The next day Roxas left early carrying a game bag in case he managed to catch enough to eat his fill and bring extra meat back for Xion. His stomach had to come first though. She could live on nuts and fruits, he couldn't, and hunger made her tempting. Not far from the cave he came across a river teeming with fish, it's shore thick with berry bushes. He usually didn't eat berries or fruit often, but Xion liked them so it would be good to remember this place and they weren't bad.
Roxus used the tip of his tail as a lure and whenever a fish nibbled he pulled it out of the water and flung it onto shore. He swallowed them live and wriggling, gulping down fish as eagerly as a sea bird. In this manner he had a full belly by mid-afternoon and a few fish in the bag. Of course, fishing took time and wasn't nearly as active or exciting as tracking game, so as he sat Roxas ate handfuls of berries out of boredom more than anything.
He wondered if it was just being full, but when came time to leave he felt a bit sleepy, almost like his limbs were too heavy to move. He pulled his tail out of the water and tried to get up only to be hit with a wave of dizziness.
At that moment, Axel had happened to be passing by. And when he saw the boy on the riverbank, he couldn't pass up the opportunity. "Well, well, didn't expect to run into you again." He grinned as he approached the small naga, "Thought you'd be long gone by now."
Roxas eyes widened and he tried to take a defensive stance, or else get ready to run. He'd caught Axel off guard before but he doubted he'd be so lucky this time. However, it seemed moving at all was out of the question. He fell forward, catching himself on his hands. He looked up at the tail mouth, certain he was about to die.
Instead, Axel actually looked concerned, "You don't look so hot, you sick or something?" He asked. Lea came forward to sniff him, before moving past Roxas to sniff at the game bag. Axel looked to Lea, telling him to leave the bag alone, then he noticed the bush on the bank of the river and looked back to Roxas. "Did you eat those berries?"
Roxas shrank back from Lea, surprised the snake didn't attack him. Why was Axel concerned, maybe he was poison if he was… "Berries? Yeah?" Poison. "Am I gonna die?" He sank down on the sandy bank, unable to even hold himself up.
"Man oh man Roxas, didn't you parents ever teach you about this stuff?" Axel sighed, leaning down and picking Roxas up, slinging one of Roxas's arms over his shoulder and putting his arm around the boy's waist. "Don't worry, you'd have to eat the whole bush for it to be lethal to someone your size. You'll be okay, but you're gonna be pretty weak and sick for awhile."
"Aren't you going to eat me?" he asked.
"Nah." Axel said with a small shrug, "You didn't eat me when I was helpless to stop you, might as well return the favor, right?"
Roxas smiled, and tried to thank him but then the world spun and everything went dark.
When Roxas awoke he was somewhere else, laying in a soft bed. He had no idea where he was or how much time had passed, but he knew he wasn't alone. He sat up slowly, and looked around. "What happened?"
Axel looked up from the fireplace, and smiled as he slithered over to the bed. Lea climbed up, nuzzling Roxas before resting his head in his lap. "I brought you to my den to recover." Axel said, "How're you feeling?"
"Better," he said, "still weak, like everything's too heavy." It took some effort to reach out and pet Lea, but he did so all the same. "So you've both forgiven me for swallowing him and bashing you into a tree?"
Lea pushed his head against Roxas's hand, "More or less." Axel shrugged, "Still a little sore, but you were defending yourself, so I guess I can't really hold it against you too much. Especially since you didn't gobble me up when you had the chance."
"Well, I'd probably have gotten a tummy ache, you're a pretty big meal," teased Roxas, "besides, Lea wasn't attacking me, he didn't deserve to be eaten." Roxas continued to give him affectionate pets. "So, does mean we're friends, Axel?"
"Really? After everything that happened yesterday, you're still trying to be friends with me?" Axel chuckled, "Alright, I give, we're friends. You seem to need help with the whole survival thing anyway. You're a little hopeless on your own."
"Well you wouldn't have been looking after me like this is we weren't friends," said Roxas, grinning at him, "but I guess you're right. Trying to make friends with a predator, my prey, and eating poison berries isn't the best start, but I held my own against you and that's something, right?"
"Yep. You did something no non-king naga has done before, and thats a pretty big something." Axel smirked, ruffling the boy's hair, "Now, what was that about making friends with your prey?" He raised an eyebrow.
"After I left you I got caught in the storm and took shelter in a cave. I found a human girl there and I was going to eat her, but she...she didn't want to die and she was crying..." said Roxas, and then he looked down, realizing that maybe he's said to much. "You won't eat my friend, will you?"
"Wow. You really aren't off to the best start." Axel said, "And really? I have to take a human off my menu too?"
"Just this one," said Roxas, "she's really nice." He sighed, "And you're probably reconsidering eating me because I'm so pathetic, huh?" He continued to pet Lea for a minute then looked up at Axel and smiled despite himself.
"A little. But I already said we're friends, so I guess I'm stuck with you." Axel shrugged playfully, "But seriously, what kind of training did you even get before leaving home?"
"Hunting animals mostly," said Roxas, "fishing, and I was told the the only thing I should fear were the monstrous tail-mouths that would eat any naga as soon as look at it. Yeah, the berry thing was bad, but we never really foraged so I'd never learned about berries. I mean, I could have eaten Xion if I wanted too, just like I could have eaten you. I just can't bring myself to kill someone who could have been a friend. Especially not after nearly being eaten myself, that was awful."
He'd have to teach Roxas about foraging, he knew what around here was safe to eat or not, and he didn't want the kid accidentally eating something that would kill him. "Monstrous? Thats a little harsh." Axel said as Lea licked the boy's face. "Really, humans could be considered more dangerous than us. At least in large groups, and they usually don't travel without others. What's the story with your little friend?"
Roxas giggled at the licking, yes monstrous and incredibly deadly seemed a bit harsh. "I'm not sure," he said, "she said she was banished or something, I don't know the full story. Hey, how long have I been here, she's probably worried about me."
"A few hours, the sun should be setting soon actually." Axel told him, "You feeling okay to make the trip home? You can stay here tonight if you're still feeling weak."
"Still pretty weak," Roxas admitted, "and your bed is much more comfortable than a cave floor. And big enough to share?"
Axel chuckled, "Sure Roxy, you can st-" He stopped suddenly when there came a noise from somewhere else in his den. Lea hissed and their attention turned to the doorway. "Stay here." Axel told Roxas, before going to check it out.
Roxas didn't have much of a choice but to stay there, since his tail and limbs were still nearly too heavy to move. He felt a wave of warmth at Axel's protective tone. He remembered when Axel had found im, how worried he'd sounded. It seemed Axel had grown pretty fond of him, and the thought of that made the warm feeling grow.
Axel moved as quietly as possible, stopping before he reached the doorway to the main chamber. He told Lea to stay back as he peered out to get a look at the intruder. It was a human girl, armed with a spear that was really more like just a pointy stick. How she had managed to find his home was beyond him, the foliage around his den made that door damn near invisible when it was closed.
Lea hissed again and she immediately looked to where they were, holding the spear defensively. The thought that this might have been Roxas's friend crossed his mind. But even if she was, this girl was an intruder in his home, and he didn't take that kind of intrusion lightly.
The fight was short, in less than a minute Axel had her in his coils, holding her tight enough that she could barely struggle no matter how much she tried.
"You're either brave, stupid, or desperate for coming here armed with nothing but a stick," Axel said in a not so friendly tone, "Now, I have some questions for you, and whether or not you end up as dinner depends on your answers. And if I think you're lying, you'll be taking a one way trip down his throat." He gestured to the snakehead, "Got it memorized?" Lea's tongue flicked out to taste her, and the girl flinched away before nodding.