−10−
The Tunnels
"What do you mean you can't find them?" Marluxia's fists pounded on the conference room table top. His anger reaching its peak at the newly acquired information of Sora and Kairi's disappearance.
"As I said, they vanished," Axel spoke up from across the table, his feet propped up on the table's surface with his hands behind his head.
"Should've killed her when I had the chance," Larxene hissed from Axel's right, glaring her venom eyes to the table with one fist curled around one of her signature daggers.
"If you take out the Queen, we lose our chances of finding the prize," Luxord's British accent poke through with eight rows of cards above and six stacks laying before him. He was in the middle of playing a game of Algerian Patience.
"At least she wouldn't be moving," Larxene spat at him. Luxord didn't pay much attention to her as the game was coming in to his favor. She glared at him. "And why do you have to assign people to your stupid cards?"
"Cards are very powerful tools," he responded while lifting a two of diamonds and placed it on an Ace of the same suit. "If you lose even one, then the entire deck is useless. I like to think the whole world works that way as well. Lose one of the world powers and everything falls apart."
"You are such a creep," she grumbled.
"Enough!" They stopped their banter and turned to the fuming champagne haired man. "The matter at hand is that they are gone and we have no idea where they are."
"Unless you count the place where Axel got his ass kicked," Demyx smirked from another end of the table.
"At least it was by a cute girl. Which is probably more action than you're gonna get," Axel shot back with a sly grin. Demyx only glared at him.
"Then start your search there and don't report in until you find them," Marluxia said as he left the hotel's conference room. Leaving with silence behind him.
"Yeesh, what shoved up his hole today?" Axel asked as he brought his arms down to cross over his chest.
"He's only interested with the reward at the end of this game," Luxord stated like it was matter-of-fact.
"Like you're one to talk," Larxene sneered, hating Luxord's card metaphors with every second. "I'm out of here. I don't want to risk losing my IQ." She got up and followed Marluxia's lead with a sway of her hips.
"She said something entirely different the other night," Luxord added after she had closed the door behind her. Axel let out a smug laugh. Demyx merely gagged in disgust.
"I'm outta here too. The last thing I want to hear is Larxene getting around," he said, closing the door behind him and leaving the Brit to his game and the pyro with his perverse thoughts.
"Hey Luxord?" Axel inquired. Luxord didn't look up but Axel could tell he was listening. "I'm curious now, which Queen did you assign our dear doctor?" Luxord let on a sly smile as he put up the Queen of Hearts to the top row. Axel smirked. "Ah, of course."
"Full of heart and cares for her subjects as she presents her flower."
"And our new silver haired player?" He placed the Jack of Hearts next to the Queen. "Guards the King and Queen, right?"
"Precisely."
"And I would assume that the mercenary is the Suicide King?" Axel asked. Luxord's grin growing more and more wicked as he picked up Jack of Clover and placed it over a ten.
"The game isn't over yet."
A pair of violet eyes stared at the wall before her... as if they were trying to will it away and go straight to the desired destination.
"So which way...?" Her silver haired companion asked.
Currently, the three reached a fork in the road.
Kairi looked down at the map she was holding with a puzzled look.
"According to this, we should go forward, but..."
"Just choose a direction," Sora abruptly with impatience. It had only been a couple of weeks and the catacombs were starting to get tiresome.
"Something tells me you don't know much about the catacombs," Riku directed at Sora, earning a glare from the brunet.
"If we choose the wrong direction," Kairi brought their attention back, "we might go deeper underground. It's best that we stay close to the surface."
"Riku, you take the left. I'll go right. After five minutes, we report back here to Kairi with our findings."
"Done." The silver haired man started towards the left tunnel and Sora was about to go right when he felt Kairi's hand grasped his wrist.
"Wait, you're leaving me here?"
He turned his head to her and looked at her as if explaining to a child.
"You have to. At the moment, you're the land mark. So we don't get lost."
He turned with the intention to leave.
"Wait." He held in an irritated sigh as he turned back to her. He watched as her free hand pointed to the wall. "Keep an eye on the walls. The deeper you go, the moister they'll be."
"Thanks for the tip," they jumped at the sound of Riku's voice. They hadn't realized that he was still in the area. His echoing footsteps soon disappeared.
"Okay," he sighed and came up with a suggestion. "You should probably start singing though."
Her heart skipped a beat as soon as he said it, completely taken off guard.
"What?"
"So if either one of us gets lost, we'll just follow your voice." She felt hesitant at first, but then reason kicked in as she nodded in understanding. "Questions?"
"Any requests?" He stifled his laugh.
"Just sing something."
He started walking again as he slipped out of Kairi's hand.
"Wait." He held in a grunt as he turned his head to her. "Be careful." He was touched by her concern as he smiled at her.
"Yeah, you too."
He finally started walking into the right tunnel, keeping Kairi's tip in mind as well as her concern. He's not going to deny that he has grown attached to the woman as she has to him. He knows that she has been thinking more of him as of late, her general contact with him was more... how should he describe it... freeing? Unrestrained? Whatever these feelings that was going on between them, he had long given up on labeling them.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and his breathing came to a halt.
"A dream is a wish, your heart makes..." Kairi's voice rang through the tunnels. His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. He knew that song. "... When you're fast asleep..." His mother use to sing it all the time when he was a kid, either while dancing around the kitchen or singing it in his sleep. They were special memories that could never be replaced.
A feeling of guilt entered his chest.
He thought of what his mother would possibly think of him now. She would no doubt be ashamed of him for turning every principal that was drilled into his head upside-down. Hell, she probably rolled over in her grave a few times from the decisions he made.
He looked downcast at the water surrounding his feet. As if it were a metaphor for his sorrow.
Kairi's singing brought back those feelings and he didn't know if he should dislike her or admire her even more.
She had a beautiful singing voice that he would love to hear more often. So calming and enriching. Even a child would sleep to her lullaby. He could even imagine her – he stopped his thinking before it could go in that direction. Instead, he brought his focus back to the present and started continuing down the tunnel.
With Kairi's voice haunting his footsteps.
She knew the song by heart. It was her favorite from when she was a child. She loved the movie and everything it made her believe. Sure, her ideals have changed as she grew older, but the child inside of her loved to cling to those memories. They were a gentle reminder of simpler times. A reminder of her dreams of finding her prince charming and having her happily ever after.
Dreams she could never have now.
"Hey." Her singing was interrupted by Riku and his splashing foot steps.
"How does it look?" Kairi asked as he approached her.
"Pretty leveled. Another fork though. If Sora comes back with something better, then my way looks like the way to go." He pointed behind him to the tunnel he came from. Kairi nodded and then gave him a confused look as he looked playful down at her. "Funny thing with tunnels. They can really carry your voice around." Her eyebrows shot up and stared at him in total shock. How could she forget about that? It was the reason she was singing! His chuckle caught her off guard. "Yeah, I didn't mean to listen in, but some things caught my ear."
"Like what?" she asked, now curious on what he had to say.
"The way he was talking to you." She lifted one eyebrow in question. "You're basically seeing the Sora that I knew before Xehanort."
"Really?" She gave a thoughtful look as the idea occurred. "He seems to be more energetic now that I think about it."
"Yup. As time goes, you'll be seeing a lot more of it. You seem to bring it out."
She gave him a flattered look, but failed to see how she was a part of it.
"But I'm not doing anything." He smirked at her.
"Just keep thinking that."
"Hey!" The two turned to see Sora running up to them.
"How's it look?" Riku called out to the brunet as he caught up with them.
"A lot of water down there. You?" Sora asked him as he rejoined the group.
"Dry and close to the surface. Another fork though."
"Lets go then."
Sora walked passed them and started down the tunnel Riku was in. Kairi was about to follow him when she felt Riku's hand on her arm. She turned as he gave a playful look.
"Just think about it," he said to her as he let her go and went down the tunnel after Sora.
"Hey, Larxene," Demyx inquired the irritated woman. Larxene let out a huff.
Marluxia assigned the two of them to go investigate where Axel lost Kairi. She demanded that she should go alone but Marluxia wouldn't hear it. So now here she was, in an alleyway with the laziest member of the Organization.
"What is it now, shit for brains?" Larxene spat, not even bothering to look in his direction. Ugly might spread that way.
"Check it out."
"I'd rather not," she declared, not even caring if he heard her.
"I'm serious. I think I found out where the Doc went."
She let out an irritated sigh. It better not be a dead rat, which he'll be if it was a dead end.
"This better be important." She turned to him and saw that he squatted down and was holding a long strip of plywood. She raised an eyebrow as she walked over to him, to see that the plywood covered a human sized hole leading underground. Her interest had peaked. She knew the dear Doctor would've gone this way.
"They're probably down there."
She knelt down and put her feet forward into the hole, ready to jump in. Until she felt his hand grab her arm in an instant.
"Woah, wait! These are the catacombs," he declared and she looked indifferently at him.
"So?"
"It's a labyrinth down there. They could be anywhere." She snorted.
"If that princess can navigate there, than so can I." She was ready to jump again but his grip didn't loosen.
"Hold on, lets just get the others and we'll go down together."
She shot him a glare.
"By the time the others get here, those three will be out of Italy."
"They're probably out of Italy anyway." She didn't accept that fact. She knew that wasn't true. It had been a few days and she figured that teenage riffraff wouldn't dare to go deeper into the tunnels. She was an expert tracker, she'll find them in minutes. She jumped into the tunnel without even a glance back. Leaving Demyx to sigh at her stubbornness as she heard him mumble: "Mar's not gonna like this."
She looked around her surroundings. The tunnel went one way and she got out her own flashlight out of one of her pockets.
"Now where are you...?" she asked no one in particular. Willing to bet the answer was not too far. She had walked a good distance, searching for clues to help her find her target. She was almost convinced at one point that she had gone the wrong way, until she spotted a candy bar wrapper floating in the water. She picked it up with her gloved hand and examined it. Normally, a person would discard it and think nothing of it. Not Larxene. She checked the expiration date and saw that the bar would've been good for another week. She smirked at her find.
"Not far." She dropped the wrapper and continued down her chosen path, her pace quickening as she went through tunnel after tunnel. She kept finding more clues as she went and her lust for revenge thickening. It wasn't until she glanced at a mark on the wall. It would've been easily dismissed if it weren't for the fact that she recognized it. A small 'χ' carved into the wall. So generic, but it was his insignia. Not the letter 'X', but the letter Chi.
A smile played on her lips.
"Gotcha you little bitch."
"... Then Sora actually stood before the car, more drunk than the last guy, urinating like he has two tanks inside him." A hearty laugh escaped her throat. She wiped a stray tear from her left eye. "And then sirens went off and he was looking around to see where it was coming from. Never noticed that it was coming from the car he was pissing on."
She laughed really hard then with Riku joining in. Sora merely looked embarrassed. Not one of his proudest moments, but he was a teenager. What the hell did he know?
"Yeah, yeah. It was super funny," he gave an annoyed grunt as a devilish smile crossed his lips. "But you should've seen Riku when he thought it would be funny-"
"Don't tell her that," Riku warned the brunet.
"I'm just getting even," Sora smirked, earning a giggle from Kairi.
"Tell me anyway. I would love to hear Riku's mishap."
The two men exchanged looks. Sora's smug face meeting Riku's glare.
"She wants to hear it, can't deny her of that." Riku grunted and looked away. Sora took it as his permission. "He thought it would be funny if he went into the girls locker room butt naked." Kairi laughed loudly, gaining a satisfactory look from Sora and an annoyed look from Riku. "He had to change gyms after that and suffered from being called a pervert for a whole month."
"It was the alcohol. I had no idea what I was-"
"Shh," Sora stopped. His eyes searching and his hearing strained. Kairi and Riku looked at him curiously, both not liking the look he was making.
"What is it?" Kairi asked, dreading the answer.
"I heard footsteps. Someone's coming." After he had said it, the other two strained their hearing and heard the sound of running footsteps hitting the ankle deep water.
"It's probably a thrill seeker trying to find an adventure," Kairi theorized.
"Regardless, they can't find us here," Riku added in. Kairi wasn't convinced. The brunet rolled his eyes as he grabbed Kairi's arm and made her look at him.
"They might head back to the surface and report us to the cops." After he said it, he dragged Kairi behind him and started running, Riku following behind. The tunnel they've been in was straight forward, until they came to another fork. They stopped and looked in the two tunnels. "Dammit."
"How good is your intuition, Kairi?" Riku asked.
"It's all right, I just don't trust it with ex-boyfriends."
"Good enough, now choose," Sora urged with Kairi looking at the two tunnels.
"This way," she pointed to the left and the three dashed down the tunnel.
"How far is it to Campobasso anyway?"
"We should be there in two days."
"We don't have two days," Sora grunted.
"So then if we don't camp for the night..." Kairi thought. "We'll be there by tomorrow afternoon."
"Good enough for me."
"Run faster."
"Not so fast, whoever's following us is going to hear our footsteps and chase us."
"Over here." Sora found a crevice big enough for two people.
"I'll go on ahead," Riku stated as he ran ahead. Sora pushed Kairi into the small space with him. His hands resting on the wall behind Kairi with each on both sides of her head while she awkwardly placed both her hands on his chest. Their bodies were pressed closely as they can feel each others rapid heart beat. A long silence took over as anticipation and fear raced through their minds. The thought of who it was that was chasing them and what possible motive they might have.
"I KNOW YOU'RE DOWN HERE!" They jumped at the sound of a shrill voice.
"Larxene. Right," Sora sighed, almost expectantly.
"Why is she down here?..." Kairi sighed as well, dreading the inevitable confrontation.
"Rematch?" She sent a glare up at him. Mostly on the fact that he's right which unsettled her nerves even more. Before, Larxene underestimated Kairi's abilities. Now, she knew what to expect from the archeologist. "Riku should handle her though." His voice brought her out of her thoughts.
"How do you figure?" she asked.
"I only won one sparring match against him."
BANG! BANG!
They turned their heads at the sound of the gun shots.
"Who do you think that was?" she asked wearily.
"Both, hopefully."
Larxene ran down the tunnel as fast as she could, the water not even attempting to slow her down with her eyes raping the walls for the letter. She stopped looking as soon as she heard racing footsteps and followed them. Who knows? They may be her intended target. With her flashlight strapped to her belt, she caught a glimpse of silver making a turn into another tunnel and she followed them.
"Hey!" she called but the silver speck didn't turn around. "Stop!" They only kept running and grating on her nerves. "I said stop!"
She whipped out her one of her trusty knives and threw it towards the speck. She saw that the knife sailed passed the silver head and the idiot was smart enough to halt in his tracks. She approached him and drew another one of her knives and pointed it to the back of his head.
"Woah, easy! I thought you were a cop." She knew that voice. One of three she could never forget. Sora's, Xehanort's, and now...
"Should've guessed it was you," she spat as she watch Riku turned towards her. "I see that you haven't changed at all. Always distracting and always prepared. I hate to break it to you, but it's not like the old days."
He smirked down at her.
"Well, I don't think this is fair. You've got that on me but I've got nothing to offer back."
"Cut the crap. I know you're loaded," she snarled at him.
"You know me so well, Larxene." He grabbed her wrist to draw her knife out but she reached behind his back and grabbed his gun.
BANG! BANG!
The shots shot up at the ceiling as he used his other hand to dodge the gun upwards. Using his elbow, he knocked her in the face and knocked her out. She landed face first into the water as Riku quickly picked her up and leaned her back against the wall. Blood flowed down from her nose and he surmised that he fractured it.
"Luckily for you, I'm through with killing," he said down at her as he got up and ran towards where he last saw Sora and Kairi. He saw the two coming out of a crevice in the wall and quickly approached them.
"Riku!" Kairi called as the silver haired man joined them "Is she-"
"Don't worry, she'll be up and running in a couple hours."
"Then lets move it," Sora barked and they went back to their primary objective. Hoping that no one else was down there with them.
"How long has she been down there?" the champagne haired man asked the lanky blond, staring down the hole that Larxene disappeared into. He received a shrug from the younger member.
"Couple hours, I think."
"You think or you know?" Luxord drilled as they received a confused look from Demyx.
"I was kinda busy trying to find you guys."
The red pyromaniac who was standing in the background was not paying attention to anything around him. He was lighting the lighter in his hand for pure entertainment. Truth be told, he didn't care where Larxene ended up. She could get killed (although not likely) for all he knew and he wouldn't bat an eyelash. He was annoyed that he had to be dragged to this scene and had to follow in the blond vixen's mistake. That woman didn't know the meaning of self control and unleashed her vicious tongue if need be. He also was not planning on being the receiving end of one of her deadly knives if he said something to piss her off. That's another thing he did not like.
Lethal, but annoying.
A deadly combination.
Axel looked up from his musings when he heard Marluxia call his name, looking as if he had an order to issue.
"You go down and find her. Continue your search once you do."
Axel merely 'tch'ed as he pocketed his lighter.
"Great, go down to the icky tunnels and rescue the village whore," he said, not even close to being excited to go back in the tunnels that are filled with human bones. Just as he edged the hole, he turned back to Marluxia to see him walking off in another direction. "And may I ask what you're doing?"
Marluxia sent him a look that clearly stated that it was none of Axel's business.
"I'm going to make a call."
Axel 'hmph'ed at the champagne haired man as he jumped down the tunnel, half wondering why he only sent the flaming red head down alone and instead of Demyx. He was her partner on this mission after all. He let out an irritated sigh as he was reminded of his boss.
"Larxene!" he called out. He started walking when he didn't hear a response. "Hey! Savage Nymph! You down here?" Still no answer as he walked further. He wanted more than anything to leave but he knew he'd be in a lot of shit if he came back without her. He continued to call her name as his flashlight moved to every nook and cranny of the tunnels until a flash of blond reflected off the light. He flashed his flashlight on it and saw Larxene sitting against the wall.
"There you are," he said as he let on an easy smile. He knelt down next to her and saw that she was wide awake and looking like her anger was bottled up and waiting to explode onto the next victim. How fortunate of him. "Been lookin' all over for you, blondie." He jumped back as soon as he saw her lightning fast arm move with a knife in her hand and nearly slit his throat. "Woah, hey!" he shouted as he looked into her searing eyes.
"Don't call me by my code," she hissed at him.
"Nice to see you too," he shot back as he watched her get up and put away her knife. He got up as well without taking his eyes off her. "So what happened?"
"Silver haired pretty boy."
"Ah." The mystery player returns would be what Luxord would say. He understood now that whoever this guy was, he knew how to take out Larxene.
"At least now, we know who he is," she said as she stormed passed him. He looked at her questioningly.
"You know who he is?" he asked, wanting to know more.
"Yup. Same league as Sora. He was also on team Xehanort."
That made sense.
"So, who is he already?"
"Riku Estheim. Now look him up."
His feet echoed in the empty hallway. He was on his way to her room again. The only other person he could talk to in this vast mansion. He guessed that the place dates back to the Renaissance period, but he was no historian. Dark halls and an assortment of famous Italian paintings (copies no less) hung from the walls.
He was all by himself now as the team went out to find the three targets, leaving him to baby-sit the beautiful blond woman. He didn't mind so much, as she was the only one he could connect with. He figured out that she was an artist by the stationary paper that littered her room. She was extremely talented and was gentle to boot. He enjoyed spending his time with her. She intrigued him.
He's not going to deny that he's attracted to her, but he felt that he can't enact those feelings to her yet. With the present situation in mind, he didn't want to endanger her any more than she already was. This made his job even more difficult.
He stood in front of her bedroom door and knocked on it three times before entering.
"Hey."
She looked up at his call. She put a smile on her face.
"Roxas," she said as she put down the new stationary he snuck in for her. He also took the liberty of finding different colored pens that he could find and bring them to her. She told him that he didn't need to do that but he did it regardless. "What're you doing here?"
"Thought I'd check up on you," he responded very easily as he leaned against the lone desk beside her. "The other members are away, so I'm bored stiff."
She giggled at him and he found it endearing.
"Any news though?"
"Sorry, none that I can talk about." He hated giving her the run around, but with the camera in the room, he couldn't risk it.
"That's fine," she said and he was relieved. But then she gave him a confused look. "I still don't understand why you're being so nice to me."
"Can't a guy be nice?" he smirked at her, she didn't look convinced.
"Not unless he wants something."
"The only thing I want is your cooperation," he slipped, berating himself now.
"Cooperation? For what? The only thing I know is that my best friend got herself into some trouble and nobody is telling me why or what." He avoided looking at her face, knowing full well that if he looked at her that he would crumble. Then he felt a soft hand touch his and he looked at her to see her pleading eyes. "Roxas, please, tell me what's going on."
"Like I said, I don't know anymore than you do," he lied to her, finding it even more difficult now. She gave him a quirked eyebrow.
"I went to art school, Roxas. I can tell if someone is lying to me." He couldn't look away from those light blue eyes. "Please, Roxas," she pleaded and he felt his walls starting to crumble.
"If I could tell you, I would," he whispered to her. "But seeing as there are camera's in every goddamn room – You get the point." He glared up at the dreaded camera that was sitting in a high corner of the room.
"Even the bathroom?" she whispered back.
"Took 'em out when Larxene started complaining." He looked at her and the look they shared said that they were thinking the same thing. "Tell the next bodyguard that you need to go."
Wow. Only three people reviewed the last chapter. I know it was kind of boring as it was setting up this chapter (once again two chapter that use to be one.) But regardless. Special thanks: Redeeming Endeavor, tennisdesi91, noheartx, and dmajorboss for beta-ing the chapter. As well as anybody else that didn't rip my head off after the last chapter's rant.
Other news: I finally got BbS! I know what you're saying. "So what? The game has been out for a year." But I haven't had the opportunity to get it until now. Playing as Ven on Proud Mode now (too scared of CM) and I'm having a lot of fun with him! Can't wait to play as Terra and Aqua after! :D
In other news, I also got a one shot out there called 'Honey.' It's an interesting story that I threw together. It's a subject matter that I wanted to write about for a long time and finally found the story to center it around. Go and check it out.
That said, hope you enjoyed the chapter!