I do not own KH or it's characters.

Mezzanine

Chapter Seven: The Follower

Riku and Demyx found themselves feeling completely spurned and neglected the moment Axel had departed. It wasn't entirely because of the fact that they were left to deal with his messy complications. It also wasn't the fact that Seifer and his gang pushed and teased and cursed them in Axel's place. Words hurt. But it didn't break them. They were stronger than that. However, the missing space that was left behind was a different matter. It left them short handed one man and gypped with not much else to do once they left the school and behind it, the bullies that have had it out for the hot head for as long as they could remember.

They decided it was better if they stuck together for the remainder of the day. They needed it after all. Parting from each other would only mean one less of a friend again. Riku suggested that they do something in order to take their minds off the missing piece to their puzzle. Although Demyx was more than happy to agree, they found themselves in a pickle. Everything that they thought up to do, reminded them of their moody, troublesome pal. Nevertheless, they moved along.

With many thoughts of what exactly it was they were going to do, at last, they came to terms with a brilliant idea. Demyx offered they take a quick trip to the town mall. After all, the water loving boy needed a new wetsuit for his delightful surfing escapades. Seeing that Axel despised anything to do with the ocean, Riku agreed wholeheartedly. With the bitter thought of their friend still lingering at the back of their minds, they stuck with their plan and went on with their ordinary (vampire-less) lives.

Demyx knew of one surf shop in town and it was by far the best one his world had to offer. Destiny Island's Surf was a store in its own that had its pros and cons, coming in at a close second to his favorite shops. But Demyx's preferred boards, clothing, and gear were supplied at Twilight Beach Retail. It had it all and more. Riku was slightly annoyed that the dishwater blond was so ecstatic about it all but a positive mood only meant it would rub off on another, which it did. The pale silver haired one followed the skipping teen down an isle with an embarrassed but happy scoff.

Then, as Demyx was chattering about the latest surf waxes, Riku spied a familiar dark figure at the corner of his eyes. Feeling very bold, he snatched his chirping friend and faced him in the direction of the familiarity. Riku chuckled saying, "See that?"

"See what?" Demyx asked a little puzzled with his joy never extinguished.

"Your future love interest, dumbass."

Demyx groaned in annoyance and teal green eyes focused on what exactly Riku had been fussing over. He gasped and ducked behind his slightly taller friend. At the far end of the store between a row of long boards and wet suits was Xigbar, dressed down, alone, and obviously searching for a board to purchase. Demyx was in utter shock. This just wasn't happening. Everybody knew it was weird as hell to see teachers at fun, easy going, teenage suited environments. No less, Demyx's favorite place to shop.

Riku nudged his flushing and embarrassed friend towards the tanned history teacher. Demyx protested with a pout, whining as he attempted to flee from the store. The athletic one quickly caught a hold of Demyx again, shaking the silly out of him.

"You said you needed a wetsuit, no?"

"Yeah! But–"

"But nothing," Riku insisted. "Go and look for one. Does it really matter if the man is there or not? And who knows? Maybe you could catch up with your Casanova on the latest spin off adventure. I wonder what it'll be tonight. Role play?"

"Riku!" Demyx whined, slugging a pale muscled arm. "I'm not a skank dammit. I swear I never did anything sexual with him!"

Riku tilted his head and folded his arms, not believing him. With a quick check if the teacher was still out of earshot and across from the store, which he was, Demyx sighed and rubbed the back of his neck timidly. "Promise not to tell if I told you how I scored the A?"

"Cross my heart," he said honestly.

Demyx sheepishly mumbled something.

"What?"

Again, he muttered incoherent words.

"Can't hear you, Demy."

"I baked him heart shaped cookies!"

Riku's face fell, a little disappointed. He gave a weak, "What?"

Demyx drew in a deep breath of air, and exhaled tiresomely. "Last year… before every test… I'd bake him little pink heart shaped cookies. I took a culinary course and one time I offered him some and he enjoyed them. Since that happened, I would make him some whenever we'd have a pop quiz or anything like that. Stupid, I know."

Damn. Riku was inwardly hoping that it would be like a cheesy TV soap opera and he'd gush out every scandalous detail to him. Sadly, life just wasn't spruced up episodes of romantic TV dramas. But Riku felt accomplished either way. He at least got a confession and that –in his opinion– was the best part of soap operas. He tsked at Demyx, turned him to face the browsing history teacher and pushed him forward again.

"You're too gay for your own good. Just go talk to him before I get him to talk to you."

Demyx could handle approaching the man on his own instead of Riku introducing them. That would be a nightmare come to life. Nothing was worse than that sort of horrible embarrassment. After all, what worse situations were there in his life? Facing the monster beneath the bed? Hardly. So with an encouraging nudge of the back, Demyx stumbled into the isle that held the upbeat history teacher.

He entered and looked back to Riku who gave him two thumbs up in support. Demyx nodded with a tremble and swallowed down a lump of fear. He turned and continued onwards, shifting and prodding at the row of black wetsuits. He didn't look at the man right away and he was fuzzed and shifting constantly in his peripheral vision. Not very interested in the high quality suits anymore, he at last stole a cringing glance.

"Demyx?" the teacher's voice asked skeptically.

When his eyes finally met the tall man's deep cocoa one. Demyx felt his ears go hot and he chuckled nervously. He waved a bashful hand. "Oh, h-hi."

"Strange seeing a student when I'm off the clock," he smiled warmly. "Do you come here often?"

Demyx swore on his special edition Finding Nemo DVD that the sudden faint laughter in the store had belonged to Riku. He bit his bottom lip and shrugged haphazardly. "Actually I do. I was just looking for a new suit."

"You surf too?" the older one chimed.

"Yeah," Demyx perked up, feeling much more confident. "I would never guess that you would be into this too."

"Actually," Xigbar chuckled. "I rode the waves a lot when I was younger and I figured I'd pick it up again but I'm so sure anymore. It's been a while and I'm rustier than ever."

Opportunity snagged.

"I could help… if you want." The teacher's aid peeped quietly.

A dark brow arched and Xigbar quirked a debonair, sultry grin that made Demyx's spine quiver with anticipation for his next well yearned for words. Seeing a particular history professor outside of school grounds seemed surreal now and became enjoyably pleasant all of a sudden. His upbeat, stern, and charismatic company suited the younger ones completely. Demyx was allured, enthralled, and even mesmerized at this confrontation. He simply had to thank Riku for this later, as much as it would probably annoy him too.

"Are you offering a teacher surfing lessons?"

The dishwater blond giggled at this and mewled a soft, "Yes."

"In that case," he uttered roughly. "Let's start with boards. Would you suggest I ride short or long?"

Demyx coughed, losing his composure at the statement, and Xigbar eyed him comically. He inwardly kicked himself for taking it as a sexual innuendo. After all, Xigbar is a high school teacher. Being a senior had its advantages but Demyx was pretty sure it had nothing to do with crushing on or even dating a teacher when he wasn't even of legal age yet. He figured flirting was harmless though. So he quickly collected himself, and then answered in a calm tone. "I'm going to have to see how you do with both. From there, we'll pick things up. But first thing's first… here's my number."

.

"I'll protect you."

These simply placed words coursed and echoed through Axel's conscience. They were spoken with the pure intent of truth. Although it was meant for comfort, it did little to affect the shaken mortal teenager. He was a bold guy –he knew– but not now. He felt cowardly, brittle, and startled like a mouse before a cat, a very large cat. Axel childishly compared his predicament to the lion and the mouse story that Reno had told him when he was a child. He prayed to whatever higher power above that his story would end the same. Happily ever after. The unlikely mouse remained uneaten and the powerful lion accepted the rodent's friendship. He prayed and prayed and prayed for just this.

Hope was well acknowledged for he had a lion of his own. Roxas let a growl resonate at the depths of his throat. His boyish frame shifted weight from foot to foot, an angered lion prepared for a competitive brawl. God forbid he let his own father make Axel bleed in his presence. That was the last thing he needed. Cloud's sapphire orbs welled into a vicious scarlet, almost brighter than his son's. The two otherworldly gazes met sharply and a tension became so thick in the atmosphere it could be slit in two.

Roxas slowly gestured with the batting of his hand for Axel to back up. With his life at stake, he submitted to the notion with caution. Cloud's piercing eyes went straight to the movement and he snarled, charging forwards with his larger than life sword directed toward his particularly human prey. Axel's breath hitched at the sheer speed the elder was gaining but was in more shock at Roxas' quicker reaction. Blondie bolted head on, wielding his precious Oathkeeper with a sly thrust. Metal met metal in a sparked clink.

Cloud put all his weight down the blade, forcing Roxas to kneel a leg. His jaw clenched and his eyes squeezed shut. With a constricted grunt, Roxas pushed himself upwards and unlocked the strong iron clutch. They danced in a blur of a violent sway. Swords clashed and chipped and sliced in a thunderous rhythm that spellbound Axel. Their agility was inhumanly fast, their offense was near impossible to keep up with to the naked eye, and their defense was just as equally impressive. This went on for what felt like an eternity to Axel. He remained uneasy just the same.

Axel noticed that Roxas began to tire after a great deal of time passed. His swings were missing his target, his dodges grew lethargic, and his determined expressions showed signs of fatigue. These were costly actions. Every now and then, Cloud would nick the younger immortal's skin. His bicep, his cheek, and his chest were open with crimson fluids steadily pouring. They'd heal in seconds. Only to be reopened by the brunt of Cloud's blade again. Then, they eventually stopped resealing altogether. This scared Axel.

He couldn't take this much longer. He had to do something. Anything.

Oblivion, he thought with his eyes awry. Lowe and behold, lying peacefully at the floor before the coat of mail display was the ebony keyblade itself. It was only an arms reach away. Suddenly, a displeasing wail of pain soared throughout the mansion. Axel refrained from retrieving the sword to look back at the foul play between father and son. He sucked in a rust scented breath of air. Roxas was hunkered over, his red stained arms hugging his stomach. His forearms parted, revealing a deep gash along his gut. It appeared his arms were keeping his innards from spilling out.

Oathkeeper must have been knocked out of his hands, for the redhead hadn't seen it near him. Furious at the painful sight, Axel went for Oblivion again, calling out to Roxas –who was at the other end of the room– and tossed him the ancient sword. The blond caught it with one hand, his other arm remained at his belly. With his dying streak of defense at last seeing a hopeful shed of light, Roxas prepared to swing Oblivion.

A whir of silver and yellow brandished across Roxas' path. Red eyes shrunk to blue and he suddenly cried out several octaves louder –Axel was forced to cover his ears at this– and Oblivion fell clunking to the ground. Along with it, Roxas' severed hand.

Axel's stomach turned sourly. He nearly dry heaved at the sight but temperance kept his food down. Feeling not so scared anymore, he made a mad dash to a screaming Roxas who was currently convulsing and writhing in agony on the floor. Axel gently settled the vampire into his lap and tore off his black jacket. He wrapped it around the stub of Roxas' gushing wrist and forced his fingers into the wet cloth to keep the blood from further flow. The blond only cried louder as he did this.

"What is wrong with you?!" Axel screamed at Cloud who was looking quite unfazed by the scene.

At last, an emotion was shown. The masochistic man smiled, chuckled even, shaking his head. "Roxas, he's such a worrier. He doesn't seem to get our play."

"Shut up! Have you lost your mind?! You honestly expect me to think of this as a game!? You just cut off his hand for fucks sake!"

"He's not complaining. Is he?" Cloud gingerly motioned to Roxas.

Before the hot head could retort, he noticed that Roxas' throaty yelps of pain had stifled into mere pants. "Axel…" he croaked, pushing off his jacket from his wrist. He gave the tearing up human an apologetic frown as he reached a handless arm to the bleeding extremity that was still latched onto Oblivion. To Axel's utter disbelief, veins and tendons and wires of blood shot out from the stub and into the hand. It dragged the severed hand across the floor and sucked itself snugly back into its rightful place. Roxas dropped Oblivion and flexed the reattached fingers. All the blood was gone. His hand looked virtually unscathed.

Axel watched the miraculous boy in his embrace. He stared with dry unblinking green eyes. Roxas stared back with a small reassuring grin. He mouthed a quiet, "I'm alright." Then, a squeaking noise emitted but Axel paid no attention to it, until a voice followed.

"Spike?"

The voice belonged to a well built, well dressed, raven haired man who stood at the now open front doors. Behind the man was a curious and ogling Sora. Roxas gave an exerted sigh and he shakily rose from the floor with the help of Axel. Pain still etched the vampires face but it looked tolerable. Cloud however, didn't look too high and mighty anymore to the redhead's abrupt surprise. He looked a little embarrassed even. Axel must have fallen into a rabbit hole becuase things were only getting curiouser and curiouser.

"Don't tell me you're throwing a party and I'm not invited. I'm a little hurt," the man looked to Axel with a smile. "Partying with a minor no less. I must really be missing out."

"Yeah well, you missed one hell of a show too." Roxas huffed.

"Yeah?" Axel oddly agreed without much breath.

The bright man's smile grew wider as he approached the three males, Sora lagging quietly behind him. He extended a very attached hand (to Axel's relief) for him to shake. "I'm Zack. You must be the famous Axel that Roxas talks so much about."

Axel nodded and shook Zack's strong hand with hesitance. Roxas was looking away sheepishly as if he hadn't heard what the man had said and for the most part, everyone had a relaxed and mellow attitude except for Axel. He was confused to no end at how quickly this family went from violence to quaint small talk in seconds. He just didn't get it. Again, he figured it had a lot to do with the old accustomed ways of immortals. The human gave Roxas a dangerous look that screamed 'You have some explaining to do'.

"Axel," Cloud said bitterly. "My son seems to fancy you more than I like to think. He's also shown that he can defend you just as easily. For that, I shall keep my word. You are welcome in our home. Roxas… you still have a lot to work on. That slip up shouldn't have happened. Mistakes get you no where in this life. Next time I'd like to see your stamina push harder and longer than that. Here," he tossed Roxas an orange bottle from his breast pocket.

The bewildered teen watched as Roxas unscrewed the bottle and greedily stuffed a generous handful of forest green pills into his mouth. His color gradually returned to its normal complexion and the wounds in his skin readily sealed themselves. He frowned at Cloud's rude insight but Axel could tell that Roxas was used to it. At this, he redirected his attention back to Cloud. "What would you have done if Roxas wasn't able to protect me?"

Zack's bright smile faded. Sora put a hand to his mouth. And Roxas went rigid.

Cloud answered immediately. "Rest assured I would have shown you that Twilight Town is no longer your home and that you'd know fear in an entirely different perspective."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I am."

"Cloud!" Roxas interjected in a drained shout.

"I wouldn't kill you if that's what you were thinking," Cloud ignored his son's heed. "But, I would gladly take the life from you without a moment's hesitation if you ever decide to spread our little family secret. Mark my words. You will pay a costly price if that ever happens."

Zack's jubilant energy returned to its fullest as he suddenly wrapped an arm around Cloud's shoulders. He tousled his other hand through pale yellow spikes and Axel was surprised that Cloud showed no disagreement to these actions. "Excuse his lack of manners. I'm sure you'll understand that a millennium-long life can put a damper on anybody's personality. Sora, why don't you join Rox and his boyfriend? Tell them about what we talked about earlier. I need a private chat with Spiky here too."

With the "B" word said, Axel's chipper mood came back in an instant.

"Whoa, he's not my–"

"Oh come on cupcake, no need to deny."

"Cupcake?"

The sound of Sora clearing his throat and his happy go lucky father's chortle echoed simultaneously. Sora said, "I'd tell you two to get a room but I'm not sure I'd get my word in if that happened."

Axel glowered at the uneasy looking brunet. Funny as the comment was, Axel wasn't about to forget that Sora had something to do with Roxas not dating. Roxas however, simply dismissed the statement. He retrieved his swords with a bitter frown and headed to the middle space in between the two staircases. Sora and Axel gladly followed his trail. The younger vampire watched the two fathers discuss something in hushed tones across the way. Although they were soft and inaudible to humans, he could hear them plain as day. His curiosity drifted afar and he drowned out the sounds of their conversation. Not interested in what they had to say.

"Roxas," Sora started with a little excitement that Axel was not quite used to. "So are you two really an item now?"

The undead blond took a good long gander at his supposed 'item' and said, "No."

Ouch. Somehow, he felt that he had hurt both of the humans. Roxas was starting to regret his answer but he didn't want to take his word back either. He withstood his opinion. The mourning sorrow in his beloved cousin's eyes tugged at his heart strings, telling him to act otherwise. Still, he withstood. Axel although, wasn't quite as passive about his response.

"If I'm nothing to you, then why go through what Cloud just did?"

"His methods of training me are medieval," the undead boy sadly stated. "I go through that every day, Axel. Defending you or not defending you. You're my friend and I like you. More than you know, but…" he stopped and his big blue eyes grew somber. Even welled with tears.

"Sorry to interrupt," Sora put in softly. "But can you guys save this for another time? I need to say something extremely important… not that this isn't important. But this is something that can't really wait."

Axel sighed heavily. He supposed whatever Roxas was going to say would eventually be revealed sooner or later. So he said to Sora, "Shoot."

"It's about the follower."

"What?" Roxas nearly shouted. "Why didn't you say so in the first place? Tell me whatever you know!"

"Follower?" Axel repeated, feeling confused and left out.

"Cloud and I have been relocating homes for the past few decades," Roxas explained rather excitedly. "We've always done this, on the account that we obviously live longer than our neighbors and it'd be strange to them if we never aged and never died – anyway. Just recently, we've been forced to move on more occasions because we've noticed that there were patterns of somebody or something watching us."

"Roxas and Cloud even lived with us for the longest time," Sora added. "But they left when they realized the follower was on their trail again."

"We've never been able to shake off whatever it is. Wherever we go, it follows." Roxas said with a rare gleaming smile that made Axel's heart skip a beat or two.

Axel lightly shook his head and went back to the topic at hand. "Well, why are you happy about that?"

"Because of what I know," Sora stated.

Roxas beamed, "And?"

"You know how there's been an increased rate of heartless?"

Axel knew this. He knew this very well. After all, he had his first encounter with one only a few months prior. Surely that meant that there were more of them now. He obviously would have heard about –or seen– the heartless before if they were in greater numbers. But apparently, they weren't in great numbers. Less heartless and beings like Roxas meant the more oblivious Axel's "average" society were to them. What Sora asked didn't entirely make sense until the redhead remembered what Roxas told him about heartless and their creators.

"Yeah?" Roxas pursed his nervous lips.

Sora cleared his throat once more, saying, "Roxas, your follower is another vampire."

At that exact moment, a scramble and clashing noise emitted behind them. Within milliseconds, Cloud was at the boys' sides. His eyes grew aflame in a hellish red color and he used his hands to part between them. Roxas' eyes went red too. Zack sprinted to the scene as the two vampires approached the great grand window between the stairs. They peered at the darkening outside world and Axel noticed something odd outside that had caught the vampire's attention too. At the window pane, there were lined enigma scratches all along it. Axel stiffened and felt his blood go cold.

Axel hesitantly tip toed forwards and tugged on the back of Roxas' shirt. The blond looked over his shoulder and Axel swallowed hard. He asked "Did you do this?"

"Me?" Roxas quirked. "Why would you ask that?"

All eyes were on the flush redhead as he replied. "When I was at the hospital, I saw those same marks on the window sill. I assumed... I- I don't know what I'm assuming. I thought maybe you were watching me."

Cloud glared at his only son. But he didn't speak and he didn't act upon what was said. Axel had a gut feeling that it was because Zack was there.

"I would be lying if I told you it wasn't me who watched you from the hospital. But this was not my doing. These are... territorial markings," Roxas' cheeks went pink. "They clearly weren't here before. Cloud and I have been inside all this time. It's undeniable that another immortal made these."

"Welcome to our life." Cloud added loudly with his red eyes glowing at Axel. "If Roxas can't protect you from the wreckless vampire out there, then I don't know who else can. Good luck."

.

A vibration buzzed inside the pocket of dark denim jeans. A strong, clawed hand reached inside the pocket and retrieved the source of the rumbling tremors. The ravenous hand pulled out a midnight black cell phone, flipping it open. A new text message was recieved. 'Can't wait to teach my teacher!'

The man let a devious chuckle resonate at the back of his throat. He sighed in a satisfied way and punched in a reply. He was careful his nails didn't damage the phone. 'Can't wait to be taught!'

The immortal teacher sent the message and shut the phone, stuffing it back into his dark denim jean pocket. He extended his arm out and intensely observed his precious claws with an artistic appreciation before taking his index finger into the cave of his mouth. Fangs cut straight through the tough dexteritry of the nail. It broke off and he spat it out, moving onto the next finger to do the same. As he did this, the vampire –with his other hand– lifted up his black eye patch. One red eye and one brown eye took a backwards glance at the Strife manor within the dark camoflouge of the wood. He smirked and continued to groom his unearthly nails. God forbid Xigbar let the truth be discovered.

.

Axel: DAMN Pale! Tease the poor readers to death why don't you!

Pale: -shrug- It's what I do best.

Roxas: -stares at hand- I'm traumatized.

Pale: That was random... but fun to write.

Axel: How could you Pale! Roxy? Want me to kiss it and make it better?!

Roxas: Want me to STILL protect you?

Axel: ...shutting up.

Pale: ANYWAY. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! So many questions... plenty of time.