Wondering and wandering, Axel Astrix found himself stumbling to his bedroom in the Magician's Manor, while his mind lingered off into the distant past. With a single blink, his eyes left the chilling corridor and awoke to a splendid sun shining towards him. His ears twitched with intrigue as they heard a familiar sound stumble into view. Far younger, far smaller and far more innocent to the eyes, Alsop, Mary and Annette had all been walking ahead of the youthful little Axel. Far more cheerful were these hearty days where their pure parading through the streets lived harmlessly. They were children back then, so their cheery stares at the neighbourhood provided a nice comfort.

However, a single candle of smoky darkness lingered behind the golden trio. Axel Astrix. His heart hurt. His eyes wanted to weep. His hands shivered. His breaths felt chained like a slave.

"Here, Mary. I want you to have this." The voice of Alsop ahead of him sparked his eyes up from the dirt road.

"Gifts for the one he loves. Alsop is so bold." Thought Axel.

"What is this? For me?" Flustered, Mary took a shy look around the trio's surroundings.

"Do - don't get the wrong idea or anything! I just thought you'd want it for when we aren't together with each other." Alsop scratched his head.

"Tsk! Alsop!" Mary grabbed him by the ear. "When will I ever be free from you and your protection?" She asked with a deep sigh.

"Mary is so cold. She is so gracious, yet well disciplined." Thought Axel.

"Huh? Until the day I die, obviously!" Alsop exclaimed with courage. "Seriously. I like you - I like protecting you! I like protecting you, I mean!" He frantically twisted his tongue for words.

"Enough, you two!" The growing laughter of Annette could not conceal her words.

"Ah, Anne. Always coming in to aid your friends. The ones you love." Heartbroken, Axel thought.

"Alsop, why are you hiding your one?" Asked Annette.

"Eh!?" Squealed Alsop. "That - that's a secret, Anne!" He exclaimed.

"So, we have a matching pair?" Asked Mary, her face falling to the ground.

"Huh?" Alsop looked at her with heartbreak, had he made her sad? "I - we do. I'm sorry..." He began to stutter with his nerves trembling his lips.

"No." Mary clasped his hand. "Don't be sorry! I just didn't realise I was so special to you." She looked up to Alsop with a smile that shattered the summer skyline with scintillating resonance.

"Hehe! Yes!" Clenching her fist with victory, Annette gently whispered to Alsop, but it did not take long at all for Mary to notice her teasing face.

"Anne! What was that just now?" Agitated, Mary asked impatiently.

"Well. The two of you really are..." With a sincere look from Alsop, Annette paused her reply briefly. "Silly. What an awful gift you chose Alsop!" She said, bursting out with laughter.

With a hopeless look to his hands, Alsop sighed as the gift stood up to his eyes with its inferiority. A small tear dropped from his eye, whether from relief or worry he hid it too well, and in seconds he began to join Annette with her boisterous laughter, until finally, Mary joined the two. Leaving the lone dweller just behind the trio.

"I want to see. I want to know. I want to laugh." Thought Axel.

Unlike his friends, Axel did not laugh. Instead, his eyes closed. Once again, he was somewhere else. Was it the same day? His thoughts and reasoning seemed numbed by something beating within his chest. It panged with pain that plastered all over his skin a hot and bothered swell. His pain was unavoidable.

"Tell me, Axel. Why must you do this to yourself? Is it because of me?" Ahead of his blurry eyes, a shadowy figure spoke out to him with frightening warmth.

"You - you think I choose to do it!?" Shouted Axel, shivering with shock.

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The figure receded with hesitation. Axel's eyes were so wet he could not see a thing, but he felt the softness of a hug clutch him with magical might.

"Tell me, Axel." The figure proposed, carefully caressing Axel's hair. "Why must you always linger behind your friends?" He asked.

"Because - because I shouldn't be with them! They can do better than me! They must do better than me!" Axel cried out in anguish.

"Then why is it, they love you? They are your friends." Said the figure.

"They must love me out of pity. And if so, I hate them!" Muttered Axel.

"If you want them to do better, you do not hate them. You cherish them deeply." Chuckled the figure.

"No! You are wrong! Alsop...I am too weak to be by his side...Mary...she is too cold to be loving of someone like me...and Anne. Anne is so very perfect. She must not talk to me, someone so unbearably imperfect..." Wept out Axel.

"All of these are great reasons why you love them." Said the figure, burrowing deep into Axel with his hug. "So, stop your doubts. Stop assuming your value because you are worth more than all the treasures of this world." He said, a watery droplet falling to Axel's tasselled hair. "You have many talents. You just need to start accepting yourself more. Please, my dear Axel, my sweet son." He concluded.

Returning to the halls of the Magician's Manor, Axel stood outside his place of rest. A minor flashback to the past had struck him from nowhere, and it made him shake his head with confusion. Opening the door, he noticed Thomas did not stay up waiting for his findings, and so he went to bed with no delays. Although trying to shake off his weary delve into a past encounter, a strange sensation soon unfolded upon Axel. His experience with Victoria Magika's magic field struck a chord with him, so he chose to use the emptiness of the night to explore his very own magic field. As he drifted his eyes off to close, his body sunk within his bed until finally, he woke up in a reality which left him wary.

A thick cloud of white smoke surrounded him, providing a mist of uncertainty that shrouded his sight past a sole figure ahead of him. The clouds were so blindingly white, Axel shielded his awestruck eyes with his hands. He did not seem at all phased by the strange darkness walking towards him, because his body readily accepted its strange decision to embrace him with a hug. As Axel closed his eyes, a tear dripping down his cheek, he sighed with childish relief. However, his heart felt the heavy feelings of pain soon overwhelm him. The shadowy figure which somehow entered his magic field had failed to make their hug upon Axel a physical one.

"Ah, Axel. It seems I cannot touch you. How cruel!" The figure echoed out in agony. "But you have grown. So sweet, so strong." He said with warmth illuminating off his shadowy black body.

"Father..." Axel wept.

"You still remember me...?" The figure tentatively backed away. "Did Envy consume you too?" He asked with woeful worry.

"No, absolutely not!" Axel exclaimed.

"Ah, I see. Then how do you still know me, Axel?" Asked his father, Baxter Astrix.

"My memories of you are far and few, father. In fact, my very image of you has been forgotten." Said Axel, his eyes staring the shadow up and down.

"You cannot see me as I am, yet you knew instantly who I am. Your intellect is phenomenal. I am so glad to have seen you grow." Said Baxter.

"No. Don't say that. Please." Muttered Axel, his fists clenched with shame. "I have not grown one bit. I am still a hopelessly jealous little boy." He cried out.

"I never told you." Said Baxter reluctantly.

"Told me what?" Asked Axel.

"You are special in your own right. Perhaps you have not ventured yourself fully yet? You must find yourself, it will keep your eyes off others." Said Baxter.

"I am exploring myself. I am furthering myself. I am interested in myself." Axel confessed. "But I have no courage in a world where courage is all." He sighed.

"Where are we right now?" Asked Baxter, looking around with curiosity.

"My magic field." Replied Axel.

"It is completely unexplored. Blank as a bone." Commented Baxter. "You ought to explore more. I promise you, your strength is here. Do not look to anyone else for value when it beats within your very chest." He said.

"You really think so, father?" Pondered Axel. "Are you a part of my magic field?" He asked.

"No. My soul seems to be nearby, it is strange." Replied Baxter.

"Perhaps Envy released you?" Suggested Axel.

"It does not seem he did." Said Baxter. "Enough about me, Axel. You seem to have overworked yourself." He observed his surroundings, the thick fog crumbling in the distance.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Asked Axel.

"Practice your magic more often. It will strengthen your field. Right now, it is crumbling because you are not accustomed to this place." Said his father.

"You suggest I should leave you? What will happen to you?" Nervously asked Axel, his eyes unwilling to let go of his shadowy father.

"I will come back. You must defeat Envy entirely. It is the only way I may rejoin you." Proclaimed Baxter.

"No, wait father. Will you really come back? You will not leave me again?" Anxiously asked Axel.

"I have never really left you, it seems." Said his father.

Within seconds, Axel's father faded into the distant white fog while Axel himself had lingered behind in thought. His magic field surrounded him in a cloak of comfort, but his heart felt a bitter disappointment with his encounter with both the field and his father.

"Is that really an answer?" He thought.