"No! No! No! no no no no no no no no," "What the actual—UGH," Axton kept adding on, and on and on.
"Okay, so sit down and think," he says as he sits down on the bed, staring down at the gun and dagger.
"Ah, screw it!" He grabs the weapons and reaches towards the first drawer on his bedside table, stops in his tracks, thinks about it and then he reaches for the second drawer, and pulls it out, shoves them in, and slams the drawer shut.
"That's going to be a problem for future Axton Abanish, the future 'Double AA'! Right now, I am starving.", he says out loud in frustration.
"Oh, right, there's a food court nearby. I'll just get something to eat there. Ah lord, I'll probably run into someone there; that'll be annoying.", he thinks to himself.
Axton then changed into something comfortable: his baggy blue jeans, some sneakers, and of course his trusty 'SleepHedge' t-shirt, a hard rock band he got introduced to by his dad a few years back.
He grabbed a random black hoodie and headed off with his wallet and his phone.
He then decided to just walk to 'Cheffie's Court' since it's close by. On the way there, he scrolled on his phone, going through his social media, just scrolling, looking at pages showing positions for gigs he could join since he was getting low on cash again. He'd rather think about something that would actually help him go about his life and not take it.
As he scrolls through the media, he thinks of... Joining 'Presence' again, a band he and his friends made a while ago; he left the band two months ago because-
"Ow! Hey, watch where you're—," said the girl he ran into.
"I am so sorry, I should look where I'm walking, and not run int—" the girl standing in front of him was wearing a black hunting cap which was folded upwards, a black jacket with a red tee underneath, and regular black jeans. An outfit he was very familiar with, too familiar with…
She was one of his ex-bandmates and... best friends.
"Oh... Nasri..." muttered Axton, an immediate rush of guilt flooded his bones.
Nasri just hugged him.
"Dude, Ax, you practically went radio silent for two months—and no, sending random pictures of cats you find on the streets in the group chat does not count as being in contact," Nasri said in a concerned but somewhat annoyed manner.
Ax was about to interrupt, but he stood corrected.
"Hey... I was about to g—"
"Get some food? Good, you've gotten skinny. Come, my treat," Nasri interrupted.
"Alright, I guess.".
10 minutes had passed; Nasri just ordered some chicken ramen, and Ax ordered the same, and now they are waiting for their food to be served. They were sitting at a window seat.
Usually, coming here means coming to the food court with friends and hanging out, either at Cheffie's Court or the Multimart underneath, which starts at the ground floor and leads up to the 2nd.
The last few times they had been here at the same time, it was with other friends and bandmates; it was their usual get-together spot since literally everyone knows where this is.
But... this time the air was awkward; last time they talked, Nasri was screaming at Ax for leaving, and if you were there, it would sound like she was the one who kicked him out.
"Listen, I—," said Nasri.
"I'm so—," said Ax, both simultaneously.
"You can go first," said Nasri.
"Ah, right, okay, look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for leaving you guys like that; I shouldn't have cut you guys off, let alone actually leave like that," explained Ax, timidly, feeling ashamed and small, especially in front of her.
"About that, Ax, why didn't,-okay look, I have been waiting to meet you in real life, but I kept chickening out, but—" paused Nasri, as she took a deep breath.
"Ace told me why you basically went AWOL for a while," added Nasri, showing even more concern.
Ax's eyes widened in realization
Ace was another member of the band who had known him the longest and was also one of his best friends ever since the day they met on the first day of school.
"Axton, why didn't you tell me that two months ago... it was your parent's third death anniversary?" asked Nasri in a gentle, still so concerned voice.
"It's... complicated, and it's not—"
"It's not fair? Not fair on us for you to open up and burden us with your mental health," Nasri had basically gagged him; this was why he kept avoiding her; nothing gets past her.
"I'm not going to push you, but just know that I won't push you away either; none of us will. Take your time, but just be honest with us, or just attempt it for once," Nasri was stern with him.
Their conversation was interrupted briefly by a waiter, serving their ramen, who then proceeded to scurry off.
"Now eat your ramen before it gets cold," ended Nasri, because she could see that Ax was getting visibly stressed.
"Right! Sorry" exclaimed Ax.
Nasri sighed deeply.
"On a less serious note... got any gigs planned?" asked Nasri.
"Not really; I was actually looking for one as I bumped heads with you, literally," replied Ax.
That joke made Nasri laugh a little bit, but she continued,
"Our rhythm guitarist who took the gig kinda just bailed on us, dude. We need one by next week, or we'll have to play that part of the track on the speaker. We kinda need you, but no pressure. Just text me on 'Redbook' if you want to join us, just for a gig at least. It's your favorite track and album.", she added, as if to entice him into considering going back to the band.
"Alright, good to know," replied Ax, who kept a mental note.
They both caught up with the small things and finished their food together.
"Oh, and before I forget, Hamz wanted to pass this on to you.".
Ax was confused, but Nasri handed him a... red guitar pick, 0.98 mm of thickness, with his stage name printed onto it, 'Double AA.'.
"Held on to this for a whole month, but yeah, it's yours now. It was supposed to be a New Year's gift to us. I have one that just says 'N without the 'N.'".
Ax laughed a little bit, it was an inside joke the band was familiar with.
Nasri softly smiled.
"Yeah, it's about time I go at least, you... just take care, man, be safe." Nasri just said her goodbyes, and Ax did too, but Ax kept thinking he owes her for the rame-
"You don't owe me jack, by the way!" she yelled as she left.
Ax just... sighed deeply. It was a lot to process, especially because of the day before.
As Ax walked back home... he thought about his unique situation hard and deep, he is low on cash again, his only source of income were his gigs and his band, which he burned through the past two months.
Not to mention the stupid door he was sucked into and almost died in, he thought about the ren fair place he ended up in, there were mentions of golden coins, those might be worth some cash, but his curiosity was getting the best of him.
He checked his wallet and he was low.
He'll think about going to the other world or not and risk it later, and he still has some time to decide on the gig, so he'll think about that later.
…
Hours have gone by, and Ax is just lying on his bed, contemplating; it's 7 pm.
He got up, wore his black cargos, black jacket, and black boots, and pulled out the second drawer and shoved the two weapons down his cargo pockets and the 5 bronze Totas into his hoodie pocket, and he walked out and headed for the lake, where the door first appeared
It was eerily quiet, just like last time but… the door was nowhere to be seen..
"Now... where are you... I really want to go back to the marke—" A blue door appeared in front of him and hit him smack dab in the middle of his face.
"Ah! I swear this thing has a will of its own."
Punches the door; the door vanishes, reappears when he turns around, and he(it) hits him again.
"I am losing a fight against a stupid door; I will shoot this thing, or so help me."
He then opens the door and carefully walks in this time.
Entered: Nexus