Axel opened his eyes. His head was pounding from the hit. "Roxas…?" He looked around for the blonde, remembering the sight from before. A mermaid. Roxas was a mermaid. He remembered seeing Xehanort drop him into the water and seeing his legs turn into a fin. He saw that they were in a room with very little light. "Roxas? Where are you?" He stood up and looked around, seeing a glass…coffin? He looked closer at it, seeing water filling it and something in the water. "Roxas!"
The mermaid slowly opened his eyes when he heard a voice call out to him. He couldn't hear too well because of the water swishing around him. He looked out of the coffin, seeing Axel's concerned face. "Axel…"
"Roxas, hold on! I'm getting you out of here," Axel said, trying to open the coffin. He could tell Roxas was struggling to breathe due to no opening for oxygen. "Stay with me!"
"No use," Roxas said, watching Axel struggle to open it. "He wants me weak…"
"Weak and dead are two very different things!" Axel snapped as he managed to lift the lid of the coffin up a little, seeing the mermaid go near the opening. "Better?"
The blonde boy nodded as he stayed near the opening. "Much. Thank you, Axel."
The fire demon looked at him, taking in the true form of Roxas. He looked very much the same, only his once smooth human legs were now replaced with a shimmering golden fin. He was still beautiful in his eyes. "So this is the real you, huh?" he asked.
Roxas looked away, blushing. "Yes…I never thought he would reveal this so I never bothered to tell you. And I was a little afraid you might not…"
"I think you look beautiful," Axel assured him. "Fin or no fin, I'll always think you're beautiful." He smiled down at him. "Now let's get you out of here."
"It's no use," Roxas said quietly. "We're on an airship. His demons are guarding the door outside and will attack the moment we open the door. And I'm too weak to help. I'm so sorry, Axel."
The redhead held his hand through the small opening and kissed his fingers. "Don't be. I won't put your safety in jeopardy. And now we know all of our secrets."
Roxas smiled at him, clutching his hand tighter. "I guess we do. I didn't mean to hide the truth from you. I just…wanted you to love me for me."
Axel looked him in the eye, kissing his fingers again. "I always thought you were beautiful. From the moment we met and you gave me that haughty attitude, I was yours. And here I thought mermaids were supposed to be friendly," he joked, hoping to make younger boy smile.
The blonde boy laughed weakly. "Movies don't exactly portray us right. We are friendly, but if we feel threatened…"
"The claws and fangs come out?" Axel asked.
Roxas nodded. "I was hoping you would never have to see me that way. We call it our "true" form. We never look like that unless we're defending ourselves. It's not our best looking face."
"…Can I see?" Axel asked.
The blonde boy looked at him in shock. "Why would you wanna see something so…ugly?" he asked.
"I'll be the judge of that," Axel said. "Let me see this "true" form of yours." He saw Roxas look down then saw his nails were slowly turning into claws and some of his skin on his chest, torso, and arms were now covered with shimmering gold scales. The blonde boy looked up at him, showing that his eyes were now completely blue, his pupils slit like a cat's eyes, and fangs came out of his mouth. Despite being rather sinister- looking, Axel still thought Roxas looked beautiful. "You call this ugly?"
Roxas turned back to normal, looking away from him. "Axel…you're so brave…but so stupid," he said with a laugh. "Only you would think a mermaid in its true form is beautiful. You're lucky I know you. If I didn't, I would've killed you without a second thought."
Axel laughed with him, standing up. "Yeah, Reno and I aren't not exactly known for our brains. Everyone agrees the only reason why we're still alive is because we're good-looking." He broke the lock on the coffin and lifted the lid so that it was completely open. Roxas looked up at him with wide eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna try to escape with you just yet. If what you said was true, then we'll have to wait. But at least now you can breathe better and I can hold you." He picked him up, seeing the gold fin turn into human legs. The younger boy wrapped his arms around his neck as Axel sat down with his back against the coffin.
"You know…he's only going to put me back in there, right?" Roxas asked quietly.
The redhead rested his chin on top of Roxas' head. He noticed that the smaller boy shivered, remembering that he was naked and this wasn't exactly the warmest place they were in. He managed to unzip his cloak and take it off, covering Roxas in it. "Better?"
Roxas nodded, snuggling closer to him. He could feel Axel's hands roaming over him, loving how warm they felt. "Your hands are warm," he said, feeling his eyes close.
Axel smiled, kissing his forehead. "I'm a fire demon, babe. I'm always warm. If you're ever cold and need something to warm you up, just say the word."
"Just don't let go…until we reach our destination," Roxas pleaded.
Axel felt his heart break at the thought of what Xehanort had in store for Roxas. He knew he was a just pawn in this little game and the old man would more than likely get rid of him as soon as possible. "I'll never let go…even if I die."
"No! I'm not going to let you go after him by yourself!" Ventus shouted at his mate.
"You have no choice, idiot," Vanitas snapped. "Stop thinking with your heart and think with that little brain in your pretty blonde head. You're still too weak and will only get in my way. I have to find Xehanort. Our brothers could be in danger."
Ventus sighed, knowing he was right. His body was still weak from Xehanort's abuse. He could only imagine what his brother Roxas was being put through right now. He hoped the "perverted man" that Roxas had been telling him about before he went on that mission was taking care of him. "But I can't let you go by yourself. What if you don't come back…?"
Vanitas was instantly in front of him, staring at him with those bright gold eyes. Eyes that always seemed to see everything, even the deepest secrets. "I will come back for you. Haven't I always been there when you needed me?"
The blonde boy gave him a small smile. "But it took you a while to get me back…" He gasped when he felt rough lips kiss his own.
Those gold eyes looked at him brightly. "I'm going to come back and I'm going to save our family. Even your stupid brother. You are going to stay with those useless friends of yours, Terra and Aqua, and continue to recover. If I so much as see you near Xehanort, I'm going to punish you." He gave his mate a smirk at the last sentence when he saw Ventus blush. "Got it?"
Ventus nodded, giving him a small peck on the lips. "Yes…just promise you'll come back?"
"I always do," Vanitas stated.
"Can this thing go any faster?" Sora asked.
Riku's eyes got wide in horror when he did then looked away as Captain Cid Valentine-Highwind started ranting on how the Shera was the fastest airship in the world and that he should be grateful that he was being kind to fly them to Twilight Town on such short notice.
It also did help that Riku's grandfather was married to the Captain. He looked over to him, seeing his grandfather cleaning his gun. Vincent Valentine-Highwind, called out to his husband quietly. "Cid, the boy has never been on an airship before. He doesn't know that we'll be there in eight minutes."
The Captain simmered down and puffed out some smoke. "Fine, I'll let him off easy this time. Little brat better watch his language next time he's on my airship! Got it Baby Psycho?"
Riku scowled at the nickname, glaring at his step-grandfather. "Stop calling me that…or I'll bring Yuffie next time." He smirked when he saw Cid's eyes go wide at the name. If there was one thing in the world that Cid disliked greatly, but loved dearly at the same time, it was Yuffie Kisaragi. She was the only person who could stand head to head with Cid in arguments and come out victorious most of the time. The Captain may have the filthiest mouth to ever poison Riku's ears, but Yuffie was louder and could dish out the same crap Cid gave everyone else, without using profanity.
"Tch, fine," Cid said, taking another drag of his cigarette.
"Who is Yuffie?" Sora asked Riku.
"A young woman that Cid can't stand, but he loves her like a little sister and daughter at the same time," Riku told him. "She's really hyper most of the time, and loud. But she's one of the most loyal friends you can have…especially if you have Materia."
"What's Materia?" Sora asked him again.
"A small orb that contains magic or special skills," Riku answered. "Yuffie has the biggest collection of them. If anyone ever has a question about it, she's the master. She can even summon other creatures to fight for her."
"Wow that sounds so cool!" Sora said excitedly. "Think she can teach me some of this cool magic?"
The silver-haired boy shrugged. "Maybe. But don't you already know magic?"
Sora nodded. "Well yeah, but I don't know how to summon creatures to fight with me. I wanna learn more about your world. Who knows how long we'll be here once the battle is over."
"We won't see each other anymore after this?" Riku asked him. His heart skipped a beat at the thought of not seeing Sora again. Despite only knowing him a few weeks, he didn't want the brown-haired mermaid to leave.
"I don't know," Sora replied. "It's up to Angeal if we stay or if we go. He's always been the one to make those decisions. Though I wonder if we'll stay since he's so close with Genesis…"
"Close with Genesis? How close are they?" Riku asked.
"Not sure, but it's obvious that he loves him," the younger boy stated.
Riku looked over to where Genesis and Angeal sat, seeing the redhead smile and laugh with his friend. Only at rare times did he see that and to see him do it so freely now…was warming. And his father was also warming up to Zack. The younger man had practically followed him everywhere, asking him questions about anything and everything on being a great warrior. Though his father pretended to be annoyed, Riku knew he was enjoying Zack's company. Cloud was even talking to Sora's brother, Squall and smiling a little bit as well. Surprisingly his brother Kadaj was talking Xion, even laughing with her. "You're right," Riku said. "It seems everyone is a little happier right now."
Sora smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm happy I'm with you, Riku," he said.
The silver-haired boy blushed at that. He knew Sora probably didn't mean it the way it sounded though he wished he did. Something about him made Riku's heart feel lighter and felt like smiling all the time. "I'm happy with you too, Sora. You're a really good friend." He felt Sora rest his head on his shoulder and closed his eyes then leaned his head against his.
"We're here!" Cid shouted as he began landing the airship.
Sora stood up with Riku then yelped when the ship finally landed, losing his balance. Luckily for him, Riku caught him and kept him from falling. "Sorry about that," he apologized, feeling his cheeks heat up.
"Don't worry about it," Riku said as he helped stand up straight. "Let's go find your brother and friends." All of them walked out of the airship, Cid and Vincent decided to stay behind to guard in case Xehanort suddenly appeared. He and Sora walked behind Cloud, his father, and Angeal. Kairi and Xion were walking behind them while Squall, Zack, Kadaj, and Genesis guarded from behind. "Do you think he'll be here, Father?"
"There's no telling where he is," Sephiroth said calmly as they walked through the town. "Someone must've seen him. There must be a place to gather information."
"I know of a place," Genesis said. "Mind you, it's a small place but a lot of town folk like to go there and gossip. I'm sure the owners must've seen or heard about him."
"And what is this place?" Angeal asked.
"A diner," Genesis replied as he took the lead. "Three young adults own the place and always seem to know anything and everything about anyone and everyone is this town. That's the best place to get any information from here." He led them to small diner on Market Street, seeing that the younger mermaids were looking around in wonder and amazement.
Sora looked at the shops, awing at the items they sold. "This is amazing! Angeal, can we come back here again? Please?" He looked up at his guardian along with Kairi and Xion, eyes looking up at him with hope.
The big man smiled and ruffled his hair. "We'll see, Sora. Right now we need to find Xehanort." He gently nudged them to walk to their destination.
"Let them look around," Genesis told him. "Your pup and lion can look after them along with Sephiroth's boys and the chocobo."
"I'm not a chocobo," Cloud growled at him.
The redhead just smirked and waved them off. "Your hair says otherwise," he replied. "Now, off with you and the children, the adults need to go do some recon."
Kairi stepped up and looked at Angeal. "Is it okay if I go with you and the others, Angeal?" she asked. She didn't want to admit that she felt a little left out when she saw how close Sora and Xion had gotten with the two silver-haired boys. Even Squall was getting close to Cloud.
Angeal nodded. "Of course. Zack, come with us and keep an eye on her," he ordered. He looked at her when he saw her huff. "It's not that I don't trust you, Kairi. It's only because Xehanort is managing to get by us without us noticing."
"Fine," she said as they walked towards the diner. She could see a quite a bit of people in the building, all laughing and chatting. Zack made sure to keep her in front of him as they walked in.
A pretty young woman with brown hair and green eyes walked over to them. "Hello, welcome to The Diner. I'm Olette," she greeted herself with a smile. "Shall I get a table for five?"
Angeal shook his head. "No. We're actually here to find answers…"
She immediately looked at them suspiciously. "Are you police or private investigators?"
Genesis rolled his eyes. "Do we look like we're investigators of any sort? My friend here has lost three children and is trying to find them you halfwit. And my other friend here has lost his partner."
"Okay, I'll take it from here, Olette," a male's voice said. A young man with blonde hair and brown eyes about the same age as Olette walked up to them, cleaning his hands off with a towel. Olette nodded and walked back to the tables to check on customers. The young man looked at them and scowled. "I don't appreciate you insulting my coworker. She was just asking because we've had some shady people around town lately and as you can see, this is a small town."
"Hence, the reason why we're here," Genesis snapped. "We figured the people working here might've seen something or the owner might know something."
"I'm one of the owners. My name is Hayner," the young man said. "And do you have a picture or any description of the people you're looking for?"
Angeal pulled out the two pictures from his pocket, one with Roxas and his brother Ventus then another one with Vanitas. "Have you seen any of these boys here?"
The young man looked at the pictures, frowning as he did. "I know I saw this boy," he answered, pointing at Vanitas. "He was here a few weeks ago and I saw him carrying one of these two boys in the other picture. Other than that, I haven't seen him around."
Angeal sighed with relief as he heard that. It gave him hope now that he knew Vanitas and Ventus were still alive. "How did they look? Did they look weak? Abused?"
"The blonde boy looked weak when that black-haired boy was carrying him away. It looked like he hadn't eaten in a long time," Hayner replied. "As for the black-haired boy, he looked physically okay. Mentally, he looked like a damn psychopath ready to murder someone."
"He's not a psychopath!" Kairi snapped at him. "He was missing his mate and that awful old man took him and Roxas!"
Hayner looked at her in surprise. He had to admit that she was very pretty though he wasn't going to tell her that with four men guarding her. Especially since he knew they had to be demons. "I didn't say he is. He just looked like he was going to murder someone. Other than that, he didn't say anything to anyone."
"Have you seen these men?" Sephiroth asked and pulled out pictures with Axel and Xehanort on them.
Hayner looked at the pictures and nodded at Xehanort's picture. "Seen him around. He actually stopped by a few times. Didn't say much either."
"Can you tell us where he lives?" Angeal asked.
The blonde boy looked at him and the others suspiciously. "And why do you need to know that?"
Genesis growled and was about to grab him by the collar of his shirt until Kairi stepped in front of him. She stared the young man down. "Because he kidnapped my friends and possibly might murder them," she said. "He already attacked me and my family. We can't let him get his hands on my friends."
Hayner looked at her and sighed. "We saw him heading in the direction of the Old Mansion. To get there, you have to walk or take the tram through the Tram Common and walk through the woods. The mansion is there."
"Thank you," Angeal said gratefully.
"You didn't hear it from me," Hayner said sternly and gave them a hard look. "If what you said was true, I don't want that old man coming after my friends. I don't want them to get hurt."
"Are you not worried about your safety?" Genesis asked.
Hayner gave him a cocky smirk. "Nah, I can defend myself. But Pence and Olette aren't fighters so I'm their protector."
"Don't take him lightly if you see him," Sephiroth scolded. "My son is about your age and a brilliant fighter and Xehanort beat him. It's best if you run if you run into him."
"Noted," Hayner said with a nod. "Feel free to stop by anytime you're not on business. And try not to insult my employees. I hope you find your friends." He walked away before any of them could say anything, giving Kairi a quick glance as he did.
Genesis smirked as he watched the boy walk away. "I think our fair maiden here has an admirer. Did any of you see how he couldn't take his eyes off of her?"
"Genesis, don't embarrass her," Angeal scolded softly, seeing a faint blush on Kairi's cheeks. "So we need to head to the Tram Common and go through the woods from there to get to the Old Mansion that Hayner mentioned. Should we get the younger ones?"
"Leave them be," Genesis said. "Your little ones need to experience life outside the sea. The older ones and Sephiroth's boys will protect them."
"I don't know…," Angeal said quietly.
The redhead growled and grabbed the larger man by the collar of his shirt, looking intensely into his eyes. "You are going to leave them be and come with us right now to the Old Mansion. Understood?"
"Yes sir," Angeal immediately agreed.
"Good," Genesis said with a cocky smile and gave him a quick peck on the lips, knowing full well that Zack and Kairi were looking at them in shock while Sephiroth just shook his head.
"Oh ew!" Zack exclaimed as he made a disgusted face. "That's gross!"
Genesis smirked at him as he let Angeal go. "Men kissing each other gross you out, pup?"
"No, but seeing Angeal like that does!" Zack said as he walked off.
"We're not used to seeing him like that with anyone," Kairi explained and walked away. She caught up with Zack. "Did you know about him and Genesis?"
The black-haired male shook his head as they continued walking. "Nope. I mean I noticed he always got a weird look on his face whenever he talked about Genesis, but I never knew the two of them were that close."
She smiled when she looked back and saw Angeal walking not too far behind them with Genesis and Sephiroth. Though they weren't holding hands or anything to openly show their affections, she could feel the love between them when they looked at each other. She only hoped that one day she would find someone that would look at her like that. She'd always figured she would be mated to either Sora or Roxas once she found out Vanitas and Ventus were mated. It only made sense since she and Xion were the same age as the two, but that's when both of them revealed they didn't like females like that. Angeal feared with that, plus along with himself, Zack, and Squall not liking the opposite sex as well, the mermaids would go extinct unless there were other male mermaids out there. She remembered Hayner at that moment, how he kept looking at her despite how she raised her voice at him and being surrounded by four men. "Zack…do you think Angeal is upset that…we might be on the very edge of extinction?" she asked.
He looked at her in surprise then smiled and hugged her around the shoulders in a brotherly way. "I think Angeal just wants us all to be safe and happy at this point. I doubt he cares who we love and spend our lives with. Why you asking?"
She shook her head. "No reason," she replied.
Zack smirked at her. "Would it have something to do with that kid at the diner?"
Her face turned red and she looked down. "No! Why would you think that?"
"Because you had that sparkle in your eyes and so did he," Zack said with a laugh. "But don't worry. I'm sure we'll see him soon!"
She groaned and rolled her eyes while secretly hoping that they would come back here after all of this was over and they got their friends back home safely.
Axel had fallen asleep with Roxas in his arms then suddenly woke up when he felt the blonde get violently lifted from his arms. "HEY!" he shouted, but was pinned down by Xehanort's demons. He watched as the old man took his cloak off of Roxas and cuffed his arms behind him then pushed the young boy into the coffin. "No! Roxas!"
The mermaid cried out when he saw Xehanort close the coffin shut, knowing his oxygen was now limited. "Axel!"
Xehanort didn't say anything to them and ordered his demons to carry the mermaid out of the room. "We're finally here," he told them. "Make sure that demon doesn't do anything stupid."
The demons forced Axel to walk out as he pulled his cloak back on. He could see the blonde mermaid looking at him helplessly. It was taking everything in him to not attack, but he knew he would lose and was outnumbered. "Where are we, old man?" he demanded. By the looks of it, they were on an island. But it wasn't Destiny Island. "Where did you take us?"
Xehanort continued walking, looking at the mermaid glaring at him. "Roxas, does it feel good to come back home?"
"Home?" Axel muttered.
The old man nodded. "Yes, I will not only be restored to my prime power, but I will live forever…"
Axel's eyes went wide as he realized where they were. "You don't mean…?"
"Welcome to the Fountain of Youth," Xehanort announced.
Sorry for taking so long! Wrapped up school and been working like crazy to save up money to take my state board!
Hopefully I get the next chapter out soon!
