"Wow… it's huge!"
"You think THIS is impressive, just wait until I show you THIS!"
"Oh man! That's amazing! I've never seen anything like it!"
"I know… it'd make anyone envious of it."
"Heh, ain't that the truth?"
"Excuse me, but what the hell is going on in here?!" Marluxia growled as he finally let his curiosity get the better of him and pushed his way into Vexen's lab.
"ARGH! DON'T YOU EVER KNOCK!" Axel gave an undignified protest and Larxene squealed in surprise and leapt into his arms. Marluxia just regarded them both blankly with slight disgust.
"I repeat: what the hell is going on in here?"
"Well, if you MUST be so nosy," Axel glared, rolling his eyes as Larxene hopped out of his arms. "I was just showing Larxene some of Vexen's new toys… which only he is meant to know about."
"Toys," the Graceful Assassin raised an eyebrow in doubt.
"Yes, toys. Or, to give them a longer, pointless and more irritating name: machines. Happy now?"
"Not particularly, but I suppose I will never achieve complete content until your corpse lies at my feet."
"Oh believe me, the feeling is mutual."
"Stupid boy: we cannot feel."
"Oh, so what's with the doubt, suspicion, jealousy and hatred I'm getting off you in this very moment?"
"Jealousy? Why on earth would I be jealous of a cocky upstart such as yourself?"
"I saw the way you looked at this lovely creature when she was in my arms…" Axel stuck out his tongue and pulled Larxene into a hug to mock him.
He got her knee forcefully shoved somewhere painful for his efforts.
As he fell to the floor cawing in absolute agony and rolling around, curling into a defensive ball, Larxene growled, "Do NOT use me like that!"
"Excellent delivery, my dear," Marluxia smirked. "Flawless, as usual."
"Oooooooooh my Goooooooooood! The paaaaaiiiiin! The excruciating paaaaaiiiin!" Axel half-sobbed, half-wailed in a strained voice. Ignoring him, Larxene finally turned all her attention to Marluxia and grinned, "It's amazing the stuff Vexen has stashed away in here! We think he's got a time machine, even!"
"A what?" Marluxia's eyes flared up in immense interest. Seeing his enthusiasm, Larxene cackled, then walked to the other side of the lab, stepping on Axel in the process and making him whinge all the more in pain.
"Here…" she motioned Marluxia to follow as she began typing at a keypad. He did so (also stepping on Axel, who was just about to get up and found his face forced back into the floor).
"Fascinating…" he whispered as she finished typing and the large selection of machine before them suddenly glowed bright blue. "But what makes you think it is a time machine?"
"Oh, just the little matter of the book called 'Time Machines – A User-Friendly Starter Manual for Enthusiasts of all Levels' lying on the monitor right in front of you."
"Oh. I… I knew that."
Finally on his feet, though very shaky and in extreme pain, Axel limped over to them and leant against a tall control panel to keep himself upright.
"I tell ya, Vexen keeps the weirdest things in this place… I bet ya he even has a doomsday device…. All creepy mad scientists have a doomsday device – it's like some unwritten law. At least in all the movies it… it…" he trailed off suddenly, his spine shivering.
"I feel weird," he said simply.
"You look it," Marluxia snorted, not even looking up at him but still immersed in Larxene's typing at the controls.
"No… I mean it… I feel seriously. Frikkin. Weird."
"Axel shush: I'm trying to figure out how to work this thing…" Larxene mumbled irritably, pressing a few more random keys in the hopes of getting a reaction.
There was a slow hum, and Axel's little shivers turned into all out mini-seizures. His body started visibly shaking and jerking, but he wasn't doing it of his own free will.
"Larx… stop pressing things," he said seriously, suddenly a little scared of what was happening. Hearing the tone, she looked up and gasped.
"Axel!" she hissed, pointing to something above his head. Following her prompt, he looked up.
A black hole had seemingly opened up above him, and was growing in size, trying to suck him in.
Well, that's explained why his body was moving without his control.
Feeling his feet suddenly leaving the ground he yelped and tried to grab something to keep him anchored.
That something happened to be Larxene's out-stretched arm that was still pointing to the hole.
"Ah, let go!" she whined, trying to prise his hand off when it became apparent she wasn't slowing him down, and, if anything, she started to feel the pull of the hole as well. Seeing this, Marluxia grabbed her too, but in doing so, his elbow pressed some more keys on the pad, and with a sudden whir, the pull of the hole became ten times stronger.
In a terrified yell, Axel was completely sucked in, and despite their best efforts, Marluxia and Larxene found themselves following.
After swallowing it's breakfast, the black hole dimmed in size, then sealed up completely.
____________________________________
Everything was black, even though he was certain he was fully conscious. He could feel a breeze – that surely accounted for some sense of reality. Sitting upright, he summoned a flame with one hand whilst he rubbed his aching head with the other. With the fire, he could see an awful lot clearer and examined his surroundings closely.
He soon found he was lying next to a corpse with it's neck ripped apart and blood oozing down from the wound onto his own clothes.
Yelling in panic and horror, he jumped to his feet and backed as far away from the corpse as he could, until he hit a wall.
Somewhere to his left, he heard a whiny – a horse.
Well, that explained the smell.
Panting in immense shock from discovering the body, Axel took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. It wasn't the body itself that scared him, it was more the fact he had no idea where he was, WHY there was a dead body, nor whether the cause of it's death was still around.
Well, he could answer one of those questions: if the horse wasn't scared, then whatever did it must have gone.
"Guys?" he called weakly. He was sure they'd been pulled after him.
"We're over here…" Larxene's voice answered after a moment's silence. Sighing in relief, he lit up the room some more and saw them, half-buried in a pile of hay in the far corner.
Helping Larxene up out of the hay, but somehow neglecting to even offer a hand to Marluxia, he shivered and mumbled, "Where are we?"
"At a guess? No idea, but I think we just unwittingly sparked up Vexen's time machine."
"Wherever we are, it's not friendly," Axel nodded to the 'almost-beheaded-but-not-quite' peasant lying in a puddle of blood on the floor… yes, definitely a peasant: poor clothing, raggedly and rough leather… definitely not an aristocrat, that was certain.
They appeared to be inside a stable: the horse Axel had heard earlier looked blankly at them while the mule tied to the beam nearest to them brayed awkwardly, obviously confused as to why these people had inexplicably appeared with little logical reason.
"Yes well, I'd say we've thoroughly tested Vexen's machine. Let's get the hell out of here before he finds out… or before we're murdered, either one."
"Good idea…" Marluxia nodded only too willing.
"Wait!" Axel hissed suddenly, holding out an arm to stop them.
"Why on earth should we?"
"Think about it! Portals can't take you to different times! So whatever time we're in right now is the same time it'll be everywhere else! Let's say we've gone 200 years into the past, right? Will the castle even EXIST right now?"
They paused, the horror sinking in.
"So, you're saying…?"
"If we try and portal home now, we might wind up in empty space and die!"
Even Marluxia didn't look too keen to risk this and actually looked quite frightened. Under any other circumstance, Axel may have been obliged to pounce on this and mock him, but the truth was he was just as lost as the other two were.
They stood in contemplative silence, the tension mounting to unbearable proportions until their thoughts were interrupted.
The stable door near the corpse suddenly had a sheet of moonlight slip under the tiny gap between the floor and the bottom of the wood. It fell upon the body of the man and bathed him in the silvery light.
However, none of the nobodies took notice of this…… until the man's eyes suddenly snapped open and he gave a bone-chilling cry.
Freezing and turning in unison, they watched in aghast horror and shock as the corpse actually rolled over, got onto it's hands and knees and began to breathe heavily and deeply. Loud cracks and pops echoed around the stable as his spine arched unnaturally and his face grew longer and more pointed, almost as if someone were trying to pull it off by the nose.
Both the horse and the mule were going absolutely mad with terror, rearing up and snorting.
Completely struck numb by this display, Axel took a step away from the shaking and growling… 'thing'.
"What… what IS that?" he whispered.
'That' heard him and it's head snapped upwards to glare at him. All three gasped – the face was more animal than human… no… not just like an animal… it WAS an animal.
As it's brown hair grew wildly and started sprouting all over it's face, it threw back it's head and howled.
"Werewolf!" they screamed in unison as it tore off it's clothes as it entered a fully canine-state and pounced at them, fangs and claws bared.
________________________________________
On the hilltop, the moon glinting off their steel armour, the band of warriors and their steeds trotted gently on the path overlooking the valley. They'd been patrolling all night, and had yet to find the escaped slaves.
They were about to give it up completely and return back to the halls when suddenly their scout tore up the hill towards them.
"Lycans! They attacked the village just West of here!"
The group showed little concern or surprise, but wordlessly urged their horses into a fast gallop down the hill, swords raised and visors on their helmets pushed down in preparation of the horrors waiting for them.
_______________________________________________
A peaceful, quiet little village, it was. A place where the farmers went home to every night after working hard in the fields everyday… to their wives and children. To a hot dinner, a civil conversation and a good night's rest.
Not tonight.
Any buildings that weren't still on fire had burnt down entirely, except the stable on the outskirts. It was from this stable that a bloodied red-head pushed the double doors open with all his might and allowed two riders on a stallion through.
"Go…" he coughed, clutching his wounded arm.
"What about you?" the woman seemed very reluctant to let him stay.
"I'll be fine… I'll follow with the mule. Just get out of here…"
"Axel…"
"I said GO!" he shouted, losing his patience. "That thing is gonna wake up again! I'll distract it! Run!"
Even the other male looked unwilling to part ways. Seeing this, Axel gritted his teeth and bought an arm sweeping across in a slice through the air. Instantly, a wall of flames roared up between them, making the horse rear up and back away.
"Go. That's an order."
Not wanting to provoke his anger any further, Marluxia dug his heels into the horse's flank and it neighed loudly, bolting away from the fire and the village, both it's riders vanishing into the night.
Tearing his eyes away once he was sure they were out of harm's way, Axel turned back to face the heaving beast that was getting back on it's paws for the third time. Whatever this thing was, it just wasn't going to die quietly.
"Heh, looks like it's about time we neutered this mongrel…" he smirked, bringing back his chakrams as it pounced at him. They clashed and knocking the canine back, Axel launched one towards it. It tore into it's back, but it still kept charging, as if it had felt nothing. Ducking just in time to avoid it's gnashing teeth as it flew over him, Axel rolled onto the floor, reappearing behind a wooden beam, hoping to catch his breath.
Seems the monster wasn't going to let him have that privilege.
Barely dodging another wild pounce, he found another opening and sliced a deep cut into it's belly. It howled in absolute pain and fell awkwardly in mid-leap. It growled and whined for a few seconds more, then fell still.
Almost falling against the stable wall in utter exhaustion, Axel clutched his arm again – during the first round, he'd jumped in front of the other two to stop them getting hurt. He received a claw to his forearm for his efforts.
Hissing in pain, he shredded off the sleeve of his coat to inspect the damage – a lot of blood, but it was really no more than a deep scratch. It'd heal with time.
'Still hurts…' he thought miserably, then remembered his promise to the other two that he would follow them once it was dead. Who was he kidding? He couldn't ride… he had no idea how to go about saddling a mule, let alone ride on with enough skill to stop it kicking him off. And with his arm like this…
His negative thoughts were shattered when the mule in question gave a terrified and utterly pain-ridden cry.
Spinning around, Axel barely had time to register the two new werewolves tearing the flesh of the now dead mule off it's bone on the floor, when three others suddenly ambushed him from both sides and sank their teeth into his neck and torso.
The scream could be heard a mile away.
"Axel!" Larxene gasped, straining to look over her shoulder in the saddle as the horse took them further away.
"Just don't think about it," Marluxia hissed from behind her as he held the reins and urged the horse faster. "We need to get out of here."
"But he's in trouble!"
"So are we!"
"I don't CARE! We have to go back!"
Marluxia was about to retort and continue the argument, but never got the chance, as a dark, furry shape suddenly leapt out of the vegetation they were running past and knocked him off the horse. Both the struggling Assassin and the gnashing werewolf tumbled down the slight slope by the side of the dirt track and rolled over each other, fighting.
Also falling off the horse now it was rearing up on it's hind legs, and not being able to grasp the reins quick enough, Larxene landed with a bump on her rear and was too in pain to attempt to stop the horse as it bolted into the night.
"Shit…" she groaned, then as quickly as she could without risking further injury, she got to her feet and slide down the slope after the werewolf and the Assassin fighting below. The beast had Marluxia pinned on his back and was gnashing for his neck, only being held back by the handle of Marluxia's scythe. Throwing a kunai and smiling as it thudded into the beast's back, Larxene watched as it threw her a backwards growl, yet still kept at Marluxia's throat. Biting her lip and hoping she wouldn't hit him, she raised her arms and bought down a bolt of lightning.
It had the desired effect, and with a dreadful cry, the lycan shrivelled and collapsed, scorched black and stinking of burning.
However, they barely had time to catch their breath when suddenly the sound of hooves pounded into their ears. There was the sound of sliding steel, then suddenly a sword edge at Larxene's throat, and an armoured stranger doing similar to Marluxia, who was still lying exhausted on the floor.
Taken aback by the unexplained appearance of this group of horsemen, they couldn't speak, and simply hitched their breath whilst the remaining riders dismounted and examined them.
"What ARE you?" one of them asked, looking stunned.
Swallowing Larxene simply growled and summoned her kunai. She was expecting the person with the sword at her neck to move, but they didn't even twitch. The guard by Marluxia, though, pressed the sword a little closer until it rested on his skin and drew a thin line of blood.
"Answer the question, and your lives will be spared. What beasts are you that summon such artefacts and elements with no conjuring words?"
"What be you: human or lycan? You certainly aren't of our kin…" another piped up suspiciously.
"They aren't any," a female voice echoed strangely from somewhere behind Larxene. This caused quite a stir and murmurs of disbelief and amazement mumbled all around.
"Pandora, why do you say this?"
"They reek of lycan, but their blood does not. They lack the heart that makes a human what they are. And, as already established, they are not our brethren. They are a new immortal."
"They lack hearts? Is that even possible?"
The group continued to talk as if the nobodies weren't even there. However, the guard that had pinned Marluxia was examining him closely, which made him scowl.
Seeing his discomfort, they offered him a smile – a smile with elongated canine teeth that almost touched their bottom lip, and stained with blood.
"You are injured…" they said simply, nodding to the scratches on his neck. "You're bleeding."
"Well observed," Marluxia growled back. The vampire leaning over him smiled wider, bending down closer, eyes suddenly dilated and shining vivid blue.
"The blood… your blood… it looks like fine blood to me… and I didn't catch my breakfast… one neck couldn't hurt…"
"What?"
One of the closer guards seemed to spot the danger before Marluxia even knew what was happening. Raising his crossbow, he yelled, "Radcliff has bloodlust sir!"
By the time the shout had reached the leader's ears though, the vampire had sank his teeth into Marluxia's neck and was guzzling hungrily at the thick, warm liquid pouring out, ignoring his screams of agony and pain.
There was a dull thud, and 'Radcliff' suddenly hit the floor, a silver arrow sticking out of his back.
Marluxia lay panting and gasping on the forest floor, blood splattered on his face and torso from the wound to his neck. Larxene made to run to him but felt someone grab her arms whilst the rest of the group ran to him.
"Dammit. That's one less specimen we have for testing…" one of them hissed angrily, kicking Radcliff's body irritably.
"How on earth will this being without a heart react to a vampire bite?" another pondered aloud.
Larxene held her breath.
"What? What did he do to him? Tell me!"
"Calm down. Your companion is safe… it is just he has now encountered a rather unfortunate condition… and we are not familiar with how your kind would react to it… come. We will take you back to our halls – you do not seem a threat to us… and your companion here will be in need of care after my officer's actions. I apologise."
"I don't want your apologies: I want information!"
"That is something we can only give you at the halls. It is three hours til sunrise, and if caught in the sun, your friend will suffer much greater than he is suffering now."
__________________________________________
Drip. Drip. Drip.
How annoying.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Go away.
Drip. Drip.
Make my face wet, will you?
Drip… Drip…
Lick it off. Mouth open. Out comes the tongue across the lips.
Drip.
Warm.
Warm? Yes. Warm.
Drip.
Wait a second. Warm… warm… why was this liquid warm?
Taste… taste… uh. Metallic. Strong. And warm like blood.
Blood.
Eyes slowly opening, Axel licked his lips again.
Yep, definitely blood.
He was drinking blood.
His first impulse was to sit up and throw up, but as his neck and torso were currently gaping holes, he could do neither, and could only cough feebly in an attempt to get the foul liquid out of his system. It didn't work and simply made everything hurt so much more.
The blurred shape leaning over him blurred even more thanks to this, and Axel could barely hear them say, "Drink it."
Weakly, he clenched his eyes shut and tried to shake his head, mouthing 'no'. Everything hurt ten times worse in result and he managed a tiny cry.
Taking advantage of his open mouth, the blur dropped more blood into his mouth and ordered him to swallow. He resisted for as long as possible, but he had to breathe somehow and he suspected his nose as being broken, so had to swallow to gulp in some air.
Disgusting. He felt sick at the thought of drinking blood. But he was too injured to even throw up. Still, the figure leaning over him persisted in dripping the foul fluid into his mouth, and kept demanding he keep swallowing.
Now actually crying in pain and disgust, Axel pleaded silently for the person to leave him alone to die.
They seemed to have heard his thoughts, as they leant closer over him and whispered, "You must keep drinking it. Else you'll attack innocents when you start to turn."
Axel's head was so wrought with pain, he could make little sense of this, and once again pleaded the man would just go away and leave him alone. More drips of blood, more insistences he swallow it, another reluctant gulp and another sob of pitiful pain.
Once sure Axel would keep drinking it this way, the figure sighed and squeezed more blood out of the slice he'd made in his own palm. "You have been bitten by lycans. If you do not satisfy your new appetite for blood, you will turn into an uncontrollable beast and harm innocent humans… you must drink, if only to keep your conscience clear and avoid harming anyone you love."
Despite feeling sick to the bone, knowing he was drinking blood, Axel was actually starting to see clearer and could make out some of the features of this stranger's face. He had pitch black long hair, deep yellow eyes and a scar above his right eye, barely noticeably but shining in the moonlight. On reflection, he reminded Axel of the time he'd spotted Xigbar with his hair down…
Mind wandering in an attempt to keep himself conscious, he absent-mindedly swallowed another mouthful of blood.
He felt sick again, but not from the idea of doing so…
That last swallow had tasted so good, he wanted more.
What the hell was happening to him? Had he gone mad? How could blood ever taste good? Was this some crazy nightmare… a sick image from some weird corner of his unconscious mind?
The sharp tearing pain in his neck quickly dashed that possibility.
Ignoring his hoarse scream of agony, the stranger carried on wrapping the scrap of cloth around Axel's neck to stem the flow of blood, pulling it tightly, but not tight enough to throttle.
"That ought to keep you from loosing any more blood…" he mumbled, tearing some more of his shirt off and doing the same for the wound in Axel's chest.
"Wh….. why?" Axel finally managed to talk, though it was so quiet he wasn't sure if he'd said it or thought it.
However, the stranger apparently heard it, as he mumbled quickly, "My name is Dante. I am a lycan slave, in the service of the vampire lords who reside nearby. I escaped with some friends this evening, but they attacked this village we're in and turned all the villagers into monsters. I tried to stop them, as it is because of stupid acts like this we are hated and hunted, made to serve the vampires. But they just left me, saying I was weak. I saw you being attacked by the freshly turned humans, and decided I would right their wrongs by sparing you. After all, you are one of my brethren now…"
"Brethren…? No… I…" Axel broke off with a weak choke and his vision suddenly dipped again. Seeing this, Dante bit into his other palm, creating a fresh wound, before pressing it against Axel's mouth and letting the blood pour into his mouth.
"Yes. Like it or not, you have been bitten by lycans. Their curse is now in your veins, and in mine too. There is no cure, but death," Dante said solemnly whilst Axel swallowed the fresh supply of blood. "As soon as we leave this building, it is likely you will turn fully lycan, but while you are partially shielded from the full moon, you will still retain a human form. The blood will help you keep a sane human mind even when lycan."
Axel moaned miserably hearing this and tried moving his mouth away from the wound that was feeding him the blood. But half of his brain kept telling him to drink it. It was seriously starting to become tempting and he wasn't feeling as sickened by the idea… but he knew it was wrong, and vile and…
Dante grimaced as Axel suddenly bit down on his hand with his monstrous canines and began lapping at the blood like a starving dog.
Well, the wolf inside him had suddenly kicked in it seemed.
Still, he allowed him to keep sucking the blood out of his palm until he was satisfied, then gently bandaged both his hands to stop loosing any more blood than had been necessary. Mouth now coated in blood, Axel lay back down, licking his lips as if dying of thirst, yet looking absolutely horrified at himself.
"What… what's happening… to me?"
"You got bloodlust. Happens to the best of us. Newly turned humans often find the first time the hardest though… how do you feel?"
Axel just whimpered and clenched his eyes shut, shaking his head painfully.
"I'm begging you. Kill me now. Please."
Dante looked at him sadly, then sighed, "It is indeed a curse. I've lived with it for a few years and still wonder how I can bear it. I do not blame you for wanting death."
Axel just continued to shake with utter shame and hatred with himself.
"I can't do this. I can't."
"I understand," Dante nodded seriously, before drawing his dagger. "I will make it quick and end your suffering gladly, my brother."
"Thank you. Just get it over with."
Axel held very still and watched as Dante leant closer over him, putting the knife to his newly bandaged throat, ready to slice.
"Halt!" a shout suddenly called, and there came a whir of something whistling through the air. A thud then followed, and Dante slumped to the floor, crying in pain.
Sticking out of his back was an arrow.
Axel still couldn't move his head or sit up, so the next thing he saw were two armoured figures running past him and dragging the unconscious lycan away, chuckling, "Found you! Let's reacquaint you with your cell, slave!"
Axel began to wonder why no one had noticed him, and whether they thought he was dead, but cried out in pain as an armoured boot came down on his stomach. Blood poured through the material binding his chest.
"And what do we have here?" the guard asked, bending down to stare at him closer while he reeled in pain. "We got a fresh'un here, Nathaniel."
"Bloody hell, he's wearing the same kinda outfit as those new immortals Reisha's patrol picked up."
"Really?"
"Are you sure he's turned?"
There was a brief pause in which Axel saw the two men leave… or at least, they left his line of sight. However, he suddenly felt himself being dragged by his arms along the ground. Everything in his body screamed in pain and yet he didn't open his mouth. He could still taste blood in his mouth, and despite how badly he didn't want to, he needed to savour it. He'd die if he didn't.
There was a loud groan as the stable doors were opened, then Axel was roughly dropped in the doorway as the guards retreated to a safe distance.
Directly above him, he could see the full moon.
His vision suddenly swirled into a mass of colours, and with a grunt of pain, there came a tremendous popping noise as his ribs suddenly contracted into his chest.
What was it Dante had said about being exposed to the full moon?
Mind turning groggy, but his body suddenly buzzing with pain and activity, he cried, no… growled… He seemed to enter a seizure and against his own will, he found himself clutching his head, gritting his increasingly fang-like teeth to stop his screams echoing all around.
Oh, it hurt. It hurt so badly, he wanted to die.
His very bones were weaving around as his adrenaline suddenly reached painful levels, and collapsing in a heap on the floor, he twitched horribly as the pain racked through his whole being.
His spine extended and arched up, and forced onto his hands and knees, he started panting, his tongue getting longer, teeth sharper and his eyes burning from red to yellow.
There was a dreadful silence, then a long, pitiful, pain-ridden howl echoed around the forest, sending a flock of bats in to the sky in panic.
_________________
AN: I've only seen the first movie and a bit of the second, but I started having dreams about Marluxia as a vampire, then wondering what Axel would be like as a werewolf.... and.... well - it progressed from there.
I OWN NONE OF THE ABOVE CHARACTERS NOR UNDERWORLD.