Disclaimer: I do believe we've been over this before.
Chapter 4
The bedroom door slammed open with a resounding bang, making Roxas jump about a mile and a half in the air. He recovered quickly, though, and had his sword pressed up against the intruder's neck about three seconds after that. He paused only when he saw it was Leon, part of the Royal Guard. Dropping his blade, he let out a huff of breath, taking a few steps backward and collapsing onto the bed.
"Don't enter a room that way!" Roxas cried in annoyance. "What the hell is wrong with you? Next time I'll shank you through the throat first and ask questions later." The blonde fell back on the bed, trying to regulate his breathing and heartbeat from the enormous adrenaline rush he'd just received.
"I was checking your reflexes," Leon said simply. "You reacted quite well to danger, I must say."
"Leon, who the hell gave you permission to do this?" Roxas grumbled, ready to plan an execution.
"Rey Axel, sire." Roxas whipped around to glare at the redhead, who was staring at Leon as if he were crazy.
"When the hell did I tell you this was a good idea?" Axel grumbled.
"You didn't say it was a good idea, but you gave me permission to go about it by putting me in charge. In the events of Riku's probation, you said second-in-command would play the part as leader. This is how I ran things back before Riku replaced me. Ask your father." This last bit was directed at Roxas. The blonde gaped at the guard for about fifteen seconds before he whipped around once more to glare at Axel.
"I'm going to kill you!" he cried, tackling the redhead off the bed. They hit the ground with a loud thump and Axel gasped for air. "You've landed us with the Drill Nazi, Axel! Do you have any idea what kind of shit he did to my dad? He's been paranoid for years!"
"Roxas…" Axel gasped. "Get…off!" He pushed the blonde to the floor and sat up, now gasping for breath himself. Roxas felt a bit guilty for his dramatic reaction, patting Axel on the back.
"You all right?" he asked.
"You knocked…the goddamn…wind out…of me!" he gasped before starting to cough violently.
"Sorry," he muttered sheepishly, feeling increasingly ridiculous by the second.
"Leon, get out," Roxas sighed waving toward the door.
"Yes, your majesty." The brunet left the room rather quickly, slamming the door shut behind him, making them both jump again. It was a long moment before Roxas remembered he was supposed to be mad at Axel. He pulled away and set off toward the bathroom to take a shower.
By the time he was out, Axel had abandoned the room, probably to get clean somewhere else. Roxas did tend to take long showers. The blonde dressed and set off for the dining hall, frowning slightly at how much his stomach was growling. Upon entering the hall, he was attacked by something with masses of brown hair. Before he reacted violently, though, he realized that it was his mother. He hugged her back quickly but shook his head.
"Don't do that to me, mom. Leon's running the guard right now…" She pulled a sympathetic face and nodded.
"Oh, wow, sorry. What happened to Riku?" Roxas shook his head.
"It's a long story," was all he would say. She nodded and allowed him to lead her back to the table.
"Hi, dad," he greeted, taking his seat, interested to see that Axel had yet to make his appearance.
"Hey, Roxas. What's this I hear about Leon being in charge again? Are you fucking nuts?" his dad demanded, looking only a little bit crazed.
Roxas rolled his eyes. "Talk to Axel about that. It's all his fault."
Axel came in almost fifteen minutes after they started eating, taking his seat next to Roxas and greeting Roxas' parents with a grin. Aeris hugged him and kissed his cheek, pushing his hair off his face, basically being a mother. Roxas could see that Axel liked it, the loss of his own mother a wound still very close to the surface. Cloud looked ready to attack Axel and demand an answer, but Roxas shook his head subtly.
"Hey," he greeted the redhead. "Where have you been?"
Axel pointed to his wet hair. "Taking a shower." Roxas didn't quite believe it, since Axel took the shortest showers of anyone he'd ever met, but he allowed it to pass.
"So, not to be rude or anything, but what are you two doing here?" Axel asked Roxas' parents.
Cloud shrugged while Aeris' green eyes lit up. "We wanted to see how you two were doing, of course!" she exclaimed. "Things are looking pretty good around here. Have you had any problems?" she asked.
"You could say that," Roxas sighed. "We're not exactly sure if it's a huge problem yet, but…" He and Axel alternated in telling he story of the mysterious man and their own conclusions that they'd drawn. Then, they told of the attack on them the day before. By the end of their tale, Cloud was frowning deeply.
"Did you get anything else out of that man?"
"No, he's been unconscious since then. We've given word to alert us if anything changes, but…I was hoping you might help me try to wake him up, mom."
Aeris looked up as if in shock before nodding her head. "Of course, Roxas. I'd be happy to help. I hope you're not planning on harassing the poor man as soon as he's conscious again, though…"
"Mom, we need to be ready at any moment. The man can recuperate after he's told us what we need to know," Roxas grumbled. The healer in Aeris was greatly protesting, but the queen in her knew that Roxas was right.
"We need to find out where he's from and who the prince is. It will hopefully make things a hell of a lot easier when we know. At least we'll know what we're up against."
Cloud nodded thoughtfully.
"I really don't like the sound of this. Why, after all these years, is this prince in danger? Just because she found him, or is it something more then that?"
"It might just be an excuse to challenge us," Axel spoke up with a shrug. "With Ne'erwas and Hartz as one, we're basically unstoppable. Maybe they're trying to tear us down before we can gain too much power."
"But we've been pushing neutrality," Roxas protested.
"But do they know that?" Axel rebuffed.
Seeing his point, Roxas merely shrugged, albeit a bit petulantly.
"Well, we've already decided we'll fight if we have to, but I'd rather avoid war. Six months of peace isn't much in the grand scheme." Axel nodded his agreement, looking a bit stressed out.
"I think our only choice will be to crush them swiftly. It sounds a bit heartless, but we can't afford to be soft, not this early on."
"You two are set on a orientation of peace, but you can't forget your roots," Cloud said sternly. "You've been trained for war since you were children. You know what to do, you know your advantages and disadvantages. Stop your petty fighting, put your knowledge together, and rule. Really rule, or stand aside and let someone else do it properly."
Cloud's words were met with some silence, only broken by the sound of forks on plates. They continued to eat in silence, Roxas stewing on his father's words. He was receiving far too much helpful advice lately. His head was going to explode if he had to over-analyze too much else. He snapped out of his thoughts again as the doors opened, revealing Leon. He set his eyes on Cloud and an honest to god smile spread over his lips. Okay, so it was a very small smile, but that was something for the king of no expression.
"Excuse me, majesty," he apologized. "I had heard your father was here and I had to wonder if the rumors were true."
"Hello, Squall," Cloud greeted, causing Leon to flinch a bit at the name. After a moment of silence, Aeris rolled her eyes and beckoned them away.
"Oh, go on, I won't stop you." Cloud actually grinned and got up from the table, going to join Leon. The pair left the room in silence, but they no doubt wouldn't shut up once they were alone.
"What…was that about?" Axel asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Cloud and Leon have been in love with each other for years," Aeris snorted with a wave of her hand and an affectionate smile on her lips.
"And that…doesn't bother you?" Axel asked.
"Not really," Aeris shrugged. "Cloud and I are very good friends, but we're not in love. The only reason we married is because Cloud doesn't have any siblings and Leon isn't a royal, so his sister couldn't bear an heir."
"That's why my parents were trying to convince me not to marry you for politics," Roxas informed Axel. "Because Dad and Leon couldn't be together for the very same reason."
"But it worked out for us, right?" Axel asked quietly, and Roxas could see the redhead almost daring him to say it hadn't.
"Yeah," Roxas agreed. "It did." Axel grinned and pressed a kiss to his cheek, mindful of Roxas' PDA phobia. Before pulling away, he murmured, "You know, I really am sorry for being such an ass yesterday."
"Tell that to Riku," Roxas said with a shrug.
Axel paled slightly, looking away. "Yeah, I was a jackass to him, wasn't I? I mean, I'm not saying I regret my decision, but I do feel pretty bad about the way I went about it…"
"I think Riku understood why we did it," Roxas said with a shrug. "He knows at this point that we can't be too careful. I think the one you really have to worry about it Sora. He's pissed."
Axel nodded and Aeris cleared her throat.
"You know boys, I'm still right here. I can't hear what you're talking about but you can save your sweet nothings for when your mother isn't around, can't you?"
Axel's eyebrows shot up as he looked at Aeris and he almost looked a bit sheepish. Aeris seemed to notice this as well because she smiled and shrugged.
"Well, mother-in-law, technically, but I still consider you my son, Axel."
Axel bit his lip. Roxas assumed he was trying to think of some way to respond to that. Finally, he seemed to get a hold of himself.
"Thanks, Aeris," he said with a sad smile. "I appreciate that."
"I think Tifa would have wanted it, don't you?" Aeris sighed. At Axel's continued silence, she shrugged.
"Well…should we try and wake this man up, then?" Roxas nodded his agreement, glad to have an excuse to break the heavy silence.
They departed from the dining room and set off toward the hospital. Hopefully, they would gain the information they needed.
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A/N: I just beat Kingdom Hearts 2 again. I am now watching/listening to the credits as I write this. Sanctuary is an all right song, but I greatly prefer Simple and Clean. My favorite is the main orchestral theme to both the games, though, because I find it beautiful. I listen to it on my iPod all the time. Maybe that's just the orchestra geek in me though…
So, I beat all the Organization members in one try (which is amazing because I usually have a lot of trouble with Xaldin and Luxord) except for Demyx. How pathetic is that? His stupid water nymphs make me wanna kick puppies. 'Nuff said.
In other news, I got a cell phone today, and the last three digits of my number are 813. How freaking cool/geeky is that?
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