyes rolled. "Oh shut up, Axel."

"If you hate them so much, why don't you get rid of them?" Axel asked, his tone nonchalant. "I mean, you'd be getting rid of me too, but most of your problem would be gone, right?" A knowing gleam was in the emeralds of Axel's irises.

The wheels in Roxas' head began turning as he processed the loaded question. He turned to the mirror hesitantly. "First, how would I get rid of them, and Second, what do you mean by you would go away too?"

Axel smiled, his lips turned up in a slight smirk. "You would need to help me get out of here, and onto the next life. If I go, they will too," he said assuredly.

"But I thought you said you were stuck in the mirror," Roxas back-tracked, remembering the first conversation he had with the red-head. "That you and the others couldn't leave."

Axel shook his head. "I made a mistake. It turns out I can get out of this mirror if someone, say you," he pointed at Roxas, "were on the other side of the mirror to help me."

"You mean if a living person were able to help you?" Roxas clarified.

Axel nodded. "The ghosts can't help because they are trapped here as well. I would need someone who wasn't trapped, which would be a living human being, to help me," he explained.

That made sense to Roxas. "So, how am I supposed to help you? I can't take the mirror off the wall, or smash the mirror. If I smash the mirror, then how would I take the broken mirror off the wall?" he mused, more to himself than to Axel.

"I found out how, if you'll stop your musings for a minute or two," Axel cut in slightly. He had Roxas' attention, so he continued. "You see the little jewel-eyed lady up top?" he pointed to the carved in woman on the mirror. Roxas nodded, and he stood up and moved closer to the mirror, looking at the carving. "I think if you touch her carved hair and look into her jeweled eyes, it'll release me, and let me go onto my next life, as well as the others that are haunting this house."

Roxas fingered the carving, eying Axel out of the corner of his eyes. "It's that simple?" he asked. Surely there's more to it than this.

"It is, and you also have to say, 'Ego sum unus per speculum'. I am one with the mirror," Axel instructed, his eyes shining. With what emotion, Roxas couldn't put a finger on, but he did as he was told, and put both hands on the carving's hair, and stood eye to eye with the jewels.

They sparkled a blood red in the light shining in from the sun rays through Roxas' window. "Ego sum unus per speculum," he uttered, staring into the rubies. A jolt went through him, and he tried to move his hands away from the mirror, but it was as if they were glued. "Axel! What's going on!?" Roxas shouted, but his breath was cut short as he turned his head to look at the red-head.

His skin had decayed away to reveal his true form, and there were no pupils in his eyes. They slated over green, no white in his eyes. Axel's fingernails had turned into long claws, and he had a malicious grin on his face.

A low chuckle reverberated from inside his throat as he said, "You're mine now, Roxas." He tore Roxas' shirt off to reveal a symbol burned into the blonde's back. Roxas' ocean of eyes widened in horror. He tried to speak but failed. "The pain you felt in your back at night was me branding you, getting you ready for this life."

"T-this life? What life!?" Roxas managed to strangle out before he was sucked into the mirror, his world reversed.

He landed on the bed, trying to get his breathing in check as well as trying to stop the pain in his back.

"The pain will lessen later. Lay on your stomach," an unfamiliar voice instructed. Roxas didn't care who it was. If they could just take the pain away he would be happy. He felt a soft cloth on his back, and hissed at the cold that came with it. Like the person said, the pain was gradually going away. After a few more minutes he heard, "Okay. You can turn over now."

Roxas rolled over, and faced a slate-haired man standing over him. Axel was sitting in a chair in the corner, his state back to normal, healthier, even. "Who are you?" he managed to choke out, turning his gaze to the man standing near the bed.

"Zexion. And you are Roxas," he said knowingly, nodding in the blonde's direction. He turned on his heel and headed for the door. Before walking out he turned to Roxas and said with an even tone, "Welcome to the family."

Roxas turned to Axel, all of the memories of the events before flooding back into his brain. He paled before asking, "W-what did he mean by 'family'?"

"You're now part of the household of ghosts. You are trapped here like the rest of us," Axel explained shortly, his cold demeanor gone, a bored air about him replacing it. "My job is done."

Roxas brow furrowed, piecing together the new information with what had just happened. "You...you mean you trapped me here?" he asked indignantly, getting no answer from Axel. Roxas flung himself out of the bed and rushed toward the mirror. He saw his room, but his reflection was missing. He placed his hand on the mirror, knocking on it. Gritting his teeth he flung his hand at it again, the swing doing nothing to the reflecting glass.

"You don't have a reflection anymore, since you are on the other side of the glass," Axel informed him, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him away from the mirror. "There's no use in trying to get out. They've tried." He chuckled.

"They?" Roxas scoffed, before remembering Zexion, and the mohawk boy. "Oh. They," he realized.

"You better get used to your new home, and your new roommates," Axel suggested, leading Roxas by his shoulders to the hallway. Axel shut the door to the bedroom, and Roxas sighed spinning back around to the house.

The house was different, but the same, in a way. There were tiny changes, and it still looked like home, but it didn't feel like home anymore.

He saw tufts of pink go down the hallway to where the mohawk boy was, and a head of black follow the figure.

Roxas ran swiftly down the stairs and followed them, deciding that was all he would be able to do anymore. He knew an "I told you so." from the mohawk boy was going to be evident. As he ran to catch up with the two ghosts, he vaguely wondered what Hayner was going to think.

He was gone now, forever in this other world, dead to the other.

Life would be completely different.