Two men, in an elevator, going up.
Axel holds Demyx tightly against his chest. The younger man is pale, and there are dark circles under his eyes. He twitches and jerks, sweat coating his face. With glassy eyes, Demyx stares up at the redhead.
"Axel…" He coughs hoarsely, "Axel." It's a plea, a cry for help. He's begging for mercy, from the virus that lurks in his blood. It's in Axel's, too, but Axel was always the stronger of the two, at least physically. He doesn't know who got it first, or who gave it to who. It doesn't matter anymore.
"Hush, love. Don't you want to live forever?" Axel rocks the brunette back and forth, back and forth.
Demyx lets out a quiet gasp of pain, a little fluttering sigh. The sound shatters Axel into a million razor sharp pieces. Only this time Demyx can't pick them up, because he's broken too.
"Axel." Demyx's voice is sharp, his breath coming in little staccato bursts.
"Please, Dem. Please." The elevators goes higher and higher. Axel slips his hands under his lover's shirt, feeling for a pulse. He presses his lips to Demyx's neck, feeling the unnatural heat of his feverish flesh. Not long now, not at all.
Axel wraps pulls Demyx in, holding him too tight, too close. He buries his face into the limp mess of his hair, hair that used to stick straight up in the front and down in the back. Axel used to tease Demyx about it, calling him rooster and duck-butt and superhero-gone-wrong.
He wraps his arms tighter, as another wave of pain racks Demyx's frail body. Axel cries, not quiet tears either, like the ones dripping down Demyx's cheeks, but loud, messy sobs. Demyx's fingernails claw at his own stomach, his legs, but he lacks the strength to break the skin.
He and Demyx are one person, breathing the same air, and wearing the same skin. Demyx is trying to talk, trying to say something. I love you, maybe, or thank you. Axel doesn't know. But then the light flicks off and the door rolls open and it doesn't matter anymore.
"C'mon, love, we're here." Axel pulls Demyx out of the elevator. Demyx is breathing shallowly, each breath farther apart than the last. He leans on Axel heavily, but Axel doesn't mind. After having Demyx pull him back from the edge so many times, it's only fair that today it's Demyx's turn to be rescued.
Up a flight of stairs, through a trap door, careful, Dem, it's tricky. And then on the roof. It's raining now, a bleak, steady drizzle. Axel hates the rain but Demyx loves it. It's just one of those things.
They walk to the edge. Demyx's eyes are half closed and his lips are chapped and bleeding. Axel kisses him and tastes copper and salt.
"Ready, kid?" A nod. "This is it, Dem. This is how you stay young forever."
And hand and hand, two men plunge from the rooftop, tumbling down and down into the black emptiness below.