Chapter 4
The doors clunked open and the elevator chimed as the pair stood frozen. In front of Axel and Roxas stood many of the building's employees, whose mouths gaped open. The expressions were clear on their faces, shock and surprise mixed together; one of the employees had a cell phone ready in hand with 9-1-1 already dialed.
Axel and Roxas looked into each other's eyes, then blushed. Quickly moving away to avoid further embarassment, Axel quietly watched as Roxas nervously rubbed his dangling arm with his right hand. Scratching his head, Axel told the observers there was nothing to worry about, that the argument was just a stupid disagreement and everything would be fine.
Somehow, Roxas didn't think too lightly on that note.
As Axel was about to press one of the silver buttons, Roxas slapped his hand and looked him in the eyes. A pair of blazing green eyes screamed irration as they met Roxas' blues, but he continued, somewhat shaking under his glare.
"Why don't we just ask where Naminé is?" he hissed.
"Oh, really? You want to do that? Make it obvious, why don't you!"
"No, Axel, just shut up and let me finish. We could say that we're looking for her because we've got a meeting with her to take her out to lunch. What time is it now?"
Axel huffed, and flicked his wrist and checked his watch. "It's twenty after one," he replied quietly.
"Perfect. We could just say we're coming to pick her up for a one thirty lunch appointment about something that needs to be addressed, and we were directed to Naminé."
"Sounds good, besides the fact it smells a bit fishy," Axel said.
"Yeah, well, maybe that's just your aweful cologne," Roxas sighed. "Shall we? It's the best shot we have right now."
Axel glared at him, searching for a reason why he didn't want to ask anyone, but sighed and crossed his arms. "Might as well. We don't have much time left if we're going to make this plan work."
Roxas nodded, and stepped out of the elevator, tugging on his shirt again. His gaze fell upon several faces, making sure Naminé wasn't around before asking a young woman, who looked very uncomfortable in the crowded hallway. Axel noticed Roxas starting towards the woman and was about to object, but he was stopped when his cell – that was previously placed in his jeans pocket – vibrated against his leg.
The burnette noticed the young blond coming towards her and gave him a questioning look.
He gave her a smile before saying, "Hi, my name is Roxas... You wouldn't happen to know a Naminé, would you?"
The woman blinked, clutching the folders in her hands tighter.
"Yes, I know Naminé," she answered softly. "She's the only reason why I got this job, as crappy as it is."
"Oh. Uh, you wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you? I've been trying to look for her forever." Roxas brought his hand to his head and scratched it, feigning innocence.
The burnette thought for a minute. "Last I checked, I think she was on the forty-eigth floor. Is there something wrong?"
"Uh, not really, we, or I, scheduled an appointment with her, but then we kind of forgot to talk about a, uh, meeting place, so now I'm kind of lost ..."
"Oh. I see."
Axel came up behind Roxas, and tugged him away from the woman without a word.
"A-Axel, what are you–"
"Sshh!" He eyed the burnette, who was now baffled, and gave her a quick smile. He turned Roxas around and started in on him.
"Well? What did she say?"
"I was just getting to that," Roxas dryly replied.
"Well, hurry it up, would you? I'm worried you're going to make this plan fall apart."
Roxas blinked, anger beginning to bubble deep within him.
"I'm going to make this plan fall apart? What about you, you stupid idiot, walking into rooms like nobody's business ..."
Axel was about to object when the burnette behind them suddenly cleared her throat. Axel simply blinked, lifted his gaze over Roxas' head, and Roxas' heart skipped a beat.
There, finally, stood Naminé, giving the two boys her picture-perfect smile.
"Hi," she said. "I heard you guys were looking for me?"
"Uh, yes, we were," replied Axel, pushing Roxas out of the way. "There's a coulpe of things we'd like to ... go over with you."
"Oh, I'm sure you guys wouldn't have any questions that I would know the answers to. The best person to talk to is–"
"No no, listen, when I called previously and was asking one of the receptionists my questions, she told me to come to you." Axel's own heart skipped a beat when he felt his phone vibrate against his leg again. Stupid thing.
"You were?"
"Yes," Roxas intervened, ignoring Axel's dirty glare. "Listen, there's a lot of material that we–" Roxas pointed his finger to Axel then to himself "–need to cover."
"Right, so we shall be going now," Axel said, and brought his arm around Naminé's shoulder, taking her with him in his quick-paced step.
The burnette suddenly felt uneasy about what happened in front of her eyes. She could also feel Naminé's uneasiness, and knew she just wasn't feeling the uneasiness, it was her gut instinct telling her to take action.
She ran over to one of the floor's many offices and feverishly dialed a number on the desk's phone. A deep voice answered her panicked call.
"Security."
"I need you guys posted heavily on several floors, mainly on the lobby floor. There's ... some kind of suspicious activity going on..."
"Where are we going?"
Roxas looked over at Naminé, her light, flowing hair just barely caressing her narrow shoulders. She was awefully thin, almost thin to be a model, yet her hair was healthy and full. Her blue eyes, which were looking at the elevator's ceiling, were easy to lose yourself in, a deep sea of secrets and untold stories waiting to be revealed.
Axel's eyes were completely different. Instead of a sea of blue, his raging greens showed he was another angry teenager, out to prove the world he was worth something. Those eyes pierced through Roxas as he was about to reply, telling him to keep his mouth shut. After the previous episode in the elevator, Roxas knew better, and closed his mouth.
"We're headed to the coffee house on the corner to ask you some questions."
The elevator passed floor twenty-nine.
"What kind of questions are you going to ask me?" Naminé said through gritted teeth, crossing her arms yet keeping her gaze fixed on the ceiling. Roxas had to wonder if she knew what him and Axel were really doing.
"Just things I've been wondering about ever since this building went up."
Floor twenty-six passed.
"Like?"
"Axel–"
"No, kid, it's okay–"
"Axel?" breathed Naminé. "Oh my God." Naminé's heart skipped a beat.
"What, you know him?" laughed Roxas, but quit immediately after Axel shot him a daring look.
"Of course, who wouldn't? You got in to all kinds of trouble – vandalism, stealing, even attempted murder–"
"That," Axel interrupted, "was only because the kid pissed me off. He was lucky to get away."
"He was only fifteen!" Naminé cried.
"Well," Roxas said, "at least he hasn't kidnapped anyone yet."
Floor fourteen passed.
"What?" Naminé's heart pounded against her chest, beating faster and faster.
"Good going, Roxas, I think she figured it out."
"What? You don't have to give up so easily–"
"What's going on? Are you kidnapping me?"
Floor nine flew by, the main floor coming closer, quicker.
Axel sighed, and revealed a .22 shot gun, pointing it at Naminé's temple. "Any sudden movement–"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," stated the blond girl. "What do you want from me?"
Floor four. Damnit.
"Axel ..." Roxas' hesitant voice was heard.
"Shut up, Roxas! Listen, Naminé, somebody better not have called security–"
"I had no idea this would happen, so how could I have?"
The elevator came to a stop. All three pairs of eyes shot to the display above the doors.
Main lobby.
The elevator doors opened ever so slowly.
"Shit," muttered Axel.
Roxas blinked, gulped, and took in the sight of fifteen guns that were pointed at him and Axel. Everything Roxas was thinking of exited his mind, leaving him numb and confused. He could hear his name being called, but it all sounded so distant.
The image of this mother came to his mind, then left quickly, bringing him back to reality, his senses returning. Roxas glanced over at Axel, who was being handcuffed. His vision flicked over to a lanky shadow, whose hands were closing in on Naminé.
The security guard finished with Axel, who was thrown out of the elevator, and brought out another pair of silvery handcuffs for Roxas.
Reacting instinctively, Roxas pushed the body guard, though heavy as he was, out of his way and ran, running to Naminé. She screamed, but Roxas grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the swarm of security guards.
"What do you think you're doing?" Naminé cried.
"I'll tell you later," Roxas shouted over top of the sudden commotion, not too sure what he was doing himself. "Just keep running."
"No!"
A wall beside them was shot to pieces, wood and plastic flying overtop of Roxas' and Naminé's head.
"Yes – Naminé, please trust me." He turned and looked into her eyes, watching the sapphire blues looking for trust in Roxas' own eyes. Both of them found that after that night, they would never be able to come back to Destiny Islands for a while.
"Fine," was all Naminé replied with, and together, they exited out of the building and ran down the street.
Axel watched the two leave after being left behind by the horde of security guards, his hands still handcuffed.
Where was that stupid ass going? Why did he leave so suddenly?
Why did he care?
"You know, that stupid sonofabitch is lucky," Larxene said softly behind Axel. "He coulda been shot. He shoulda been shot. I would've shot him–"
"Did you see how fast he moved?" Axel intervened Larxene's raging rant. "There's no way they could have shot him."
"Sure, so he was fast," Larxene agreed, "but that's no excuse for letting him go."
The Present
Axel shook his head. He could hear Roxas apologizing, and both of them got to their feet. Axel groaned againg. His headache worsened.
"You stupid ass," Axel muttered.
"–I didn't see you coming, and ..."
"Why'd you run?"
Roxas stopped, confused.
"Two years ago, kid. Why'd you run?"
"I – I don't remember..."
"Oh, come on, you must know why you ran with the way you moved so quickly–"
"I said I don't remember!" Roxas cried.
The hallway went suddenly dead. Axel looked into Roxas' blue eyes, trying to find some kind of answer that might be hidden. He found it: Roxas did remember.
"You have no idea what kind of shit we got into after you ran–"
"Yeah, well, I don't see why I had to be involved in that, anyway."
"You were involved in the kidnapping that girl because Xemnas saw potential in you. I mean, damn, the way you ran so quickly..."
"Why do you care that I ran?"
Again, the question stopped Axel, and he had to agree with Roxas. When had he began caring about things that happened around him? It was so out of character. Ever since Roxas came around...
"I don't, really," Axel replied lamely. "I'm just pissed that you didn't suffer like the rest of us did."
Roxas blinked. "I didn't suffer? Axel, I don't think you even know the true meaning of suffering. Sure, I didn't have to do community service for a couple of hours–"
"Don't forget five days in prison."
"–But that's not as terrible as the suffering I went through. Do you know how pissed my mother was when I told her about what happened? She was glad I was honest and – and brave to tell her, but she was also upset when we had to move!"
"Shut up! That's not so bad, Roxas!" shouted Axel, emotion from the past rising.
"Maybe not for you, it isn't," Roxas replied quietly, a lump forming in his throat, "but then again, you don't seem to care about anything." With that, Roxas bent down to quickly gather his notes that still littered the tiled floor, and walked off.
Axel, who chuckled nervously to himself, watched Roxas walk away. He admitted he had no idea what Roxas went through with his folks at home, but Roxas had no idea Axel had walked the halls by himself. Well, that was partially true: he still had Demyx after his days in prison. Axel had never talked to Larxene, or Xigbar, not even Luxord, since getting out of prison.
Axel swallowed, his mouth dry and tasting aweful. For some stupid reason, he hoped Roxas could change his lonliness. Somehow.
A/N: Yay, I finally got to upload this! I hope you guys enjoy, because I've been wondering how to write this chapter for a very long time. Sadly, this'll be the end of some fast-paced action for a while, but there is, guaranteed, more action to come! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, and please--tell your friends about this story teehee!
