The clock read 8:42 pm. Axel's eyes fluttered open to a dark ceiling. As they did every time Axel awoke, memories of his nightmares clouded his mind. Faces he knew all too well but hadn't seen for years berated him. Demons long gone still ran free there, in his dreamscape. All of it was drowned in blood. Axel looked down to his chest, sighing at what seemed to be the permanent rune on his chest. A faint crying brought his head back up. It came from across the hall. Getting up slowly, Axel walked over, pausing to press his forehead to his bedroom door until he heard her sob a name.
"Roxas…"
Axel's eyes darkened. As he ran to the escalator, Axel heard pounding on another bedroom door on the opposite side of the wing. He considered it for a moment, then went downstairs to enter the infirmary. There he found the catalyst to her crying.
Roxas was laying morbidly still in the first bed available. Next to him was Kairi Rosekey, a fellow trainee he knew and respected, though, like the rest of them, he rarely talked to. Both were asleep and bare-chested. Axel peered closer at Roxas. His shirt was gone, exposing an ugly, malicious mesh of marred flesh. In the center was a fading iratze, albeit Axel could tell from the almost black color of Roxas's skin that it was mainly for closing the wound. This was the work of a demon, and it'd gotten its venom into Roxas's body. Axel swore, inspecting Kairi to find she was in a better condition; any cuts she had were invisible and the only evidence to prove she was impaired was the same dark grey skin on her ribs.
"It's rude to gaze upon a lady when she's uncovered."
The redhead whirled to see Saïx standing with his arms crossed in the door frame. Axel snarked, "It's rude to startle someone,"
Saïx smirked, "Well, it is not my fault you weren't on guard."
"Whatever."
A moment went by before Saïx approached Axel, gazing down scornfully at Kairi, "Shame. She was such a great student."
"She was always late to class."
"No, that was you. I meant to say, what a pity that such a sharp weapon be dulled at the hands of an inferior opponent."
"What happened?"
"A Veil Lizard was following them."
Axel blinked, "Uh, that's not really an inferior opponent, per say… Kinda had them at a disadvantage, if you ask me."
"I'm not asking. I know they were biting off more than their inexperienced mouths could chew," Saïx turned to leave, stating matter-of-factly as he walked through the door, "Oh, don't get your hopes up on the boy. The Veil Lizard's talon penetrated his intestines on both sides. I highly doubt he will survive."
"But there's hope, right?"
What Axel got wasn't a response or even a word. Saïx gave a toss of the head, a careless grin, and left without doing anything else. For a minute, Axel's eyes lingered at the spot where Saïx last appeared, wandering over to Roxas's face. It almost frightened Axel how much Roxas wasn't moving. People constantly move, even in their sleep. There was always some sort of sign they were still alive. But Roxas's eyes didn't stir behind their lids. Axel couldn't tell he was breathing until he really concentrated and watched his chest rise a fraction of an inch.
There's still hope.
That's not what you thought last time.
Last time?
Yeah, your brother, you moron!
You tried to kill me!
Axel physically punched himself in the head to shut out the voices. It didn't happen all the time. Mostly, he heard faint whispers he could dismiss. That was the first time he heard his brother's voice in a long time. Axel fisted his knuckles against his temples, rubbing slowly, "Go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away…"
"Scarhallow?"
He jumped, his reverie disturbed, as Kairi sat up, covering her breast with the blankets at the end of the bed, "H-Hi…"
"Are you okay?"
He let out a breathless laugh, "You're dying of demon poison and you're asking me if I'm okay?"
"Yeah," she smiled, obviously exhausted, "We're not really friends but, speaking in Raziel's terms, you're my brother, so I gotta look out for you too, y'know?"
You're my brother!
"Scarhallow?" her tone became worried when Axel visibly shuddered.
"Stele."
"What?"
"Give me your stele!"
"Geez, fine, here."
When Kairi took her stele out of her pocket, Axel practically tore it out of her hand. Fingers shaking, Axel retraced the Fearless rune over his heart, inhaling and exhaling deeply. The blood throbbing through his head subsided, relaxing his body and eradicating the images. Once again, the angry riot became a single person, easier to ignore. Axel handed her the stele and was careful not to make eye contact, "Thanks."
"You're welcome…" Kairi asked him again, concerned, "Are you sure you're okay?"
A sigh, "That's a great question."
With that, Axel left the room of foreboding white, going back upstairs to change so he could go out again. By the opening lift doors he heard the continuous slamming on the door. Axel waited for the noise to die down. It didn't, forcing Axel to shout.
"Knock it off in there!"
"LET ME OUT OF HERE."
Axel blinked, mildly astonished, "Heartlight?"
"I SAID LET ME OUT!"
"Never heard you this riled up before. What happened, Saïx pop your balloon?"
"I JUST WANT TO SEE KAIRI."
"Rosekey?"
"Yes!" Sora sounded on the verge of tears, "She's dying. I get that. You can't be a Shadowhunter and not accept death. I get that. But please, please, let me out. Let me see her, be with her, for one last time…"
"They locked you in here?"
"DiZ had Leonhart take Xion and me away. They didn't want us interfering with the healing process, I guess…"
"It was necessary, dude. Chill. I just saw Rosekey and Wolfstrife. They're fine."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Just go to sleep."
Whether or not Sora obeyed, Axel never knew. He'd abandoned the cause by that point, making his way back to his room. In a minute Axel had changed into worn-out jeans and a black leather jacket. Axel noticed as he was leaving that Xion had gone quiet since he last left her.
"This is probably a bad idea," he mumbled to himself, then knocked on her door. She answered it with bloodshot eyes and a tear-stained face.
"What."
"I heard you crying earlier and wanted to see if you were okay."
"Oh, you're coming to my rescue? Like you did last night?" Xion's expression convinced Axel that this was, in fact, a bad idea, "Thanks to you, my hero, Roxas is dying. It's all your fault."
"It is not."
"If you hadn't saved us, we wouldn't be here."
"At least you'd be dying together, right?" Axel sighed, absently scratching the back of his head, "Trust me when I say I know exactly how you feel."
Axel thought he saw Xion's eyes flicker, though it must have vanished as soon as it came.
"Alright, I'll make it up to you. Tonight. Whatever you want to do, I'll make it happen."
"I want to go home."
"Right now? Roxas wouldn't be able to come with you."
"I know. I just want to visit."
"You got it," Axel smiled sincerely, adding silently, "It'll be better than getting into a fight, anyway."
Garbage and demolition trucks hadn't come to clear away the rubble yet. There wasn't really a rush, it seemed. Axel kicked a black piece of drywall away, grunting "lazy mundanes" as Xion passed him into the field of ashes that used to be the living room. Some articles hadn't been completely destroyed by the fire and blinked at Xion like familiar stars in a charred night sky. As the upstairs hadn't collapsed onto the downstairs, a staircase prevailed. Xion left the living rooms, uninterested in furniture.
"You know," Axel said, walking directly behind her up the burnt stairs, "Most people would be a wreck by now. Why are you so calm?"
Xion returned, emotionless, "This was just a house. It was never my home."
"If they were all just houses, did you ever have a home?"
"Roxas is my home."
It was then that a step cracked and gave way beneath Xion's foot. Axel darted forward, grabbing her waist and pulling her out of the hole. He set her down on the step above, continuing the conversation, "It's not a good idea to tie yourself down to one person."
For the first time since they'd arrived, Xion locked eyes with Axel, "I don't remember my parents that well. Even if I did, I doubt this feeling of carelessness would vanish. As far as I can tell, Roxas is the first thing I've ever cared about."
"But it's not the only thing?"
"It's not," Xion resumed walking up the stairs, "That's why we're here."
Despite the second floor being intact, that was the only structure really standing. The walls separating each room were no longer there; the roof was only just held up by a few beams. Axel examined them worriedly, following Xion closely, and practically bumped into her when she halted before the remnants of her and Roxas's old bedroom. Similar to downstairs, a few things were salvageable. Against the far wall was the same glass table Axel had found them underneath last night. Xion hunched over to move it aside and sift through the items that had been sheltered by it. It took six seconds for Xion to find a leather-bound sketchbook. Xion brushed off the soot and rubble as if she were cleaning a fragile fossil. Axel cocked his head to the side when she hugged it to her chest and kissed its bindings.
"Thank you, Axel."
Axel was actually surprised by her gratitude, mostly because it was a positive feeling, and it was directed at him, from her. He recovered by awkwardly running his fingers through his red spikes, "No problem, I break the rules all the time."
A creaking noise captured Axel's attention. It stopped, and came back louder. He looked to the wooden beam across from them. It was clearly worn out, and holding way too much weight. There were supposed to be three others sharing the burden, but they'd been reduced to a pile of charred crisps. Xion saw it too and wordlessly agreed with Axel it was time to leave. As they reached the stairs, Axel heard it as well as Xion the snap from behind them. Panicked, Xion started to run to the front door, but was stopped by a grip on her arm. Axel pulled her into him, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressing her head into his chest, and used the other arm to summon a giant key that resembled the chakrams in his room. It blazed as red as Axel's hair, firing a beam straight into the ceiling and through the roof. The house fell apart around them. Axel squeezed Xion and her drawing pad closer so the descending parts didn't graze them. He laughed out loud, shooting another bullet of pure light into the air to widen the protective circle. Xion paused, let out a giggle, then full-out laughed with Axel as she watched her old life melt away from her.
