b u Fear in the Darkness, Chapter VII /u
An OWIL Story /b
"Well this is it," Axel said as he looked mournfully at the blood stained writing on the walls of Roxas' room. Zexion and Demyx stood on each side of him.
"You know," the blond said, taking a step closer to the wall. "When Zexy here," he gestured towards the silver haired man, "told me that are little buddy was leaving these blood messages on the walls of his room, I had though that the reason no one understood them was because they were poetic or something of the sort." He paused, turning to face his two friends. "Not that they were written in German!" Demyx waved his arms wildly at the writing, a look of mild shock stretched across his face.
"Since when has Roxas known German?" The redhead said curiously.
"He must have learned it after he left," Zex said. "Do we know anyone who can translate this for us?" Demyx walked around the other two, wrapping his arms around their necks, a wide smile spread across his face.
Giggling he said, "Ich spreche Deutsch." Both looked at the blond twenty-five year old as if they couldn't believe their ears.
"Since when?" Zexion turned to look at Demyx in shock.
"Awww Zexy, I can't believe you don't remember!" The blond's face dropped in disbelief. "I told you that I had to learn German last year for that concert!"
"You never told me that," the silver haired twenty-six year old said as his eyebrows scrunched together.
"Yes I did, it was when I was staying at your place while the band took a break. We had just finished having-"
"Ok, enough with trying to figure out i when /i Dem learned German." The redhead interjected, he had an odd feeling that he didn't want to know what they had just finished having. "Could you just translate the writing?"
"Fine," the blond said taking another look at the wall. "Hmmm…gehen zu dem Platz…," he mumbled. "No gehe not gehen... wo die Traur… Traurik… Traurigkeit eimam…" After a few minutes of the blond's mumbling to himself, he turned back to the other two, smiling broadly. "It says gehe zu dem Platz, wo die Traurigkeit einam lebte, und finde in der Dunkelheit den Anfang zum ewigen Schlaf."
"And what the bloody hell does that mean?" Axel said looking even more confused then before. The blond simply smiled, walked back to the other two, swinging his arms around there necks.
"I have no clue!" Demyx said giggling again, "but what I do know is that it has something to do with darkness, and luckily for us I have a dictionary in my room."
"Axel?" A nervous voice came from the doorway, turning Axel found a red haired woman with a phone in her hands.
"Yes Kairi?"
"Ummm… it's y-your wife, sh-she wants to talk to you."
"Oh, ummm… well… why don't you two go find out what that means, while I take Tifa's call." Axel said as he took the phone from Kairi.
"Ok, well I guess will just come look for you when we've figured it out," the silver haired doctor said, taking his blond companion by the hand, and gently pulled him from his spot.
"Oh, and by the way Axel, it was only dinner!" Demyx said smiling, as he walked out of the room with Zexion, leaving only the two redheads in the room.
"Ummm, Axel?" Kairi said nervously. "When your done with the phone, could you do me a favor?"
"That depends on what that favor entails?"
"I over heard Naminé in her room, she was crying again. I've tried talking to her before, but she wont say anything to me. I was wondering if you could give it a try?"
"Yes, of course."
"Thanks," Kairi said as she left the room.
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For a moment Axel stood there looking at the phone, considering if he should just hang up and go find out what was wrong with Naminé. i She'd just call back, /i he thought. Taking a deep breath he spook into the phone:
"Hello Tifa."
i "Hi Axel darling," /i she said sweetly. The redhead's face became emotionless, his voice cold.
"What do you want?"
i "I love you Axel." /i He winced at her words.
"What do you want?" He repeated, his heart aching a little.
i "I want you to come home!" /i It sounded like she was on the verge of tears. Axel breathed heavily into the phone.
"Tifa…" The redhead breathed, unsure of what to say or do. i Roxas needs me, I can't go back… and besides the only thing we do is fight… when your even home…
"Yes darling?" /i
"I am…" Axel closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before saying his final word, "home." i Why was that so hard to say?
"I don't understand… I love you! I-I forgive you for leaving Axel! I want you to come home!" /i With a single word all feelings of sadness and heart ache left the pyro.
"You forgive me!? You forgive ME? Tifa it was never about you being able to forgive me! It was about me being able to forgive YOU! And I'm not sure I can do that. When you left that message on my phone two months ago you told me to not come back, to not even dare to try to fix anything! Well guess what, you got your wish Tifa! I'm not going back to you! As soon as Roxas is well again I'll go get my stuff from storage, and I'll sign those divorce papers happily!" Axel hung up the phone, throwing it out the door. It hit the wall, breaking into pieces. The redhead stormed out of the room, his face emotionless until he closed his bedroom the door, and finally broke down crying.
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The once hot water ran down the redhead's back as he stood in the shower, leaning his head on the wall. He inhaled his cigarette before pressing the hot ash against his arm, exhaling, and dropping it into a pile of buds on the tub floor. The man grabbed another cigarette from the other side of the shower curtain, lit it, and began to smoke the calming nicotine. As he created another burn mark on his inner arm, he closed his eyes, tears pouring down…
i
"I lit my pain on fire, and I watched it all burn down. Now I'm dancing in the ashes, and there's no one else around. Cause I wanna be apart of something. This is just a story of a broken soul…" The stereo in the bathroom blared as Axel took his shower. The blond on the other side of the door was starting to worry, the water had been running for over an hour.
Roxas knocked on the door, "Axel?" No answer came from the steamy depths beyond the door. "AXEL?" The worried fifteen year old banged on the door, but no matter how hard he knocked or how loud he yelled this brother's name, no answer came. Panicked, he opened the door, white hot mist flowed out from the opening, making it hard to see into the bathroom. "Axel?" Roxas walked into the room, covering his nose, as the smell of cigarette smoke tried to devour the inner cavern of his nose. "Axel you alright?" He shut the stereo off, and pulled the shower curtain open. The seventeen year old redhead sat on the bottom of the tub, freezing cold water raining on the his necked body, a dead cigarette bud hanging loosely from his lips, and his arms were covered in burn marks. "AXEL!!!" Roxas pulled his older brother out of the shower, the cigarette falling from the redhead's mouth. The blond quickly grabbed a towel, wrapping Axel in it.
"Roxas?" The seventeen year old mumbled, his eyes staring blankly into nothingness.
"I'm here Axel," the younger teen said, as he rocked the shaking redhead in his arms. "Please tell me what's wrong," Roxas started to cry.
"My heart… it hurts… and I don't understand why…" Tears began to pour out from the older teen's eyes. "I'm scared Roxas." The younger brother continued to rock his older brother, trying to think of what to say.
"Axel I love you, you're my brother, and I'm always going to be here for you. I'll protect you no matter what."
/i
The twenty-five year old opened his eyes as he dropped the exhausted bud on the ground. Freezing, he shut the water off, and got out of the shower. After wrapping his white towel around his waist, he looked at his newest disfigurations on his arms.
i
"WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" The dark brunet woman screamed.
"I told you that I don't know." Axel wrapped his arm in gauze.
"YOU'RE AN IDIOT IF YOU THINK BURNING YOUR FUCKING ARM IS GOING TO HELP MATERS!" Tifa said as she waltzed up to the twenty-three year old, and slapped him.
The redhead placed his hand on his cheek, "Maybe Roxas was right about you." He glared down at his wife, before walking calmly from the room.
/i
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After getting dressed, Axel headed towards Naminé's room, which was actually only three rooms down from his. The redhead stopped at her door, he could hear soft sobs coming from the other side. He knocked.
"Naminé?" The sobbing subsided.
"Who is it?"
"Its Axel, um… do you think you could come to my room in about a half hour or so?" He said to the door.
"Um…, sure… I guess I could."
"Ok… um… see you in a bit then?"
"Yah, I'll be there."
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There was a knock on the door.
"It's open." Axel called, and Naminé opened the door to his room. The redhead was sitting on a blanket on the floor, chocolate cake and ice cream in front of him.
"You wanted to see me?" She said, walking into the room.
"Come sit down," he padded the blanket.
"Oh o-ok," the twenty-two year old blond sat across from the twenty-five year old redhead.
"Have some," he said gesturing to the food, "Nothing is better then comfort food when you feel like shit," Axel chuckled. For a few minutes they sat in silence, eating, and occasionally looking at the other. "Kairi's worried about you, she said that you've been crying in your room for a few weeks now."
"Oh, um…." The blond looked nervously around, trying to avoid the green eyes looking at her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He put down his ice cream, and licked the remnants off his fingers.
"No… um… maybe… I don't know…"
"You don't have to if you really don't want to."
"I want to tell you… it's just…I'm scared." She bent her head down low, and Axel knew that she had started to cry again.
"I wont get mad or anything like that Naminé. Its ok to tell me, if you really want to."
"I-I…" Axel got up and went over to the blond, crouched down, and hugged her.
"Its ok, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He began to rub her arm, trying to comfort her.
"I was driving the car!" She burst out. "Axel, I'm so sorry! Its all my fault Roxas is like this!" She began to sob uncontrollably.
"Shhh… it's ok Naminé, its not your fault that Roxas ended up this way."
"Yes it is! I was driving the car! I-I h-hit R-Rox-as!"
"Shhh…. Naminé look at me," Axel lifted the sobbing woman's chin, forcing her to look at him. "I would never dream of blaming you for what's happening to Roxas. Remember what you told me when I first came to see him? You said that after investigation the doctors believed that he was suicidal. That he was trying to die. I believe that he was very fortunate that you were the one driving the car. You have been here for him this entire time, trying to help him. In my eyes you are like his guardian angel."
As the redhead spook, Naminé got lost in his intense emerald green eyes, which seemed to be getting closer and closer to her. Before she really knew what she was doing, she had lightly pressed her lips against his. At first he didn't respond, but as she began to pull away his hand cupped her neck, pulling her closer, deepening the kiss.
After a few minutes he pulled away, "I'm sorry Naminé, I can't." Axel looked away guilty for what he had just done.
"Don't be, I'm not." She gently pulled his face towards her, kissing him, and again he pulled away.
"I… I can't Naminé. My head isn't in the right place, don't get me wrong I want to… it just… its not… love… I'm sorry."
"I know its not love," She smiled sweetly as she moved closer to him. "Its simply a want, a need to be close to someone in such dark and depressing times." Her blue eyes looked deeply into his green. "Will you spend just one night with me?" He did not answer, but when she kissed him again, he did not pull away.
b To Be Continued… /b