A/N: Okay, for those of you who read this already (or think you've read this already), I re-did the end, because when I did it the first time, it was messy, and I was on super medication. So I took the chapter off and put it back up better. I hope it's better, anyway.
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Seeing Red
Chapter Four
Say it one more time and maybe you'll believe it.
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He was the only one I liked. He made me feel... like I had a heart...
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Axel sighed into the silence of the car, and then glanced at the other two. Kairi was pale, but had a smile on her childish face, Roxas' eyes were red and down on the dirty floor of the car. If he had a radio, he would have flicked it on hours ago. Awkward was an understatement.
"When are we going to get there, Axel?" Kairi glanced over at him with her dark blue eyes, her hands obediently in her lap.
"Soon. We're only about an hour away. We'll have to stop again somewhere, I need gas, and you two are probably hungry." He groaned, "But I don't really know what to get to eat…"
Kairi bit her lip, "Sorry…"
"It's not your fault," Axel murmured with a sigh.
"Subway…" Roxas said softly.
"What?"
"I said Subway… They're not greasy… just… sandwiches. Real food…"
Axel ran a thin hand through his long red locks of hair, "Sure." He was silent for several moments until finally, he nudged the blonde boy with his elbow, "Hey."
Roxas looked up, guarded, "What?"
"Sorry."
The blonde boy blinked slowly and then looked towards the passenger window.
With a small groan, Axel continued to drive in silence, annoyed. So much for everyone getting along. He tried. This boy—Roxas, he wasn't a person he could get along with. Not at all.
"Axel?"
He looked over, unsure of which child had uttered his name, "Huh?"
Roxas shrugged his shoulders, "…It's okay…"
Kairi looked at Axel, then at the blonde boy in the middle, "You two having a moment?"
"No." They both snapped, but Kairi simply smiled and shook her head.
"I want to tell stories. Someone go first."
"What?" Axel stared at the thin redheaded girl in the passenger seat, "You want to tell stories. How old are―"
"I'll go." Roxas murmured softly.
"Okay! Go, Roxas!" Kairi clapped childishly and Axel rolled his eyes.
"What do our stories have to be about…?"
"Umm… yourself. Is that okay?"
"…Sure." Roxas looked up to Axel with shy eyes and took a deep breath, "Um, so Kairi, you might know this, but my dad was a famous poker player."
Axel stared blankly.
"His name was Luxord Moreau. So, um… I guess, he taught me everything I know about cards. I've never lost a card game before, because he was the one who taught me. Um… Well, years and years ago, Dad told me that we were going to Las Vegas, and that he was going to be famous, and we were going to live great forever and ever.
"So um… I guess we left then. I was ten years old, and in fifth grade. I left all of my friends, and everything I'd ever known up north, to come down to this little desert my dad called 'Dreamland.' I didn't know, but he was going to play the biggest game of his life, and he had to win. Of course, he'd never lost before, so… I guess everything seemed good. Um, so… We got there, and Dad left me in the hotel room that night, because kids weren't allowed in the casino. And well… He didn't really come back, so I went looking." Roxas laughed softly, "I guess when I think about it now, it was pretty stupid, because I was ten years old, wandering around the main strip in Las Vegas. But, I started looking, and finally I got to the big casino I'd heard Dad talk about all the time.
"I got in, I guess, so security wasn't really anything special that night… I found Dad, and I sort of remember him looking… pale. I mean, he was usually pretty pale, but he was more pale than normal. Dad was… I guess he was losing. The game was probably rigged, because Dad never lost, but that night he did. Pretty bad, too. And then he sort of lost everything. The end."
Axel blinked, "What?"
"Um… Rox?" Kairi bit her lip and leaned down to look at the blonde boy, who was shaking with silent laughter.
"Well, it's true. You wanted a story, Kai." He laughed bitterly, but the two redheads' expressions were blank.
"Um… alright. Axel, you tell a story."
"How about blondie finish his first?"
"You want the end?"
Axel narrowed his emerald eyes, "What are you trying to start?"
"I'm telling my story, Axel."
"You're starting more fights," the eldest male snapped, but silenced himself when Roxas continued.
"Okay, Dad bet everything we had on that game, because he'd never lost before. Mom died right after I was born, so it was just me and him. And he bet it all and lost it. About a year later, he started betting more and more, just to try and win back what he lost. He bet more than we had, and then he bet me. Which… well, it was probably illegal. I think he figured he'd win. I hope he figured he'd win. But he didn't, not that time. So I was sold to a man named Manny. And met Kairi."
"Wait, what?" Axel ran a hand through his long spiked locks, "You're saying you were sold to Manny too? What would he want you for?"
"Sensitive, aren't you?" Roxas scoffed, "Because my father was Luxord Moreau. He never lost. And neither do I. Now, if you had a dealer who never lost, think about it. I control the cards there. Manny needed something he could use. That and…"
Kairi looked over at him, her blue eyes softening.
"Manny needed someone cute to pass the time." Roxas laughed, "Yeah. Cute, right? Manny liked the kids."
"Sick." Axel's grip on the steering wheel tightened; how could someone do that? To children? To Roxas?
"Well… Yeah. It was. But Manny never let any of his people get hurt. Never let the girls or his toys get hurt. He… Well, he did drugs. He gave them all drugs, but never deliberately hurt them."
Kairi looked down at the dirty mat on the floor of the car.
"He was still sick." Axel flicked the blinker on and slowly drifted into the turn lane, "Subway?"
"…Yeah."
"I need to get gas first. Hold on." His knuckles still white from gripping the steering wheel, Axel let out a deep breath and pulled into a small gas station, annoyed. Dirty. This entire gas station was disgusting, thick oily ground, spatters of gasoline decorating the entire dark area. Cardboard littered the windows, advertising cigarettes and beer, tobacco and other assorted means of killing yourself slowly. Axel groaned at the price but slammed the pump into his rusty red car.
"Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing tonight?"
Axel looked up at the beckoning voice, his eyes narrowed, "What do you want?"
"I want you, babe." She was tall, sickly thin, with curly blonde hair and painted red lips. She looked as if she could snap in half at any moment. Several other women stood behind her, all with the same seductive smiles on their pale faces.
"I don't buy hookers," Axel snarled, "Beat it, tramp."
"Not even me? Baby, I'll make it worth your while." She sauntered closer, standing nearly as tall as Axel himself.
"Get away from me," the redhead barked; his hand against the icy metal in his pocket.
The other four women wandered closer, like buzzards, Axel thought bitterly.
"Come on, sweetheart, why don't you come have a good time with me?"
"Hey, you ladies should leave him alone," the quiet voice was Roxas, his body draped over Kairi's to stick his head out the window, "I don't think he wants anything to do with you."
"No one asked you, kid," she was raven-haired, pockmarked, dirty. She leaned close to Axel, and Roxas winced at the expression on the redhead's face.
Everything slowed for the man, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets. The women around him, they smelled like sex, grease, cheap perfume, their hair, slimy, their faces, lustful, gluttonous women—Axel couldn't stand them, he wanted them away.
All of them, they were all around him, their dirty hands trying to touch him. Isn't this what he hated?
—Mother—
Axel let out a small breath of air as he whipped the cold steel from his pocket and pressed it to the blonde woman's bare chest. If that shirt was any lower—
"Hey, don't―"
It was Roxas, again, his voice somewhat louder, but not enough over the surprised screams of the five women.
"Axel!!" Kairi was beside him in a flash of red hair, her small hands pulling on his thin arm.
Eight shots, maybe that's all it takes. Only missed one shot, only because of Kairi on my arm. All five, shot dead on the ground. Their greasy hair sprawled around their fallen bodies. Not a single one of them wanted me now. Not a single pair of lustful eyes staring at me now. Weird, how quickly they died.
Blood ran from the blonde woman's chest, her scared face frozen in death.
Axel put his hand to his head, the sweat beading on his pale skin.
"Axel…?" Kairi, her small voice scared. She was just a child, she was terrified.
"…Fuck." This voice was sharp, from none other than the blonde boy, who'd stooped to check the pulse of the brunet woman closest to him, "You killed her."
"I didn't mean to." His eyes were closed, his hands against his pale face.
"You held a gun to her chest," Roxas muttered, rather calm for the situation, "You didn't mean to?"
"Axel… let's go…" Kairi tugged at the eldest male's arm, tearful.
"I didn't mean to." He hissed softly.
"Axel?" The blonde boy grabbed his other arm, his brilliant blue eyes calm, "We need to go now."
Roxas.
"O-okay…" Axel turned to look at the two, both were so much younger than himself. But Roxas understood.
Blood ran from that woman's chest, and from the other's head. What had he done?
Exactly what had he done…?
Axel put a hand to his forehead and felt the keys being wrenched from his hand by Roxas.
"Get him in the backseat, Kairi. We need to get out of here."
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Axel started down the alleyway, but paused when he heard the mewling of kittens.
Kittens.
Crouching to look under a dumpster, he saw them. Four black and white kittens, all crying out for their mother. Cautiously, Axel reached under and pulled one into his arms, surprised at the frailty. He could feel its small spine and see its feeble ribs. Its mother wasn't coming back, was she?
Axel longed to take them home; to help them, but what home did he have? What milk did he have to feed them? He closed his eyes and felt the stinging of hot tears as he felt a connection with the small creatures. They were crying out so loudly for a mother who would never come. Slowly, he placed the tiny animal back under the metal dumpster, next to his three siblings.
These four children were doomed to die.
When a mother abandons them, what are they to do?
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A/N: Um… yeah. I guess that's… well. Um. He did it. I'm not good with action-kapow-whipash scenes, so uh… heh. Review and tell me what you think! Yeah. That's how it's gonna be. Yay. Go Axel?
P.S.--Sorry this took me so long. I've been sick for a while, and had to go to the emergency room, blah, blah, blah, and medicine made my last try messy, etc. Either way, sorry, sorry. I hope you liked this one!!
Much love from your
Shiro!
