"I'm so depressed." Axel leaned over the edge of the balcony of his new home, wings flexing in the breeze. Sora blinked at him, baffled, as Chem leaned against the wall and took a deep drag of her pipe.
"Let me see… immortal demon, High Lord, owner of this whole building and pretty much all the Dark Land… and you're depressed? Tell us all about it baby." She cooed. Sora couldn't help but giggle, but Axel didn't react to the sarcasm. He really was depressed.
"It's my mom." Axel gripped his spiky red hair in utter frustration. "She wants me to have a baby!" There was a moment of absolute silence behind him before Chemistra and Sora burst into laughter. "It's not funny! She wants you to be the mother!"
"Oh darkness! Axel, stop, I'm dying!" Chem gasped as he glared at her. Then Axel's eyes narrowed, and he grinned wickedly.
"You know, I bet Bon-Bon could arrange a pregnancy for me." Chem's laughter cut off abruptly as she thought about that. Bon-Bon could in fact do it.
"You wouldn't! I'm not mother material! Holy shit Axel, you get away from me!" She immediately backed away, pointing the pointy end of her pipe at him like a weapon. He grinned and stepped closer. Sora decided to interrupt before he drove her off the balcony.
"Why does your mother want you to have a baby, Axel?" Sora asked, and Axel stopped bothering Chem long enough to answer.
"Sora… she's fifty-five years old, or something like it. She's getting old and really feeling the need for grandbabies." Axel ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. "And she's… she doesn't want to face the whole High Lord of the Dark Land thing. She acts like if she ignores the wings, they'll go away. I swear she thinks we can all move in with her and get jobs or something." Sora and Chem exchanged a wide eyed look at that.
"Darkness! You'll end up the King of the Land of Light before that happens." Chemistra observed, tossing her pipe to Sora as he held out a hand for it. Axel leaned against the wall, watching them smoke.
"Or the two of you will give up weed." Sora looked a little shamefaced, but Chem sneered as she took the pipe back. "Good thing it's not really marijuana. Mom just about had a fit when she realized it wasn't tobacco." Axel sighed as he remembered that visit. Fortunately, he'd been able to assure her, completely truthfully, that it was an herbal mixture that was stronger than tobacco but much weaker than marijuana. Unlike the Dream Smoke, you couldn't really get high on it for long.
"Your mom needs to lighten up." Chem commented, but Sora tilted his head to one side, studying Axel.
"There's more, isn't there?" He prompted Axel gently, and Axel sighed, tugging at his hair.
"Yeah… there is. Mom's getting raped at the pawnshop on that jewelry and stuff I give her. But what else can she do? It's not like she can just walk into a jewelers and sell it." Sora winced. When Axel had returned to his homeworld, he'd found all his fears about his mother's situation confirmed. His sister had died in the attack that had torn him apart, and his father had followed only a year later, leaving his mother alone. What Axel hadn't thought of was the impact that had had on his mother's finances. She had dropped out of school to marry his father, and her job at the laundry had been just managing to pay for the mortgage and put food on the table when Axel had arrived. But the money the Dark Land used was completely different from his homeworld, so Axel had given her jewelry and gems to sell instead. "And worse, when I asked her how things were going, she got all coy with me. Like she didn't want to lie but didn't want to upset me. I'm worried that I'm going to have to bring her here."
"That could be a disaster," Sora observed, and Axel could only nod. His mother was a very nice person, but she had trouble treating him like an adult. The demons would only take so much disrespect to the High Lord, even from his mother. She would end up with a knife in the back and then he'd have to kill a whole lot of demons… but it wouldn't bring his mother back.
"You should ask Bon-Bon what to do, if you're really worried." Chem said thoughtfully, and Axel frowned. Bon-Bon was a font of surprises. She had the appetites of a succubus and the attention span of a gnat, coupled with the gifts of a god. But beneath her whimsical nature, there was a great wisdom. She really might have some insight on what to do with his mother.
"Thanks Chem. I'll do that. But…" He vanished in a puff of darkness, then reappeared, his arms firmly around the surprised dark siren. "I'm not forgetting about the baby thing." He nuzzled her throat and leapt back with a laugh as she swung at him.
"Axel!" She fumed as he leapt off the balcony, spreading his wings and flying off gracefully. "Oh I'm going to make you pay for this."
"I wonder what a little baby Axel would look like." Sora said thoughtfully, and Chem's eyes narrowed.
"We're not finding out! Besides, it would probably just take after me and then where would you be?" Sora thought about that for a moment, then grinned.
"I wonder what a little baby Chem would- ow! Stop that!" Sora laughed as Chem poked him with her pipe, then leapt off the balcony himself, spreading black feathered wings. "Later Chem!" He had an errand in mind, and wanted to keep it a secret from the dark siren.
It was something she would like.
"Okay, I totally forgive you." Chemistra blissfully ate a ginger tip as Sora smiled. The little pieces of candied ginger weren't exactly cheap, but they were guaranteed to sweeten the dark siren's mood like nothing else. "Thanks Sora."
"No problem. What exactly is all this, Chem?" Sora looked at the preparations going on around him with a frown. It was making him a touch uneasy. The Dark Land was… dark, and he had an unhappy feeling he was about to see one of the darker aspects. He recognized some of the people on the platforms… in particular, a man wearing a bright red hood who was chopping wood with surgical skill. He was Romain, an artist of pain and the one who often carried out sentences handed down by the First Lords and Ladies. And sometimes the High Lord himself, if Axel was really, really pissed at someone. But usually Axel was a little impatient and just incinerated people himself. Romain was for more lingering things. And Sora had learned to recognize some of the accoutrements of torture… there were whipping posts being set up and some other things he couldn't recognize. Chem blinked in surprise, offering him a ginger tip. He took it, chewing thoughtfully.
"You hadn't heard? This is the yearly punishment festival." Sora tilted his head at that odd combination of words. "Every year, as we go into winter, whoever has been a bad boy or girl gets to take their medicine." Chem grinned wickedly. "I got up there once, but it was just for a whipping. You remember that dipshit who tried to assassinate Blynda?" Sora nodded. An ambitious member of the Hourglass had gotten a bit too ambitious for anyone's good, and had tried to eliminate the First Lady of the Hourglass. That had been a very bad move. Trying to assassinate someone who could see the future seldom worked out well. "He's getting executed today. Going to be the blood knives, I'll wager." Sora winced at that. He knew how that worked… there would be a basket of knives, each inscribed with a body part, and the executioner would draw them and throw them into the victim with painful precision. It wasn't entirely random, though… if a discreet bribe was given, the heart knife could be pulled early. Otherwise, it was pretty much guaranteed that it wouldn't be. Demons liked a good, bloody show.
"Sometimes, I really don't like this place." Sora said quietly, and Chem frowned before shrugging and eating another ginger tip.
"They all earned it. No one up there deserves any pity." Sora nodded. That was the one consolation. Every last one of the demons on that platform had earned exactly what they were getting… and sometimes, worse. At least one of them was a maniac who had killed six succubi before the Rages had caught him in the act. Death by torture was precisely what he deserved. Demons were gradually filtering in, taking spots in the bleachers around the platforms. He and Chem were up in the best spot, the very upper part of the First Lady and Lords gallery. They would have a good view but not close enough to make out most of the blood, which suited Sora just fine.
"Still, I'm glad Riku and Kairi aren't here to see this. I wonder what Bon-Bon thinks?" Sora wondered, and Chem grinned.
"Bon-Bon probably thinks that stupid murderers deserve to die. She's got a lot of demon in her." Chem called in her pipe and puffed thoughtfully as the First Ladies and Lords began to assemble. Blynda smiled dreamily as she took a seat. The light entertainment was starting… mostly whippings and beatings for small, but still significant infractions. For some, the whippings would be their only punishment, and they would be able to return to the Keep. If they handled the whole thing with dignity, their position might even be improved. Demons appreciated someone who could take the heat. For others, though, the whippings and beatings were the final moments of disgrace before they were exiled from the Keep into the city. They might eventually get back… but not for a while. Sora blinked as he recognized one particular succubus being nailed to a whipping post by her hands.
"What did Inspira do this time?" The beautiful, fire haired demon girl could have been Axel's sister, but fortunately she wasn't. Sora had needed to deal with her on occasion and she reminded him of Larxene… only slimier. Chemistra took a long drag on her pipe, then passed it over to him with a shrug.
"Got me. Hey Blynda! What's Inspira up for?" Blynda glanced up from her hands with a smile.
"She tried to ruin Kama's looks by poisoning her face powder. Fortunately, Kama routinely checks her cosmetics for tampering." Sora nodded to himself before he took a drag from the pipe. Kama was consort to Viridia, a very powerful elemental demon like Axel with a large following and estates outside the city. Viridia had a bit of a harem going, but Kama was the clear favorite. "She's being exiled from the Keep." Sora winced. That was the harshest punishment possible besides death. Even being whipped half dead and branded was considered better, as long as you got to stay at the Keep. Inspira must have irritated plenty of people.
Sora looked over the other whipping posts and recognized a few faces, but he didn't have to ask what the stories were. One was an attempted murder of the Second Housekeeper. The reason that demon was only getting a whipping was that the Second Housekeeper had cheerfully attended to the rest of the punishment herself. No one was quite sure what she had done, but there were plenty of rumors. The man had to be carried to the whipping post.
Istava wandered by, wearing a delicate gown of gold lace and a choker of gold chains and pearls. She was clearly looking for a place to sit, and her charms paid off a moment later as Semmins offered her a seat. Smiling ravishingly, she sat down and said something in his ear that made him laugh. Istava was turning into a force in her own right… mostly because she was a cheerful little minx who could charm everyone and seemed to know everything. There were many methods of gaining power in the Dark Land, and if she had wanted she could probably have put together her own entourage.
Axel took his place just as the show began, and Sora glanced over at him cautiously. He was relieved to see that Axel didn't seem to be enjoying what was happening below. His Heartless probably would have, but Axel just watched without comment, his eyes remote. Sora hesitated, then leaned close to speak into his ear.
"Axel… couldn't you do something about this?" It really was a completely barbaric custom. Axel glanced at him, then smiled and shook his head.
"Not really. This is an ancient custom, Sora, just as ancient as the rotation of housekeepers in the Keep. There are some things not even the High Lord can change." Sora nodded with a small grimace. The demons didn't have too many traditions, but the ones they did have were cast in iron. He'd experienced a bit of that even in his single day as High Lord.
Soon enough the lesser punishments were finished, and the capital prisoners were brought out. They were mostly looking worse for the wear… why be gentle with the condemned? Sora tried to tune out the screams. The demons being whipped and beaten tried hard to maintain composure, but the condemned ones didn't bother. For a moment, Sora felt intensely homesick for the Destiny Islands. Things like this didn't happen there-
A warm hand on his wrist woke him up from his reverie, and he turned his head to look into Chem's warm brown eyes.
"I know what you're thinking." She said softly, giving him a gentle squeeze. "You're thinking how horrible it is and how you want to go home. I felt the same, when I first got here. But the good for us outweighs the bad. It really does." Sora stared at her for a moment, remembering her story of how she had come here… and how utterly stifled and constricted he had felt on the Destiny Islands. And how… Axel hadn't been there…
"You're right, Chem. Can I have your pipe again?" She passed it over and he took another puff, looking down as Romain demonstrated his skill with the blood knives. "I wonder though. Could we end up down there someday?" Axel glanced over at them, smiling faintly as he answered.
"Not a chance. If I happened to die tomorrow, you'd both be killed by the next High Lord immediately. You're too connected to me." Sora blinked at that blunt answer, and Chem laughed, throwing her head back.
"Well! I guess we'll just have to keep you alive, oh great High Lord." Axel grinned and Sora laughed.
"I guess so! Speaking of keeping people alive, I'm going to visit my mother tomorrow." Chem lifted an eyebrow as Sora took a drag from her pipe and passed it back. "Blynda and Bon-Bon said I need to." The two Rages exchanged an uneasy glance before Sora voiced their thoughts.
"That sounds bad." Why would Blynda and Bon-Bon both want Axel to visit his mother? It couldn't be anything good. "Do you want us to come along?" Axel shook his head.
"There's nothing the two of you could add to my power." When the High Lord left the Dark Land, he was still the High Lord… although if he stayed away too long, his power would begin to wan. But that would take months. "But if you can put together quarters for her in a nice, secluded part of the Keep I'd be grateful." Axel sighed. "Bon-Bon told me I've been underestimating her and should bring her here. If she wants to come." That made him very nervous… he was still afraid the demons would assassinate his mother. But if Bon-Bon said he was being too pessimistic, then he probably was. Maybe she would adapt just fine.
"I hope Bon-Bon is right." Sora said seriously. "I almost wish I could bring my mother… but I know she definitely wouldn't like this place." That was an understatement. And his mother was happy on the Destiny Islands… the only thing she was missing was him. But that would probably have happened anyway, when he went to University and found a job… the Destiny Islands wasn't very big. He'd probably have left someday anyway.
"Maybe you could bring her for a visit during one of the nicer festivals." Axel mused, watching as the demons cleared the sands… the capital prisoners had mostly finished expiring, and the second half of this would be a demonstration of skill in gladiatorial combat. There would be casualties there too, of course, but every demon entering the games was a volunteer. And mostly quite eager to make names for themselves. Sora watched this part of the entertainment, interested, as the head chef and her serving staff started bringing out flavored ices. Those took a lot of magic to make the ice for, and were a very rare treat. "Hey Sora, what flavor do you want? There's lime, rambleberry, orange and sugar apple."
"Sugar apple, please." Sora said immediately, and Axel grinned, passing him the white ice. Sugar apple had no color to it, but it was a very tasty, common fruit that he'd become quite fond of since entering the Dark Land.
"Lime over here." Axel passed down one of those for Chemistra, and took an orange ice for himself. The demon serving them, a young and pretty newcomer, smiled and took his cart down to the next tier. Those higher up would be served first and would get a much better selection than the bottom rows, but that was the privilege of rank.
This contest didn't bother him, and Sora watched the displays of skill, interested. He was always ready to pick up a few new tricks when it came to fighting.
That was what being a Rage was all about.
Axel frowned as he walked through the streets of his hometown. His wings were tightly folded against his back, and a small glamour he'd gotten from Blynda kept anyone from noticing them… unless they looked at him very carefully. His mother had noticed them, of course, but she liked to pretend she hadn't.
And Axel hadn't liked to admit that the town had… changed. It had changed a lot, since he was a young man. It shouldn't have changed that much. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but it couldn't have been over ten years. His mother looked older, but not old yet. Probably not old enough for the senior discount on her coffee, although she'd be there soon. So the changes in the town worried him.
There were the normal police, who Axel was accustomed to… but there seemed rather a lot of them. There were also a lot of cameras on intersections that he didn't remember being there before. His homeworld was a lot more technologically advanced than the Dark Land. Demons just didn't seem to have much use for technology more complicated than water pumps.
The real problem Axel had was the second set of… police who were out and about. They wore grey and black uniforms and they seemed to be everywhere. Although he didn't think they were police in the conventional sense of the word. No, they were something else… something Axel didn't like to think about. Because it underlined the fact that his homeworld had changed. He wasn't like most of the people in the Dark Land… he'd been driven out of his world by the stunning, horrible tragedy of having his heart and soul torn to pieces rather than something more personal. But just like most of the demons in the Dark Land, he'd discovered that his home wasn't really there anymore. It was telling, really, how few of the demons chose to go home.
Axel knocked at the door of his mother's bungalow, frowning. There was no answer. He turned the doorknob and to his great discomfort, it opened easily. His mother would never have left the door unlocked.
"Mother?" Axel walked through the house, looking for her… and stopped as he saw the answering machine on the phone. The red light was blinking. Axel pressed the play button.
"Axel!" Axel's eyes widened… his mother had left him a message on her own phone? "If you hear this I need help sweetie I'm… I'm at the police office. They want to know where I've been getting my income. Honey, could you please come help explain?" Axel gritted his teeth. His mother was allergic to public displays of distress, but he could hear the edge of raw panic under her perky surface. "It's the station on Henderson Avenue. Come by as soon as you can Axel, please? Thank you!" The receiver clicked, and Axel checked… the message had only come today. No wonder Bon-Bon and Blynda had told him to go get his mother immediately.
"I wonder if they think she's got a drug dealer for a son, or a smuggler…" Axel muttered to himself. Of course, either of those would be idiotic… why would a smuggler give his mother jewelry to sell? Maybe they thought he was a thief? But that would be stupid too. More likely they just didn't know so they were assuming the worst.
As he left the building, Axel quickly became aware that he was being followed. Demons developed a sense for that sort of thing quickly, if they survived. But he ignored it. No doubt they weren't expecting him to go directly to the police station… but he didn't care what anyone thought. He would free his mother. Any way he had to.
He walked into the police station as if he owned it, and his lip curled as he saw more of those grey and black uniforms. No a conventional police station, then. The logo outside had been different too. What did that stand for? He'd never gotten around to asking his mother about it. Well, it wasn't about to matter in any case.
"Hello." He said pleasantly to the receptionist, a young woman with dishwater blond hair and plenty of computers around her. "I'm looking for my mother. I'm told she's here? Her name is Orinda Lyons." That was his last name too… Lyons… but Axel hadn't used it in so long that he'd practically forgotten it. She tapped quickly at a computer and then looked up at him, her brown eyes cold.
"Officer Taluquar is questioning her. Please take a seat, sir, and he will be out to see you shortly." Axel's eyes went hard at the word 'questioning.' In the Dark Lands, he would have known what that meant. And he had the feeling that it might mean exactly the same thing here…
"I'll go to see her now." He smiled with dark malice at the receptionist, who only looked annoyed. She thought that only a madman would start trouble in a building where everyone was armed. She couldn't know that bullets didn't affect him well. His fire tended to destroy them well before they could touch him. Guns never did well in the Dark Land… sirens and singing Virtues could jam them easily. Flaring out his wings, Axel started away purposefully. He could sense his mother. Now that he was close, the blood tie would lead him right to her.
"Sir!" She called behind him, but he ignored her… and paused only briefly when two 'officers' appeared in front of him, hands on their guns but not drawing the weapons. Axel mantled his wings, opening them with a quick snap. The two officers' eyes widened as the glamour shredded. One cursed and pulled out his weapon… then dropped it with a yelp as the metal turned red hot.
"Out of my way." He said, voice silken and deadly. "Or your guts will be on the ground." Lifting his hands, he extended his sharp nails. They were retractable now, like a cats' claws, and he was as deadly with them as any big cat. But the two men weren't moving and Axel really had no patience for this. Wading through them, he slashed them both but left them alive and bleeding. The next person to step out, a woman, wasn't so lucky. A quick blast of fire and his way was clear. He slammed the door open and continued further into the station. Highly irritated, he started setting the place on fire around him for no more reason than he could. Well. That and the pain and torment he could sense, ground into the very stones of this building. It felt a bit like the Keep, in fact… but the Keep was ancient and had honestly earned its legacy of pain. This building had to be less than ten years old. What had been done here to give it this feeling?
But Axel didn't care. It would be purged with fire. Alarms were going off and sprinklers were trying to put out the fires he left in his wake. More of the 'officers' came out to greet him… some survived with cuts, but most didn't. Finally Axel reached the room he could sense his mother in, and tore the door off its hinges in one easy movement. Luckily, his mother was alone now and Axel snarled in rage as he saw the fear on her face… and the dark circles under her eyes. Clearly they hadn't gotten far with the interrogation, or at least they had been starting easy, but he could sense the exhaustion in her. They hadn't been letting her sleep.
"Axel!" Ignoring the fires and the screams, the growing heat and smoke, she sobbed and flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He could feel the desperate strength of her grip.
"It's okay mom." Axel whispered into her ear, seeing the bright red hair… still unstreaked with white or silver, and the exact same shade as his own. "I'm taking you to the Dark Land. You'll live with me now." In a last gesture of malice, he ignited the entire room, a pulsing ripple of dark fire. There was no way the firefighters would save this place now. None at all.
Axel didn't care. A moment later, he and his mother were gone back to the Dark Land.
They would never return.