Demyx was unwillingly dragged into consciousness the next morning as the dose of painkillers that had held him overnight wore off, making room for a myriad of aches and pains, some much sharper than others. Ugh...didn't I ask for a better wake-up call?
He rubbed his head, trying to clear it. That had been a weird dream...Roxas barging in in a panic saying that Axel had gone back to Port Royal and been captured, when he remembered now that Axel hadn't gone to Port Royal at all; he'd specifically told Demyx that it was too dangerous for them...a freaky dream, especially at the time, but obviously a dream, and Axel would show up for a visit after breakfast like usual...his mouth tasted like vomit for some reason...
Half of his mind said Ew, nasty. The other half said You threw up while you were talking to Roxas. That wasn't a dream. That really happened.
And Axel is really screwed.
Demyx gulped hard, wishing for some water to rinse his mouth out with, but with his sitar in bits and pieces - ever-larger and ever-fewer bits and pieces, but bits and pieces nonetheless - he had virtually no control over his element. Kingdom Hearts, am I ever going to see him again? he wondered. Or are they going to kill him first? Since I got away, they might not take any chances with him...
It's been overnight. He could be dead already. They might have dragged him off and shot him as soon as Roxas wasn't watching.
Injured and bedridden as he was, Demyx couldn't even check the Proof of Existence. All he could do was lie in bed staring at the ceiling and hoping Vexen came by with his next dose soon, so he could let the painkillers take over and not have to think anymore.
If there are any gods who look after Nobodies, forgive me; I think I'm gonna break.
Axel had never been so low in his life, including his previous life as a Somebody; even in the execution chamber he'd at least been allowed some dignity, and he had to admit it had gone pretty painlessly, considering. Now, he was trapped in a little cage secured to the partially-ruined dock, chained hand and foot, submerged up to his neck, for hours on end - he had no way of knowing how long. Only the fact that the sun was just now setting for the first time convinced him he hadn't been there for days already. He was starving, thirsty as hell - ironic, since he was surrounded by water - his aching head made him feel sick and dizzy whenever he moved, and the rest of him was so cold and stiff he could barely move anyway, even if he wasn't so tightly restrained. He couldn't even raise his head to look at the sky without the collar around his neck choking him. And those damn seagulls kept circling around and screeching, like they were a gang of vultures waiting for him to die. He'd developed a burning hatred for seagulls.
And if he didn't drown, wasn't executed, and didn't die of exposure, he'd die of hyperglycemia. Though that was probably the one thing helped by their not bringing him anything to eat. Actually, what would happen to his blood sugar levels without food or insulin? An interesting question, and one he'd probably learn the answer to a hell of a lot sooner than he'd like.
"A pleasant evening, this, though I suppose your kind wouldn't be able to appreciate such a thing as beauty...I wonder whether or not it may have you feeling any more cooperative nonetheless." Axel gritted his teeth - he'd yet to see the man's face, but he recognized the voice as belonging to the same person who'd yanked him around by the hair and held his head underwater earlier in an attempt to get him to tell where Roxas had escaped to.
It wouldn't make a difference whether he told him or not...it wasn't like this buffoon could actually follow Roxas back to the World that Never Was, even if he believed what Axel said...and maybe if he did believe it, this misery would end a little sooner... "Go fuck a snake."
The man actually laughed at him. "I'm afraid I don't share your...creative diversions. The idea fails to appeal to me as much as it might to yourself."
"Ask your wife how she likes it."
He could almost feel the man's glare on the back of his neck as his companions - probably guards - snickered. "A clever rejoinder -" he grabbed Axel's head and shoved him as far underwater as possible, letting the redhead struggle helplessly - "but I'm afraid you're in no position to be making clever rejoinders." As before, he didn't release his grip until the last moment before Axel blacked out and drowned. Axel gasped weakly, unable to talk; the iron collar around his neck had injured his throat. "Clearly, your kind can suffer, I can see...are you all too foolish to take the cure and end the pain? It's as simple as telling me where the others are hiding...I know there are more than three of you..."
Axel gagged and vomited seawater. "Fuck you," he rasped.
The man sighed in irritation. "Very well...I'll speak with you in the morning, then."
As the footsteps along the pier faded away, Axel cried silently, the tears rolling down his face instead of puffing into steam like they usually did. Roxas, I know you, I know you went to get help as soon as you could...please, get here soon...
A young boy, who'd spent his days working on his father's fishing boat until it was destroyed and had been keenly interested in the supposed demon Nobody who'd destroyed it and the dock it was tied to, watched in fascination as the harmless-looking, almost grandfatherly man who was in charge of the interrogation left the abandoned pier where the Nobody was imprisoned, and the three soldiers who'd been guarding him stayed behind, presumably to guard the prisoner. Sensing there would be nothing else interesting to see that day, and since it was sunset already, the boy scampered off home, expertly dodging irritated passerby. Taking a shortcut, he nipped into a narrow, dark alleyway...and disappeared into a hole in space, which healed itself behind him.
On the other side of that hole, a curious transformation occurred. The boy's short, curly hair and dark features blurred and melted away, revealing a very short young man with pale skin and silver-blue hair that hung over his eyes. "They've set a night guard on him - only three men, so far as I can tell."
Xigbar nodded warily at Zexion. Roxas hadn't quit pacing the floor all day, except when they'd forced him to sit down for half an hour. "You got a boat ready, dude?"
"I know where to find a useful one...and I intend to have the entire dockside area cleared before we move, so commandeering it temporarily should be no problem."
"Are we going now?" Roxas asked, never looking up from the floor.
"Not yet. In three hours, it should be full dark in Port Royal, and the guards should be bored and willing to jump for any distraction...especially the one I have in mind."
"What do you have in mind?"
"You'll see, Thirteen...you'll see..."
Roxas hissed angrily. "I don't even want to think about what they're doing to him - and you want us to stay put for another three hours?!"
"It seems preferable to the three of us being captured as well..."
"But chained underwater like that - it might kill him -"
"And if the three of us move too soon and are captured, how will that help him? Even less than your wearing yourself out beforehand..." Roxas took the hint and sat down, his head in his hands. This was going to be a very long three hours.
By now, Axel was too cold and numb to care how stiff and sore he was. He barely even cared about how cold and numb he was. He was all alone in a small, dark, watery, foggy world, and all he cared about was when he could get out of it. Rescue and death seemed equally appealing at this point.
He spared a thought out of the unending misery for his friends. Sorry, Demyx, I should have listened to you...Roxas, if you don't get here soon, don't come at all, because there won't be anyone to rescue...if I don't see either of you again, sorry for being such a dumbass...I want this over with.
Now he was starting to hallucinate. The docks were mostly destroyed, he'd seen to that himself, and his cage was secured to one of the last intact piers, subject to abuse from soldiers, boat traffic, waves, and seagulls. It wasn't possible for a lot of large ships - or he guessed that's what they were, based on the splashing and creaking - to suddenly come into the port and expect to dock. It was the cold coming up with all this - or repeated head injuries.
It wasn't until he heard men shouting in Spanish, and the soldiers who'd been guarding him took off running, that he got the idea that maybe it wasn't all in his head. The gunshots and cannonfire clinched it. Now he was hoping he wouldn't be hit by a stray bullet or cannonball - and ifsobe his existence was suddenly wiped out by a cannonball, he hoped he didn't see it coming...
Or maybe he really was hallucinating...he was hearing voices, familiar ones, above the noise of ships and battle...he couldn't hear what they were saying yet, but he knew they were familiar...only the cold was getting to him so badly he couldn't remember whose they were...it didn't matter; they weren't really there...
"Axel? Axel, can you hear me?"
I know that voice...
Axel looked up, ignoring the pressure the iron collar put on his already-sore throat. "Roxas?"
A light gleamed in the fog. "I told you I'd be able to find him again..." He recognized that voice now too - it was Zexion's.
"Dude, clear the air a little; it'd be nice to see what we were doing..."
"Excellent point..." The fog lifted slightly, revealing a small rowboat coming towards the pier. Roxas was standing up, holding his Keyblades; he was the one responsible for the light. Zexion was seated, looking at Roxas warily as if he expected him to upset the boat any second. Xigbar was rowing. As soon as they were close enough, Roxas simply jumped from boat to pier, making the boat rock ominously. "Thirteen -"
Roxas ignored Zexion completely. He lit up the little cage Axel was imprisoned in. "Kingdom Hearts...what have they been doing to you?" Axel was having a hard time breathing, craning his neck to look at him despite the chains; he couldn't respond. "Where's the way into this thing?"
Axel let his head drop, letting himself breathe more freely. "I don't know. I don't remember how they got me in here. I was out cold."
"You must have been in a damn coma..." Roxas rattled each wall of the cage he could reach, trying to find the one that gave enough to be a locked door. Finally, the back wall had the give he was looking for. He stuck one Keyblade under the water, a light glowed briefly, and two strong padlocks Axel hadn't even known were there opened and fell off, disappearing into the water. "I'd so hoped that would work." Then he tried to work the other Keyblade through the bars, aiming for the chain around Axel's neck.
"Be careful what you're doing with that," Axel said.
"I'm really not trying to cut your head off..." Keyblade and lock glowed briefly, and the collar cracked open and fell away. "There. That should help. Is any of the rest of you chained to the cage?"
Axel shook his head, grateful the chain wasn't cutting into his throat anymore. "I dunno. I can't move."
"Great..." Roxas took a deep breath. "Xigbar, if you've got that thing tied up yet, I could use some help...gotta get him out of there..."
"Hang on a sec, dude; I'll come around there and we can try to get him into the boat..."
Axel's consciousness was wavering; he barely noticed as Roxas and Xigbar tried to pull him into the boat while Zexion stood on the pier and watched. By the time Roxas finished removing the chains from his hands and feet and throwing them overboard, he was out cold.
AN: Didn't expect an illusion Spanish Armada, did they. Can't ignore that, can ya!
Now, are they going to be able to make a clean getaway? Probably, with Xigbar and Zexion along for the ride, but you never know...and poor Demyx still doesn't know what's going on...and we can't be sure how badly Axel is hurt...
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?