Welcome to yet another AkuRoku fic by little ol' me. To be honest, I got this idea while watching Advent Children, half-asleep, with my friends. So Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo are to blame for this, okay?
"Run! Keep running!" Unable to stay focused on where he was going, Roxas just listened to the strict voice echoing in his head even as he became utterly lost in the bright, confusing hallways. The voice, though strange an unexplainable, had never steered him wrong before. "They're coming for you, so you have to go faster!"
Though he tried, Roxas quickly became hopeless. "I can't!" he shouted to the voice in his head. He had never been to the blindingly bright ground level of the building before and the blank walls and unlabeled doors gave him no hint where to go.
True to the voice's words, though, he soon heard a storm of footsteps in the halls behind him. Terror striking though him, he coaxed more speed from his legs and tried to get even more lost so, hopefully, he wouldn't be caught. "Just keep running," the voice intructed. "You've gotten this far already, so just do it!"
"I can't!" Roxas panted again, chest feeling tight. Though years of training had given him much endurance, the endless, repetative walls were beginning to make him dizzy.
"You're the one who came up with this plan," the voice snapped. "Escape!"
Gasping for air, Roxas pushed his body right to its limits, only to turn a corner and crash right into a solid body. As he fell backwards to the floor, he groaned loudly and struggled to get up only to hear the footsteps catch up to him and two hands grab him roughly. Startled out of his state of shock, he looked up to see it was Aeleus he had ran into and Braig and Dilan who grabbed his arms and harshly yanked him to his feet, all of them guards on the ground level. "Roxas! Shit..." Even though he could hear the anger in the voice, Roxas just went limp and let himself get dragged by the guards back through the strange hallways. A part of him realized that the two guards were talking to each other and him, but he was too distracted trying to catch his breath to pay attention.
Finally, they reached the dark elevator Roxas had gotten out of only minutes before, now carrying him back down to the basement level. As soon as the elevator doors opened, Roxas cringed and felt his heart sink. "Happy to have you back, Roxas," Xemnas greeted emotionlessly, a cruel smirk twisting his lips. "Thank you, Dilan. Braig. You may return to your posts." Roxas was shoved forward to stumble and fall in front of Xemnas, hearing the elevator close behind him. Xemnas' firm, unrelenting hand gripped his arm, pulling him up again. "Such a hopeless boy," Xemnas murmured, making Roxas wince as he tightened his grip and dragged him through the dark stone halls. "You know there's no way out until we let you."
Even though he knew it was probably a bad idea, Roxas looked up to glare at the silver-haired man. "Axel got out," he said quietly. Having spent so much time together, he and the red-head had been really close. Close enough that Roxas wasn't surprised when, one day, Axel was no longer there. Confused and upset, but not surprised. Word quickly spread that he had escaped, despite attempts to silence the rumours.
Not reacting visually, Xemnas was silent for a minute. "You also know that you are far too valuable for us to risk losing." Roxas was slightly relieved that Xemnas ignored what he said. At the same time, not knowing where he was being taken scared him a bit. Finally, they stopped for a second in front of the door to Vexen's lab for a second before opening it. Though the scientist was at least less severe with him than the others, just spending time with the man who had created him and his friends creeped Roxas out a little.
When they stepped into the dimly lit room, Vexen ignored them for a minute, staring intently at something under a microscope, before turning his chair to face them. He glanced at Roxas for just a second before looking at Xemnas, expression almost one of boredom. "Can I help you, Superior?"
"Yes you can. I'm afraid this boy has tried to escape yet again." Vexen nodded as if he was expecting the news. "I think it's time we proceed with our next experiment."
"Of course, Superior." At the word "experiment," a spark of excitement immediately touched the blond man's cold eyes and he stood from his chair. Nodding silently, Xemnas let go of Roxas and left, closing the door loudly behind him. Scowling after him, Roxas rubbed the sore spot on his arm where he was sure he'd get bruises. With a sigh, Vexen adjusted his white lab coat and approached the teen. "Well, shall we get started?" Having no idea what "experiment" was about to be preformed on him, Roxas looked at the floor and silently shrugged. Putting a hand lightly on Roxas' shoulder, Vexen lead him to the back of his lab, lit mostly by the microscope light and a couple computer screens. "Don't worry," the scientist assured in a nearly emotionless tone. "This is just something Xemnas and Sephiroth have been curious about for a while. I suppose Xemnas has finally decided now is the time to try. It shouldn't hurt you, but I can't be sure since I've never tried it before."
Nodding silenting, knowing he had no choice anyway, Roxas sat down on the medical examining table to wait for whatever was about to happen. Finally turning on a light, Vexen looked at him with something close to worry. "The initial replicating process was more or less easy. Or at least collecting DNA for it was. Replicating a replica is potentially problematic. We already know that we can't properly extract replica DNA through normal means, so we have to try something more drastic." Roxas could only blink in surprise as he watched Vexen turn to prepare some kind of machine. They're going to replicate me? But why? He decided it was probably best not to ask, though, when Vexen approached him. "Just sit still. If things start to go wrong, I'll stop the experiment immediately. Even Xemnas and Sephiroth know better than to risk your life."
Heart suddenly pounding, Roxas could only nod as Vexen put a metal cuff attatched by tubes and wires to the machine around his wrist. The weight of it forced Roxas to rest his hand by his side even though he wanted to inspect it, so he settled for glaring at it suspiciously. Vexen silently turned back to the machine and, without warning, turned it on. Immediately, Roxas flinched as something that didn't seem to have physical form seemed to push itself into his wrist and up his arm. He had to clench his jaw to keep himself from yelling out in pain as it continued making its way through his body, seeming to search for something. Hunched over from the pain, he squeezed his eyes shut and found himself whimpering slightly as his whole body became full of immaterial threads, pushing relentlessly through him. Finally, just as he thought he was about to scream, the machine turned itself off and the threads left through the cuff on his wrist. Roxas let out a relieved gasp and angrily grabbed at the cuff, yanking it off.
"I guess it did hurt," Vexen commented to himself, face still void of emotion. "At least we've suceeded. I'm skeptical the replicating process will work with replica DNA, but I have no choice but to try."
Roxas just glared frustratedly at the back of the older blond's head. Part of him wanted to just jump up and try to run again, knowing Vexen wouldn't do anything to stop him, but the certianty that one of the basement guards would be nearby deterred him. He'd gotten past them before with luck and planning, but the former wasn't good enough to make up for lack of the latter.
Vexen finally turned slightly to look at him, icy green eyes still slightly excited even though the rest of his face wasn't. "You may leave. I'm sure someone is waiting outside to make sure you don't try to escape again." A degree of annoyance touched his voice at that, but Roxas couldn't be sure why.
Not bothering to say anything to the scientist, Roxas got off the table and left the room. True to Vexen's assumption, Lexaeus, a basement guard and the replica of Aeleus, was standing silently in the middle of the hallway, effectively blocking the only route from Vexen's lab to the elevator, leaving the replicas' rooms the only place for Roxas to go. Ignoring the large man's silent stare, Roxas turned towards the rooms he shared with a couple of the other replicas. The disobedient ones. Inside, not in the least to his surprise, the others were still there.
Xion, sitting cross-legged on her bed, smiled sadly at him. "You're back. What happened?"
Glowering, Replica Riku took a step towards him. "You tried to escape again," he accused, eyes burning from behind his silver bangs.
Though Roxas was a little annoyed by the silverette's perpetual anger towards everyone, he nodded. "I got to the ground floor this time, but ended up completely lost. It's like a maze up there," he explained, hoping the news of getting further than usual would placate the other boy. After all, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Replica Riku. He had been the first replica created by Vexen's science. A test. Sephiroth and Xemnas had just wanted to know if it would work, so, in the heat of yet another battle, they took a sample of the original Riku's DNA. They didn't think they'd ever actually need a replica of Riku, just a guinea pig, so, as soon as the replica was created, they simply named him after his original being and all but tossed him away. Replica Riku hated them for that and expressed that frustration at never needing to exist towards everyone.
Nodding at his words, Replica Riku looked at the floor. "Maybe you would've gotten out if you weren't so worried about getting caught," he mused, suddenly quiet.
Surprised by his words, Roxas had to take a minute to try to figure out what the boy said. "I don't... What do you mean?"
Expression suddenly set and determined, Replica Riku looked back up to meet Roxas' eyes. "You were panicking. You couldn't think straight. You had to keep running or else you'd get caught. You just didn't have the time to find the way out."
"He's right, you know," the voice suddenly added, spreading through all of them. "Your plans were great, Roxas. The only flaw was that they knew you were trying and so you had to keep running no matter what."
Nodding at the voice, Xion stood up and approached the boys. "What are you trying to say?" she asked softly.
"I can summon the darkness to protect us!" Replica Riku blurted. "Take me with you and I can make sure no one can see us. We could escape without anyone even noticing!"
"Again, he's right. As long as no one knows you are trying to escape, you don't have to worry. Once they do find out you're gone, there are...certain things I can do to keep them off of your path."
Slowly, Roxas lightly gripped Xion's hand and looked squarely at her. "You want to get out of here?" Smiling brightly, Xion just nodded. Looking at Replica Riku produced a sombre nod as well. "Okay. We'll go."
"Where, though?" Xion asked, eyes drifting around as if searching for the source of the voice.
There was a breif silence. "Destiny Islands. You'll find help there."
Roxas hesitated and felt a lump build up in his throat. "Axel?" he croaked past the lump.
The voice let out a strangely cold laugh. "That's right. You've very smart, Roxas. That's why you three are going to get out. Yes, you'll meet Axel again in Destiny Islands. That's where he went after he escaped. I will give you instructions how to get there once you get out."
"When should we go?" Replica Riku asked quietly.
"Now," the voice responded without hesitation. "They won't be expecting another escape attempt so soon, and, combined with hiding in darkness, that will keep them from figuring out that you are escaping."
After only a breif second, Roxas and Xion stepped closer to Replica Riku so they wouldn't get lost in the darkness. "Keep a hold of me so I can guide you better," the silverette growled, grinning in a strange delight. "I'll show them how useless I am."
"Since they'll be able to hear you if you speak outloud, with or without the darkness, I'll tell you something only I know," the voice said, sounding proud. "All replicas can speak to each other using their minds."
After a second in which the three replicas looked at each other, Roxas and Replica Riku jumped at the same time as they felt something, similar to the voice, brush against their minds. "Is... Is it true?" Xion asked tentatively.
"Xion?" Roxas gasped into the strange contact between the three.
"It looks like he's told us the truth again," Replica Riku muttered, sounding grudgingly impressed.
"Good job, Xion," the voice congratulated. "I was sure you'd be the one to open the connection. Now you three can communicate like that whenever you want. Once you find Axel, you'll have to open the connection with him as well. Now go!"
Determinedly nodding, Replica Riku lifted his arms at his sides, and Xion and Roxas quickly grabbed his sleeves as they saw shadows in the corners of the room swell then leap out and hide everything from their sight.
"I've filled the whole building with darkness," Replica Riku quickly explained. "That should confuse them enough that they won't try to check on us until much later." He then quickly opened the door Roxas couldn't see and started to run, all but dragging the other two replicas. Roxas immediately started relaying silent instructions instructions on how to avoid the various traps that had been set up in the basement to pervent escape. It had taken many escape attempts for Roxas to discover all of them and earlier had been the first time he had managed to avoid them all and actually reach the elevator. When Replica Riku annouced that they had reached the elevator and he heard the doors sweep open, a degree of relief filled Roxas. As the door opened on the ground floor, though, worry again nagged him. However, his fears came to nothing as Replica Riku easily continued avoiding everyone, despite being able to hear confused voices somewhere nearby on several occasions, and navigating the formerly bright halls, and, when he heard the front door burst open and he took his first breath of fresh, open air, the darkness falling away into sunlight, Roxas let go of Replica Riku's arm and started to run, furiously pumping his arms to coax out every scrap of speed he had. Right behind him, he could hear the other replicas running just as fast.
"Keep running straight until you reach a road," the voice suddenly instructed. "Once you've found it, follow the road to a little town where you will be able to find a ferry that will carry you to the islands for free. You will have to then find a bar called Seventh Heaven which is run by a woman named Tifa. Ask her, and she'll be able to help you get to Axel. That's going to be the easiest way for you to find him."
"Thank you." Xion replied.
After the voice's contact faded, the three were silent for a long while, focusing entirely on putting one foot in front of the other as fast as possible. Then a strange feeling hit Roxas. "Guys," he murmured as the enormity filled him, "we're free." A sudden knot tied in his stomach as another feeling followed. We're coming, Axel. Wait for us. Wait for me.
-o-
With a note of annoyance, Vexen leaned back in his chair and wondered why everyone had decided to meet and talk in his lab. I can't get any work done with everyone crowding me. Idiots.
"We can go after the kids," Xigbar insisted, nodding to Lexaeus and Xaldin with a grin.
Xemnas shook his head once. "No. We need you three here."
Vexen kept himself from rolling his eyes. Don't act so calm. We all know how worried you are that you'll lose your advantage. Deciding to try to ignore them all, he turned his chair back around to his desk. This is just what you get for underestimating my replicas. Not facing the others, he indulged in a delighted grin.
"What do you think, Vexen?" Sephiroth asked suddenly. "You created them, after all."
Supressing an annoyed sigh, Vexen turned back around. "We have no way of tracking them," he explained as if the others didn't know. "You'll just have to get someone to track them down. You never found Axel, need I remind you."
The two silver-haired men nodded slowly, "Then my replicas," Sephiroth decided. "If anyone can find our wayward sheep, they can."
