*is doing a super excited, jittery dance* Fastest. Upload. Ever. I'm very excited and I have to thank the lovely Your-Gothic-Angel for the very first review, which also inspired me to write this chapter up, having hardly an idea for what to write. Honestly though, I am very pleased with how this came out and it is also longer than I expected. I had a rush of inspiration at the end. xD I would also like to take the time to thank you for all the favss I recieved in the first 24 hours. I do hope you will like this chapter enough to review. Please, let me distract you no further. I need to sleep now anywho. xD
WARNING: Contains yaoi (manXman), main pairings being Zemyx, AkuRoku, slight AkuZeku, some SoRiku, perhaps some CloudXSephiroth...oh, just expect anything...
This story is centered around vampires. Huzzuh for cliché~ There is OOCness and AU.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of the characters, place names, etc. I am but a humble, obsessive fan. U_U
SAFETY
I guess if you wanted to sum me up in a single sentence it would be something like: Demyx liked to play it safe. I'd never been one for taking chances, or risking too much for any one person, or thing. You might count my music as the only thing I really let myself care about. Nobody would be able to tell that I was a wreck, looking at me from the outside, but if you could see right down into the deepest part of my heart...
I had one really close friend, the only person who saw more of me than the happy-go-lucky mask I wore for the rest of the world. To be completely honest, anyone who thought that everything in my life was perfect had to be an idiot. No one has anything that good. Getting off topic here.
Roxas became my friend in grade ten, though he was a year my junior. I guess if you wanted to be specific, it's not like I didn't know people. There were those who thought they were my friends; I didn't give them any real reason to doubt that fact, but I didn't really feel any strong connections, you know? Roxas was different. He saw me.
I can still remember our first meeting. I was sitting outside in the school courtyard (Yes, our school has a courtyard), drumming my hands on my knees as I waited for the smelly abduction device, some choose to call a bus, to arrive. He took a seat right next to me on that bench and as casually as anything said:
"Hey." To which my response was:
"Hey." That was it. The fateful day when I met Roxas. Yeah, you're thinking that nothing happened, right? Well the real friendship started blooming about a week after that.
I'd been minding my own business, heading home on my own two feet for once, when some random guy just walked right into me as if I wasn't even there. I was about as hard to miss as he was: him with his ridiculously red head and me with my amazing mullet. I do pride myself on my hair. I remember just standing there, watching him walk away without saying a word. Turns out I didn't need to though, as the next moment the guy's unwavering stride was interrupted by an angry voice.
"Hey! You could at least say sorry!" I looked to my right (then down a bit) to see the same kid from before standing there with his fists clenched, his blue eyes trained on the stranger's back. The weird man had stopped walking, but stood with his back to us, still as a statue. "I'm talking to you. You don't just go around running into people like that. Aren't you going to apologize?"
"It's okay, really," I said, trying to calm the blond down. I could understand that he might be offended by a rude person, but shouldn't it have been me doing the talking? Something told me that the red haired man was not to be provoked. He seemed...unsafe.
"Well then," came an amused drawl. I could almost hear the smirk in his words. He turned around to face us, his piercing, green eyes staring straight through me. They flicked over to Roxas and remained there for quite a while before he addressed me.
"So, so sorry." To my disbelief he actually gave a little bow. This confused me, but set off a different reaction from Roxas all together.
"Don't mock him you creep! You can cut this high and mighty act and just apologize without all the sarcasm!" I was stunned that someone was sticking up for me, even more surprised that Roxas really seemed to care about what he was saying too. There was nothing half-hearted about it at all. A cold grin came across the guy's face, if you get what I'm saying, and he turned to Roxas, seeming to examine him for a moment.
"No," he finally said, then he turned around and continued on his way. We were both silent, me out of sheer lack of the ability to find words, Roxas because of his obvious rage. Finally, thinking I had to break the fiery silence somehow, I whistled, drawing it out for emphasis. Roxas turned to me then, looking up to meet my eyes.
"People like that," he muttered. ", they really get to me."
"Yeah," I agreed. "His problem, not ours." Roxas nodded, still seething. "Look," I said, a little awkwardly. "Thanks a ton. I mean..., for standing up for me and all." I was pleased to see that he actually smiled at me then. I had diffused some of that temper at least.
"No problem. I couldn't just let him get away with that anyway."
"I suppose not." After that day it was smooth sailing for the two of us. Now what was I talking about before? Oh yeah: me.
The thing about me was, as screwed up as I felt, I let everyone around me think I was the happiest guy in the world. It was my way with dealing. One of my "friends" Marluxia was the most disillusioned of any. Whenever he was down I would find him waiting for me at lunch, or texting me at all hours of the day, wanting something to cheer him up. I guess I was sort of like his anti-depressant. Which was tough. On me. He wasn't the only one though. Everyone kind of counted on me to be the go-to-guy. Not that I was good for advice. I just made people feel better or something.
Sometimes I would imagine myself sitting down with everyone who thought I was this perfect person and really telling them about myself. I knew I never would though; entering those waters would be too dangerous for my emotional and mental health.
Oh, duh! After all of this rambling you have to be wondering what made me so messed up in the first place! Alright, so don't think this is cliché, but my parents both died when I was young, nine to be exact. That, being sad and all wasn't the thing that turned my world inside out, the thing that caused me to question my sanity every waking day... Although I missed my parents dearly, it was the way they died that really ripped the only, and admittedly tiny, logical part of my brain to smithereens. You see, they didn't just die. They were killed, but they weren't only killed either... They were eaten.
Took a moment to get your head wrapped around that? Yeah, I'd never tell anyone, not even Roxas, but my parents were actually killed by a vampire. Yup, a legendary creature of the night, a myth. I'll even go so far as to call it a fable, but in reality, the existence of such creatures is real. At least... if my memory is correct. A person can't forget something like that...,can they? It's true though, that one can warp their own mind...
So finally getting back to where I started, I liked to play everything safe. I decided, that night, when I walked in on their...remains, that I would never give anything the chance to throw some crazy twist of fate like that at me. I would walk well inside the safety line and be as unnoticeable as possible. Maybe I would be spared some sort of divine punishment for...whatever.
Now that I've told you all of that, I think it's safe to get into the real reason I'm blabbing my head off to you. After all, who wants to read some depressing introduction to an insane teen's life? No, I've got a better story to tell and it all started when I met him.
I was in the public library, a strange place to find me, but school projects and all... As I scanned the tops of the shelves, passing Fiction, History, Science and finally coming to the Culture section I literally bumped straight into the little guy. Oops. He'd kill me if he knew I called him that. It was true enough though. He couldn't have been more than five-four-and-a-half, maybe and I was...well over that. Honestly I never even saw him, my eyes being averted upwards at the time, plus he had himself hidden behind a ginormous (Is that a word?) stack of books that he was struggling to carry.
I bet you can guess that they all came tumbling down pretty fast. For a moment I remember actually thinking he'd been crushed under the weight of them all as they fell on top of him. I hadn't fallen over. I hadn't really even noticed an impact until I looked down to see a mess of arms, legs and books.
"H-Hey! Are you alright?" I flew down to his side as he worked on pulling himself out of the pile of tomes and dictionaries, or other, similarly large books like that.
"No you idiot, I am not alright! I am bruised and covered in dust and- Look what you've done to these books!" Although the books looked just as broken and musty to me as old books should, I had the feeling this guy could pick out an imperfection with a single glance. "You ruined this one's spine. A whole page ripped out of this one..."
After he ranted for a few minutes, I figured I couldn't have done any serious damage to him at least, who cared about the books? I stood up, a full load of books in arm as he dusted himself off, not making eye contact with me at all. There were so many books in front of me that I couldn't really see much past them. It's no wonder he didn't notice me coming.
I helpfully walked over to an empty table and deposited the load onto its worn, wooden surface. When I turned around to properly apologize my voice stuck in my throat. I thought for a single moment that I was looking into the really pissed off eye of a beautiful, young girl. I quickly remembered his voice and let my brain do the looking instead of my eyes. He was obviously a guy, but he looked so...petite, so pretty...
When I noticed that he was glaring into what I can only say was my very being, I straightened and placed a hand behind my head, grinning sheepishly.
"Sorry about that. I never noticed you there; I was kind of preoccupied. Really though, my bad entirely." He raised an eyebrow at me and the only visible eye I could see through his slate hair regarded me with genuine annoyance. After a very long, very awkward moment of silence he sighed and reached past me, taking the books back into his arms, one by one.
"You...need any help with those?" He spared me a quick glance before ignoring me completely. I told myself not to get upset; I had knocked him flat on his back anyways. I turned and was just about to walk away when I heard his quiet voice reach out to my ears.
"Yes. You can help me if you desire." Spinning back around I placed the usual grin I wore into place and began grabbing books again.
"Great," I said in a happy tone. He led me over to another table, not much different from the one we'd just left and dumped everything. Well, I dumped everything, he placed the books neatly and gently onto the table. I had to admit, I was a bit annoyed now myself. What made this particular part of the library any different than our former spot?
When I looked over at him again, he was regarding me with a bored expression.
"Well," he said. "You've helped. You can leave me now." Excuse me?, I thought, but didn't say. No thank you? Nothing but a rather rude dismissal, as if he were some lord or something and I, but a lowly servant? Damn, that really grated on my nerves. I just nodded though, being the push over, idiot I was. I made, once again, to leave, but he must have caught some of the hurt I'd been trying to hide, because he suddenly reached out and grabbed my arm. When I looked down to see that pale hand, holding onto my sleeve I jerked my head up, shocked. His expression was no different, just as bored and stoic as before, but he tugged me anyway until I was standing by an empty chair.
"Sit. You don't have to go if you do not wish to." Confused, but not altogether upset anymore, I planted my butt and he floated down into the seat beside me, soundlessly. He then proceeded to take one of the way-larger-than-I-could-ever-read books and opened it to page one. I waited for a while, for him to say something, but the silence stretched on once again. Finally I decided if he wasn't going to say anything, I'd have to instigate the conversation.
"So. My name's Demyx," I stated. Instead of ignoring me, like I thought he would, he looked up from his book, looked me straight in the eye.
"I'm Zexion," he replied smoothly. I nodded, letting another moment of awkwardness fall between us.
"You like books?" An idiotic question. Would someone who didn't like books be sitting there with a mile high pile of thesauruses, or something? To my surprise he actually smiled at that, a sort of smirk, but still, it was the first not-negative expression I'd seen on him.
"Yes. I do very much."
"Cool... You studying or something? I was going to research some popular music in different cultures for a school assignment myself. I don't really come to the library otherwise." That reminded me, I still had yet to actually open a book myself. Zexion must have been thinking the same thing because he let out an amused laugh, a more genuine sound.
"Shouldn't you be studying then, instead of talking to me?"
"Uh, yeah... Just wait here! I'll be right back and we can study together!"
"If we're reading about different subjects wouldn't it be easier..." I didn't hear the rest of what he said because I was already on the other side of the library again, heading for the Culture section and making sure not to run into anybody.
It turned out that Zexion had not, in fact, been studying, but just enjoyed reading really old, musty books for fun. I know, I didn't get it either. After we'd spent half the night reading and chatting we both agreed to pack up and head home. At the beginning I had thought that Zexion must have hated me, but by the end he had only become more and more friendly. I was starting to think that maybe, I'd made just one more real friend.
We both exited the library and headed in the same direction. We'd been walking for a few minutes when suddenly Zexion stopped and leaned against a building, holding his stomach.
"Hey, Zexion? What's wrong?" I moved close to him, but not too close 'cause it looked like he was about to be sick or something. "You okay?" He took a deep breath, wincing, as if in pain.
"I- I just need... a moment."
"Are you sick? Do you need me to back up or something, 'cause if you're about to-"
"No Demyx. That's not it."
"Y-Yeah? Are you going to be alright?"
"Yes. Soon. Just..., could you help me for a moment?" He held out a hand to me and I didn't hesitate to take it and drape his arm around my shoulder. I had no clue what was going on, but I didn't like it. He seemed so weak...
I pulled him away from the wall and in an instant everything changed. Suddenly both of his arms were wrapped around my neck and it hurt. He was hurting me. My back, I found, was now against the same building Zexion had been doubled over on just a second before. From sheer shock I struggled for minute before I realized that I couldn't move. Zexion was way stronger than he looked and he had me pinned with his body.
"Wait. What? Zexion, what are you doing?" His face was close to mine and I could feel his breath on my neck.
"Do not fear Demyx. Just relax." I didn't understand and my brain was no help at the moment. All I knew was that Zexion had been in pain and now he had me pinned to a wall and seemed to be in the act of...?
"Yo, Zex!" The voice was loud and nearby. I heard Zexion make a disgruntled sound, almost like a hiss, before he pulled away from me and turned around to face the approaching figure. I stood still as a statue, still trying to make sense of what was going on.
"I've been searching high and low for... Whoops. Did I interrupt something?" Out of the darkness and into the dirty, yellow light of a street light a tall man with a shock of bright red hair appeared. I gaped openly, recognizing him immediately.
"Nothing too important," Zexion answered the man, a bitter edge to his voice.
"You!," I cried, drawing the attention of both Zexion and the red head.
"Sorry?," He replied, raising an eyebrow.
"You're that guy!" Zexion and "that guy" regarded each other silently.
"Don't you have a way with words," the man said jokingly.
"Demyx, do you know him?," Zexion asked me calmly, acting for all the world like...what didn't happen...?
"Yeah. Well, no. Not really, but I mean... he bumped into me once and then Roxas got really mad and-"
"Demyx," Zexion interrupted. "You mean he ran into you once and that's how you remember him?"
"Uh...yeah. It's him alright, but... that was three years ago, or something." Zexion gave me a 'What the hell" look and turned back to the guy, who seemed to be lost in thought.
"Roxas, huh?," he murmured to himself.
"Axel. We should probably go," Zexion sighed, earning a confused glance from me.
"I remember now. Spunky kid..."
"Axel."
"Wait, Zexion. You're leaving? With him?"
"Yes. He is my... guardian." I looked back and forth between Zexion and the guy called Axel. It was clear that they knew each other, but there was no way that they could be family. Then again, both of them had weird hair. If it was dyed, their faces did look kind of alike. Aw, who was I kidding? It was dark out, so I couldn't really tell.
"Well then, let's hit the road," Axel piped up, gesturing to Zexion. "And you wanna take...?" The way Axel glanced at me then sent a chill down my spine.
"No. Let's go," came Zexion's curt reply. He turned back and gave me one emotionless look, before quickly saying: "Goodbye Demyx". With that the two of them merged into the shadows and disappeared.
Needless to say, I stood there, confused and alone. Something about the way my gut was churning, how Axel's eyes had seemed to hold an almost animalistic glint, how Zexion had pinned me to the wall, his mouth only inches from my throat. All of it gave me a horrible, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I realized then.
Zexion was dangerous.
Axel, obviously was.
If I wanted to retain my safety, the foundation of my life.
I could never speak to Zexion again.
