Axel sighed and dropped his head in his hands, painfully unwilling to get out of his stretch limo and walk the three hundred feet to his house. The sidewalk was swarming with fans, and even his semi-elite team of body guards couldn't keep all of them back. They gently rocked the car, and with his eyes closed it was easy to imagine that he was on a cruise ship, the waves moving it gently from side to side.
"Are you okay?" Renee's familiar voice echoed somewhere far away, and he was forced to look up and smile at her reassuringly.
"Yeah. I'm fine. It's just…" He waved around, indicating the chaos outside of his current location, and frowned. "…this mess drives me insane. I'm half tempted to give up the fame and fortune so that I can walk into my own home without someone tackling me and forcing an autograph."
She smiled back at him and tilted her head, her long brown hair falling over her left shoulder. "I know what you mean. But hey, at least it doesn't last very long. You just have to slide out and run up to the house, and then it'll just be you and me and Mr. Fuzzy-Face."
"Yeah." Axel muttered, perking up slightly. "Mr. Fuzzy-Face. My poor kitty…he probably feels so disenfranchised."
"Okay." She chuckled and took his hand, pulling him towards the door of the car; the absolute last place he wanted to be. "So can we go in so that he feels loved and adored like we both know he is?"
Axel groaned, but reached across and threw the door open anyway. Immediately, all of the cheering that had been muted by the thick doors and bullet-resistant glass assaulted them, the two hundred plus people pressing in on them in every direction but forward. Despite their general ineptness, the body guards had managed to clear a path for the two of them to escape to their home.
"One, two, three…" Renee murmured, and just as the last syllable fell from her lips Axel grabbed her wrist. Together, they shot forward toward the large gate that marked the entrance to the estate which was already opening for them. More security came marching through, pushing back the groups of people who wanted to gain entrance to their idol's sanctuary.
And then they were there. The gates were closing behind them, they were both panting from the sprint, and they were safe from the fans. They were all still outside, cheering and yelling, and hesitantly Axel turned around and offered a small wave. The crowd erupted, and he sighed.
Renee rubbed his shoulder and smiled, leading him towards the house. "See? That wasn't too difficult, was it? And now we're here, and you can get some sleep, and I'll make something to eat…"
"And I'm going to cuddle with Mr. Fuzzy-Face, for the love of God!" Axel added, pouting at her. In response she chuckled, shook her head, and took his hand.
"Yeah, you can cuddle with Mr. Fuzzy-Face. God, if only you loved me as much as you love that damn cat…"
"Psht, please." He replied, rolling his eyes. "I don't love anyone as much as I love Mr. Fuzzy-Face." He smiled up at her, and she slapped him upside the head.
"You're such an idiot."
"Yeah, but you love me."
"Mr. Russo?"
Axel glanced up and pulled his glasses off his face, one of the multiple people the worked for him standing just barely in his company. "Yes?"
"It's fanmail time."
"Oh dear. Is it that time of week already?" He sighed and looked over at the calendar that was sitting on the table in front of him along with his touring schedules and recent credit-card charges and all of the other things that he had to look over but didn't really understand, nor care about.
"Ah…yes sir. Um, we picked out some of the most interesting ones, and they amount to about 500..."
"Oh." Axel perked up immediately and raised his eyebrows, smiling. "Is that it?"
"Ah, yes. Yes sir." This little man smiled and raised his box of letters, setting them down on top of the table and handing a pile to Axel. "Shall we get started?"
"We shall…" Axel sighed again and grabbed the pile, combing a hand through his unruly red hair and opening the first one. "'Dear Axel, you are the love of my life. I know you probably hear that all the time, but it's true. I left my husband for you. I know that there's something special between us. Please, please understand. I love you. Love, your true love.'"
The two looked at each other, eyebrows raised. "Creepy or dedicated?" Axel asked, and they were silent for a moment, considering the question.
At the same time they both decided, "Creepy."
Two hours later
"What number is this?" Axel groaned, reading the first sentence of the letter for the fourth time and still not understanding what it said.
"Um…417." The other man, whose name turned out to be Ted, answered. "What's yours say?"
"Uh…'Dear Axel, you're beautiful. I know you have a girlfriend, and I promise I'm not trying to come in between you. What she doesn't know can't hurt her.' And then there's a wink at the end. What about yours?"
"I'm just getting a new one now." Ted sighed and looked at the envelope, then did a double take. "Ah…sir?"
"Yeah, Ted? And really, you should call me Axel. That is my name, after all." He chuckled and glanced over expectantly. "What is it?"
"I think you should take a look at this." He handed Axel the envelope, who looked at it, then, too, did a double take.
"Is this written in…?"
"Blood, yeah, that's what I thought." Ted cleared his throat, and Axel scratched at the writing on the front that had his name and address on it. Sure enough, the dark red substance flaked off, and underneath was the unmistakable stain of blood on the paper.
"Whoa. Freaky." He muttered. He turned it over in his hands a few times, examining it, not really sure what he was looking for (it wasn't like the person who wrote it could've fit a bomb inside or anything.) "Should I open it?"
"Hell yes you should open it." Ted replied, staring intently at the small parcel in the redhead's hands.
Axel chuckled and nodded, but the moment he turned it over and broke the seal, all humor from the moment was gone. He pushed his finger across the top slowly, the paper splitting easily to allow him entrance to the curious letter inside.
He hesitated a moment before pulling the unoffending piece of paper out of its shell, but when he did, he was almost surprised to see that it was just a normal piece of paper. It was folded in thirds, and it was written on a papyrus-like sheet through which the writing was minutely visible.
"I feel like I'm about to unveil some sort of seriously secret stuff." Axel whispered dramatically, pulling the folds apart to look at the words beneath.
It was by far the shortest message that he had gotten all day, and it, too, was written in blood. It had run slightly, and the way it turned out reminded Axel of the chiller font on his computer. It was dark red, flaky, and the message that followed didn't do anything to lessen the creepiness of it all.
"What does it say?" Ted whispered, leaning down and trying to decipher the scribbly handwriting.
Axel sighed and cleared his throat, putting his glasses back on his face. "It say…'I bet she hasn't spilled blood for you.'"
"Whoa." Ted muttered.
"Yeah, that's seriously creepy."
"Is that person talking about--"
"Renee, yeah."
There was silence between them, and it was a silence that said everything that neither of them could find the words for. It said that this letter was far more strange than anything that he had ever gotten, ever. It said that this was more serious than all of the other letters talking about Renee, because it didn't compare her to the author, it didn't put her down or point out her flaws, or even threatened her life. It just stated a fact that was, in fact, true: Renee had never spilled one drop of blood for Axel, and this person had written a letter and addressed an envelope in theirs.
"Should I call someone?" Ted whispered, pulling away from the letter. He walked stiffly back to his chair on the other side of the table and sat down, his knees slightly shaking. "Like the police?"
"Ah…um…" Axel's brow furrowed and he shook his head slowly, looking down at his lap. "No, no. It's okay. Just…just an overzealous fan, I think."
"Okay, well--"
"Hey, what're you guys up to?" Renee came walking into the room her white tank top and shorts to match hanging loosely from her thin body. "What's that?"
Axel glanced over his shoulder at her quickly and immediately folded up the piece of paper, stuffed it into his pocket for no real reason. He knew, and he wasn't quite sure why, but he knew that he didn't want his soon-to-be fiancée seeing this letter, under any circumstances.
"It's nothing." He said hurriedly after the paper was hidden from sight. "Nothing at all. Just some fanmail."
"Oh." She walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder, looking down at the table. "You know you've been at this for the last like, six hours, right?"
"Oh dear." Axel glanced at his watch, which now read 11:00 p.m., and stood up. "That's far too long, isn't it?"
Renee just chuckled and pecked him on the cheek, and the redhead quickly glanced at Ted, who gave him an understanding look. "Ted, could you take care of this for me, please?"
"Of course." Ted answered, piling all of the papers into one and dropping them into the bin once more. "You two…have a good night's rest."
Axel chuckled and turned around, his arm around Renee's waist, eyebrows raised. "Yeah, Ted. Right."
A/N: Okay, guys. I know you're probably a little surprised because this story didn't appear in the voting polls. Sorry about that (if any of you are really that upset) but the fic that definitely will be coming next, without a doubt, is "Who's Your Daddy?" xD
Unfortunately, it still needed some plot developments and what not so I decided to push it back a little and put this one first. Sorries. D8
So! This one is a little morbid, and there's probably going to be AkuRoku, but only in the very end. xD I know, Axel's hetero! It's scary! Like...really. xDDD He's so not straight, it kinda makes me giggle. But anyway, this is going to be short (I'm predicting about four chapters, including the epilogue) so you guys will only have to suffer for a brief amount of time until the creepy fluff comes along. xD
Review, and enjoy!
~Sara