Chapter Nine
"VEXEN!" Zexion sat straight up in bed, breathing hard and fast. His eyes were as big as quarters, and they were staring through the darkness in desperate search of familiarity.
A full minute passed before Zexion realized his surroundings. He was sitting up in a bed in a large black room. What he had thought was darkness was actually the color of everything. It was as if the night sky itself had painted the room, leaving no corner untouched.
The silver-haired boy pushed himself up and off the side of the bed. His legs were slightly achy from disuse, but he didn't pay them any attention. His main focus was what surrounded him.
After a few minutes of curious gazing and inspection, it occurred to Zexion that there were no doors in the room. A small glint of panic flickered in the back of his head, but he doused it quickly. Panicking would do him no good, what he needed was a clear mind.
"Okay, so I am located in an unknown place in a room with a bed, a table, and a chair. There are no doors or windows. The ceiling and floor are solid, and the walls are the same..." Zexion spoke aloud to himself, trying to think of a way out. Usually speaking aloud let him concentrate, but this just sounded like an impossible riddle. And he certainly couldn't get out of this room with a clever play-on-words solution.
So what could he do?
Panic was arriving again, and Zexion was finding it progressively more difficult to ease it as time went by.
"So you've given up?"
The voice was deep and monotonous. It echoed slightly after each word, like the speaker was elsewhere, projecting his voice into the room from somewhere else.
Zexion sat bolt upright, his eyes scanning the blackness. "Who's there?" he cried, the slightest sign of fear in his tone.
Suddenly, a black form appeared just barely visible before the rest of the black. It lingered for a moment before fading and leaving behind a man.
"Hello, Zexion..." the man said briskly. His hair seemed to be a reddish color and spiked back nicely. His body, however, was rippling with muscles, and Zexion couldn't help but look up and down him before looking into his eyes.
"Who are you? How do you know my name?" the silver-haired boy asked in a slightly softer tone than was his usual.
"Lexaeus, and I know a lot about you..." the man replied, beginning to pace slowly, his shocking blue eyes not moving from Zexion's face.
The silver-haired boy felt a chill run down his spine. At that moment, he felt an extreme sensation of danger, and he wanted to know nothing more than how to get out of there.
"How do I get out?" he asked, his eyes darting around.
Lexaeus smiled plainly, "do you think you can?"
Zexion furrowed his brow, "well...of course I can...you just came in, shouldn't I be able to get out?"
The red-head laughed, "things aren't always so easy..." he sighed, then frowned, "you can go today. I wanted to meet you, and that's all," Lexaeus looked up, his eyes staring deep into Zexion's, "to get out, you just have to wake up...wake up...wake up..."
"Wake up...wake up, Zexion!"
All at once light hit the silver-haired boy's eyes. He opened them in a flash and cried out as he was greeted with an all-too-close view of Demyx's face. Axel was standing right behind, arms crossed.
"Wh-what happened?" Zexion asked, pushing Demyx back and sitting up in bed, "Demyx? Axel?"
The others exchanged a glance, then Demyx spoke, "you don't remember?"
Zexion gave a very confused shake of his head and looked around. Something was different...
"You've been asleep for almost two weeks! Got it memorized?" Axel exclaimed, "you were really sick..."
Light filtered through the window and warmed the blankets as Zexion pulled them closer around them. His face radiated disbelief, "two weeks? Oh no, no no, that's impossible...I—" But one look at their solemn gazes quieted him.
Demyx looked at Axel with mischief in his eyes, "can I tell him? Please?" Axel sighed and nodded reluctantly. Zexion cocked his head.
"Tell me what?...Demyx?"
"You were really sick..." Demyx repeated, his eyes bright, "and Vexen took care of you the whole. Time."
Zexion practically fell out of his bed. His face was red and his eyes were enormous, "he...he took care...of...of me?" Zexion squeaked out. Demyx and Axel nodded eagerly. They looked hungry for a good, juicy reaction.
But Zexion wouldn't give them the satisfaction. He let out a sigh and spoke quietly, "well, that was very nice of him...now, if you two will please let me get up, I have to go to work."
Things had been far too quiet in Vexen's quaint little shop. Quite often, in fact, the elder scientist found himself instructing the air, and then getting irritated at himself for being so foolish.
It was entirely true that he longed for nothing more then the company of his student, but he was a grown man. He had to know how to deal with things like this.
On this particular morning, Vexen had just barely been able to drag himself out of bed. His motivation was barely above zero, and he was far too tired from another sleepless night, contemplating his reaction to that girls words that day.
"'I am Zexion's girlfriend'..." the scientist murmured, his hand curled into a ball on his desk. "Oh God..." Vexen clenched his fist tighter, "I miss him so much..."
"Did you really, Vexen?" Zexion said, opening the front door just as Vexen spoke the second time.
The scientist looked up and felt his stomach flip.
"Zexion..."
"Vexen..."
The two ran into one another's embrace, holding tightly and hugging hard. Vexen began to lift Zexion into the air, being a good half a foot taller. He held on for another minute before he put his student down, embarrassed by his reaction.
"It's...uh...good to see you recovered and back..." Vexen said with a cough. Zexion didn't let the smile fall from his face.
"Axel and Demyx told me..." he said smugly. The blonde man cocked his head slightly. "You took care of me for a whole week!"
Vexen felt the color rise into his face and he frowned, "of course, I couldn't let my precious student die..." He looked down, but Zexion didn't shift his gaze an inch.
"Of course..." Zexion said in a deep, thoughtful voice, "I'll get to work right away..."
"Are you absolutely certain you feel up to it? You've only just recovered, you realize." The sudden flip to over-bearing mother mode made Zexion's smile even bigger.
"I feel like if I don't do something in the next thirty seconds I'll implode," he replied back casually, straightening a beaker on the shelf before continuing to find something to fix. A slow expression of happiness played across the face of the blonde scientist as Zexion turned out of view. He certainly had a tongue when he wanted one, and it didn't offend Vexen in the least. If anything, it made his whole body tingle in relief from having his student back.
"Welcome home..." He whispered, going after to give him a job to do.
As overjoyed as he was to be back, the smallest bud of displeasure was suspended like a noxious gas in the air around them, trying to be covered up by words of pleasure and contentment but impossible to be forgotten completely. Something was without a doubt upsetting Vexen, and the agonizing pinprick of aversion carried over to Zexion like a disease.
As a welcome-back treat, Vexen had given Zexion some of his favorite tasks to complete. He got to restock on certain elixirs they were running low on by making them himself, do a bit of hands-on research, and even run the shop while Vexen ran an errand. It was a wonderful day, despite the air, and Zexion was radiating his exuberance onto everybody he came into contact with.
"Good work today." Vexen sighed contentedly at the end of the day, rubbing Zexion's back slightly. "Hurry home before it gets too dark."
"Not yet." Zexion pulled away from Vexen's touch, although he admitted he liked the feeling, and turned to face his mentor seriously. "I'm not going anywhere until... Until you tell me... What's wrong..."
Tight lips on Vexen's face made it obvious that he didn't like the question nor did he want to answer it. Zexion held his gaze, trying to ignore his speeding pulse. Vexen had to answer his question. He had to.
"It's none of your concern-"
"Like Hell it's not!" Zexion exclaimed the words louder than he might have intended, but felt slightly proud of his assertiveness. He needed to know. It was agonizing to see Vexen so unhappy every time he looked at him...
"...Zexion..." Vexen practically whispered the words. The air was significantly colder than it had been even a few seconds before. The eyes of the blonde man were a toxic and dark green now, a whimpering gleam emerging at small points in his iris. His pupils were wide as the level of light dropped in the building with the setting sun, and his mouth quivered an almost unnoticeable amount. "What am I to you? What all am I to you..."
Zexion's mouth cracked slightly, his eyes drooping in a dazed shiver. What was he? Was he asking what Zexion thought of him?
"A teacher..." Zexion began before he knew what he was going to say, "would have to be the first thing I say... It's the most obvious, I believe, but it's far from all..." Swallowing profusely was doing nothing for the dry inside of Zexions mouth, but he continued regardless, "you... Feel like... A father to me as well I think..." His gaze collided with the ground, not wanting to overbear that statement. It wasn't like Vexen knew he was an orphan. "And maybe..."
That was it. That was when his voice cracked and refused to go on. Overwhelming embarrassment and hot ambivalence coursed through the muscles on his legs, causing them to shake hard.
"Maybe what..." Vexen took Zexion's hands in his own, the slightest bit of desire sparking in his somber emerald orbs. The sensation of such cold, aged skin grasping his warmer, soft and delicate ones almost made Zexion's heart stop.
"Love..." He blurted quietly. His vision was blurring, and he felt utter confusion swarming his brain. "Don't make me do this Vexen, I want to go home..." The words were a shaky and childish unconscious reflex to his unbearable inner pain. His whole body was shaky now and he was afraid that if he went any further in his earlier sentence he might throw up.
"Of course. Go. I'll see you tomorrow." Vexen dropped Zexions hands after squeezing them tightly and turned around. Zexion wasn't sure what flashed across his teachers face before he left but he knew it wasn't joy. The walk home was a stumbled journey of mental turmoil and as the silver-haired boy reached his abode, he collapsed into an instantly unconscious state on his bed, tears drenching his pillow as he slept.
"I can't help it, but to love you..." Mouthed the sleeping Zexion.
*** well ;-; my feels are goin into this story so ;-; love it XD jk, but pelz. it rly is my feels all laid out in a beautiful basket.
