Demyx looked torn, between best friend, as Axel was willing to let him continue calling Zexion in his little bubble of denial, and the scene of the action. Zexion refused to enter the city while the queen was still alive, and Roxas agreed with him. Who knew what the queen knew, and if she didn't know yet, through some miracle, that all those she had exiled were now free, well, better not to enlighten her. Zexion's lips drew into a tight line. "Demyx, I wouldn't advise you go into danger, but, if the only reason keeping you from this is my safety, then I certainly won't begrudge your going."
"There are monsters out here."
A tiny amused smile may have played over Zexion's face briefly. "Demyx, I can take care of myself for the few hours at most that you will be gone. And you will be gone for a much shorter period of time, I wager."
"Well, if you're sure, Zexion." Demyx took a step towards the castle wall uncertainly.
"Shoo."
"Alright! Alright, I'm shooing. Take care, Zexy!"
"I don't like this, Axel," Roxas said lowly.
"Yes, well, if we're going to get you inside without any guards taking notice and without your using magic, this was the only way I could think of." They stopped, the metal spires of the gate visible above the wall. "We'll be fine. You just do what you need to do to get in undetected."
"Be safe," Roxas whispered. Axel grinned at him. "I'll try my best." He began to stand, began to walk towards Demyx to tap the bard on the shoulder and haul him along. Roxas kissed him on the cheek.
Axel froze for a long moment. "Roxas…I…" Demyx had turned. "I…I'll tell you later. You stay safe too."
They, well, rather, he stalked up the city gate. Slim chances they would not recognize him; there weren't that many fiery redheads roaming the land. He certainly hoped not, at least. As luck would have it, not only did the guards recognize him, he recognized the guards as well. Brilliant. And in all the fire and water flying everywhere and mayhem, yells, kicking of groins, Axel could only hope that they'd caused enough chaos for Roxas to slip nimbly in. He hadn't allowed for pain in planning this. Damn, they had some hard fists, these reinforcements.
It was, as they were brought up the front steps that Axel looked up and noted the differences. If she had had both castles built, although he doubted that this one at least had her meddling in its creation, she'd certainly hired different architects. And then a sharp pain glanced through his skull and he thought he caught a flash from an upper window, but both were gone as quickly as they came. Still, he could not shake the unsettling feeling that something had tried to pierce through him and very nearly succeeded.
Another variable he, they had not accounted for, Axel realized in muted dismay. There were people in the throne room. More than the royal family, long may they live, ha. There was quite a crowd of wide-eyed onlookers. Axel couldn't help it; before he could stop himself, his eyes swept the throng, looking for a flash of golden hair, unearthly blue eyes. In relief, he did not find one. Then he looked up, and his blood ran cold.
The queen must have been pretty in her younger days. Alright, to be fair, she was beautiful now, but it was a forbidding beauty. Whereas Roxas's eyes held the etherealness of the sky, hers were the cold blue of ice. Axel had seen paintings before, years before, but still, he could remember them well enough. She had been pretty in a welcoming way; eyes warm, a brilliant smile, heart shaped face. Her smile was tight on thin lips now, cheeks hard as porcelain would be and just as white.
She watched them now and Axel met her eyes with dread. She knew, she could divine their thoughts, any moment now, she would call the guards without needing to raise her voice and they would all die.
Just walk calmly, she had no real reason to become suspicious—oh wait, yes, she did. That is, if anyone or anything had informed her that these were the two who had run away from the city guards a week or so ago? Was it a week? He had lost track of all time…
"I am pleased to finally make your acquaintance, fire wielder." Gods, even her voice chilled over with frost. She turned her head slightly, regarded a pale Demyx with the same look. "You too, bard. Tell me why I should not order my guards to chain you and throw you immediately into the dungeons for setting fire to my kingdom." Oh. That. Right. His eyes flitted to the king beside her, sitting on his throne. He looked a mere skeleton of a man; was he completely taken over by his parasite of a wife? Was he going to do nothing? His head was slumped, almost resting against his chest completely, and he breathed shallowly, yes, but did not raise his eyes nor give any other indication of life.
…he wanted so much to just let loose a flicker of flame in this silent hall right now. Of course, it would be more than a flicker by the time he was done whispering sweet nothings to it. No matter how reckless, how stupid the move would be, the urge remained, tempting him from a dark corner of his mind.
Axel, this is Roxas's move to make. It's his fight. Just… he willed himself to stay still. He looked up and suddenly he was frozen. Her fingers dug invisible gouges into his mind even as her eyes bore into his. I know what you have been doing, firebrand. Did you and your friend and my dear son not consider that I would have felt your return? I had my hand on you for your entire journey. I watched you bring him here. Now I will crush you like insects and then I will take from him what I have waited fifteen years for and you will not be able to stop me.
Axel winced but, through the flashing pain, gritted his teeth and thought as hard as he could. Yes, but you have no idea what's going to happen, do you? We may only be the pawns of some elaborate game of chess, Demyx and I, but Roxas is a player and he knows what he's doing. He's hidden from you, isn't he? You—Demyx gasped as she began peeling the layers of their thoughts, shattering that foremost one of Axel's to pieces as she searched.
He is here, in this room; I can feel it. I will find him. Tell me what you think you're doing and I will allow your death to be swift. Else this pain that you feel now? You will be begging for me to descend to this level within a day. And I will prolong your agony. You will live for years in excruciating—she stopped. Where is your knowledge? You… Axel saw it, the exact moment when the realization washed over her. You don't know, do you? This is exactly it. Demyx and I have no idea what's going to happen; hell, we might even die in the process. Only Roxas knows. And you can't reach him…
Then I will kill you. She could do it. He felt his heart tighten within his chest, beating frenetically, bursting against his ribs…
"Stop it."
She wasted no time. Even before Roxas's hood had completely fallen from his face, she had stood. Without lifting a finger, she unsheathed one of the guard's daggers and flung it across the room. Give it to me, at last; let me drink of your strength and leave you only despair. I've waited long for this moment.
Oh no, you haven't, bitch. Her head snapped around, eyes dark and furious now. Axel chuckled painfully. I think you missed a spot in my memory there, dear. It appears you don't know as much as you think you do. What, did you think that I, for some strange reason, managed to outlast your spell of possession, or whatever it was? Roxas broke it with ease, you idiot.
You know nothing, she snarled.
"She didn't, Axel," Roxas said softly. The knife hovered a few inches from his chest before he reached out and grasped its hilt with his fingers. He fingered it thoughtfully. "She did see it. I could have shielded your memories from her, wiped your mind completely blank of remembrance. But then I would be dangerously close to becoming like her, and I refuse to even come close to that."
You are foolish then.
"There are some things," Roxas continued without pause, "that I didn't tell even you, Axel. The thought would have been naked, unprotected within your mind. I couldn't risk it; all would have been lost." His eyes were pleading. Try to understand, Axel; I'm sorry; I had to; I had no other choice, don't you see?
Axel winked at him. That seemed to do the trick; some of the tension seeped out of Roxas's shoulders. The boy straightened, pulling himself up closer to his full height. Not that there was too much of that in the first place, Axel thought impishly.
The fleeting thought gave way to struggling composure when the sorceress raised her chin and a flurry of knives flung themselves towards Roxas in a deadly speeding wall. Axel caught his breath. Roxas, strangely enough, made no attempt to freeze them in place, but ducked and tumbled to the side, trailing one hand against the floor to catch himself as he did so. Axel, move.
He tried to, he really did, and to drag Demyx along with. They were frozen, along with the rest of the people. Their faces registered terror; their limbs did not obey.
Roxas ran and it was then Axel noticed, almost fatally. He couldn't have helped it, he told himself later when sometimes the thought occurred to him as on the wind. He could hardly have controlled what he noticed, no more than he could control his unconscious thoughts. Little swirls of light were falling from Roxas's fingers as he crossed the room swiftly. The queen's eyes narrowed even as Axel saw, as she saw within his mind. She turned her head from her son to Axel and he saw his death in her eyes. The invisible hand around his throat squeezed…and Roxas dove in front of him. The knife clattered harmlessly against the air inches before his face and fell to the floor. The next knife drew blood.
Roxas winced and scrambled to his feet. He continued running, hand of the wounded arm outstretched, the other clutching at his shoulder. And the people he ran in front of, as if the invisible barrier he was weaving through his movement cut through his mother's spell like a knife, began to stir. Axel found he could stagger backwards now and turn his head to watch, able to do nothing else out of ignorance. The bystanders around him moved towards the barrier and he glared at them. "Stay back, you idiots."
A scream, that would haunt his nightmares in the dead of night, rang out and echoed in the great hall. Axel snapped around. "ROXAS!" The hilt of a dagger stuck itself exactly perpendicularly to the line of Roxas's leg even as he tripped and fell. He fell hard against the floor, hand still desperately scrabbling for the wall a foot away.
Yessss… The sorceress's eyes were bright and her lips parted. They parted momentarily before giving way to an open hole, stretching wider than was human. Shrieks rang out through the gathered assembly. Frantic footsteps echoed as this sight finally roused them to flee for their lives in fear of the unknown. Meanwhile, her lips stretched and darkened. No, Axel realized, they were not darkening; a column of darkness spewed from her throat, diving straight at the fallen prince, its body of flesh sinking bonelessly to the ground behind it.
Axel ran, knowing it would be too late. That deadly missile of black was too fast; he was too far away…
Half-tackling Roxas, one of the guards lifted the prince roughly from the floor and shoved him forward towards the wall. Roxas's straining fingers slammed against the stone and white light flashed. Axel fell to his knees mid-step, eyes screaming at the sudden brightness. It was gone as quickly as it came, but still left spots of color dancing in Axel's vision. He squinted. The room was no longer completely white, but something still seemed…
You foolish child, she hissed in all their minds, those of them that were left anyways. You are on the wrong side of your pathetic wall. And I will feed from you—the smoke wrapped itself against Roxas's shoulder and leg; Axel could actually see clothing and flesh distort as it tightened around the appendages.
Silence.
Axel saw it. There were no shadows. It was disorienting once he noticed, but there existed not even a sliver of darkness in the half of the room across from him.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? The darkness screamed in fury and its tail slammed against the barrier with a loud resounding smash. Roxas raised himself on one hand and coughed. "You made this happen, Mother. Your downfall now is only able to happen because of your own prideful mistakes. Shall I tell you why?"
Do you think these walls can contain me? Human barriers do not slow me; they are as air for me. The smoke twitched, next to Roxas's still clenching fingers, and stopped.
"Didn't you think I would know that, Mother? See, this was the first of your mistakes. You kept me deprived of thought for so long and thought that the damage done was enough. You never entertained the possibility that I would learn, and learn quickly, with the haste that came to me because I knew this day was rapidly approaching. You knew the raw power would come to me naturally but you never thought that I would learn how to use it effectively. You locked me away, away from you, and you sent those who worked against you to me. They did not teach me what I know now; such knowledge is beyond them." Roxas glanced backwards. "As wonderful as they are, they are still human. You and I…"
We are the same, son.
"No, we're not. Not here. Not now. I know what we are; we are of the same make, but you've grown gluttonous on your power. I'm not denying the temptation isn't there for me as well…but I still have my choice. I'm afraid you've made yours, and there's no changing it anymore."
You are a fool. If you know what we are, you know the glories and the magic that awaits you if you come into your full power.
"Our stories must end sometime," Roxas said quietly. His fingers scraped against the wall as he painfully hauled himself to his feet. He leaned against the wall still, chest heaving, blood oozing from his shoulder and leg. "Even we cannot live forever. Oh, I know you've tried. And, really, I've thought about it. A prolonged life of fearful stares and loneliness seems ridiculous to me. I've had people show me kindness, despite your attempts at hiding me away from the good things in the world. I may be a fool, but I far prefer to have…friends than just gorge myself on power like you've been doing."
Pretty speech. But… she stopped. This seemed to be a day of unexpected surprises for the poor queen, Axel thought dryly and none too kindly.
"You can't leave here. Not unless I will so. I know you thought I'd resorted to a curtain of light guarding those here from you. I know that wouldn't have worked. You'd have broken through it instantly if you'd thought it a threat. No, I baited you and you left that poor girl's body. And now you are trapped. There is light all around you now."
And what do you propose to do with this fine trap then? You cannot leave without this spell collapsing and if you break even the slightest portion of it, I will escape and drink the blood of your so-called friends. The dark mass seemed to turn its head, or what would have served as a head if it were not of such an amorphous form. It flowed against the barrier, and the humans on the other side flinched away. They had no doubt that, if released, she would be more than capable and willing of immediately carrying out what she had threatened. She flickered and all the lights in the room flickered with her briefly. But they did not go out.
"I can't kill you. I can invoke other things though."
A breeze…no, a wind filled the room. Roxas stood, suddenly imposing, no longer the petite young boy Axel had grown accustomed to. His eyes burned deep blue. The smoke paused, and screamed, straining for the slumped figure on the floor before the throne. No, no, leave me this body; it was already dead when I found it; it is mine! You have no right to take—
"Yes, I do. This is my story, my life. I cannot kill you; you may live for as long as you and your sorcery can sustain your soul. But I can send you far away and you will never return. Your part ends here."
In a burst, the smoke lunged across the room. Little streams from its sides sheared away by the light all around it. Still, it held on though it was a tiny thread by now and darted halfway down the auburn haired girl's throat. Her eyes flew open, her mouth parted in a scream. "No, you cannot-!"
"I'm sorry, Mom. Another life, perhaps." Roxas looked up and the light in the room expanded, exploded.
There was the silence that followed, in the room, in their minds. A rustle of clothing as the light cleared, reverted to its normal levels and state. Axel cracked open his eyes and raised a hand. The invisible wall had vanished. "Roxas!" The boy leaned against the wall, hand over his eyes, in a perfect pose of a swoon. Axel caught him before he could complete the motion. "Is she…"
"She's gone." Roxas opened his eyes. "She won't bother us again."
"Ngh, I have the worst hangover…Kairi! Riku?"
All eyes turned as the brunet figure on the other throne, the motionless one that, up till now, everyone had paid little attention to. The king sat up shakily, atrophied limbs struggling to push himself up. "Riku, what happened? Why's Kairi on the floor? Who…"
"Sora—" The guard that had previously given Roxas the literal, necessary push towards his goal now approached, eyes wide and hopeful. He stopped when Sora waved a careless hand for him to wait. The king leaned forward; he was able to manage that without too much trouble. His blue eyes were wide, his voice trembling and awed when he finally spoke. "I know you. …Roxas?"
What do you say in this type of moment? Hi Dad, first time you've seen me, huh. Sorry about the mess in here, what with all the blood and—oh, that female corpse lying a few feet away from you? I might have just killed Mom. "Father."
Sora stood, expression still dumbstruck. "I…my memory is so blurry. You're all grown up. Riku…"
"Sora?" Riku hesitantly stepped forward.
Sora paused, and in an astonishingly human gesture, entirely unlike his wife's mannerisms, wrinkled his nose abruptly. "Riku, something smells awful," he managed to say before his skinny muscles betrayed him and he fell back onto the throne.
"Sora!" Riku darted forward, as quickly as he had to catch Roxas earlier.
"He'll be alright. She's been draining him of energy for a long time now; it's only natural he's weak right now. Nothing sleep, food, and physical therapy won't fix. And that body's almost two decades old; someone might want to take it out before it starts filling the entire castle with its stench…" Roxas blinked and Axel loved him for the childishly innocent way he did so. "I don't know if I can stay awake," he said in a breathy, confidential whisper.
"Then don't. You are allowed to be tired, or so I've heard, after saving the world, you know." Axel told him. Demyx peered over his shoulder, "Is it safe to get Zex—Zexion yet?"
"Yes. Demyx, would you be so kind…?"
"On my way, Roxy. Oh, by the way, that was…not to say that it wasn't awesome to watch, but do you think you could…later…details?" Demyx flashed a crooked smile. "A bard needs to make his living after all."
"I don't know that I can, Demyx. Some things…no offense, are beyond human comprehension."
"Fair enough. Axel, be good. I'll be back!" Axel made a rude gesture after Demyx's retreating figure. Even before he was completely out of the palace, the musician could be heard very audibly calling, "Zexy! She's gone! You can come in now!" Roxas rolled his eyes with a smile before his eyelids drooped.
Riku stared. "I don't understand—he's…Roxas?"
"The crown prince. Better get to doing what he says, kid."
"I—"
"So help me, gods, if you say that you don't understand one more time, I will singe your hair, pretty boy." Axel carefully slipped his arms underneath Roxas's shoulders and legs, and stood. Good gods almighty, he really had to shovel more food into this boy. "Well? I don't think just staying there with your liege is going to do him much good. Also, where's a bed Roxas can use? Don't even try asking me what's going on. Honestly, the only one who knows for sure is your long lost prince come home. And he needs sleep. So what do you say we all skip the question and answering for now and let father and son get some rest, hm?"
Sora looked up at Axel, albeit slightly awkwardly and upside down. "What happened…where's Kairi?"
"Kairi's dead at the foot of your throne, your Majesty. And you can get answers to your questions later. I don't think your brain's going to be working properly after more than a decade of enspellment. So, you know, sleep?"
"You're really impudent, you know that?" Riku remarked softly, dangerously. Axel looked at him. "Huh. You're one of the few who have actually dared to tell me that out loud to my face. Much applause."
"I've no doubt that the thought still resides unspoken in many people's minds though."
"Without a doubt," Axel retorted, smirking. Riku inclined his head. "Follow me. This staircase here." With Sora still blearily mumbling confused questions, understandable given that several years worth of memories must be cobwebbed in his mind right now, father and son were transported up the stairs and into the royal bedroom and guest room respectively. Axel placed Roxas gently down on the curtained bed and surveyed him. "Well…oh. Look at that. You made me go and forget that you were wounded. If they start complaining about the bed getting spotted with blood, I'm blaming you for making me forget. And for being the bearer of the blood in question. HEY! SILVER!" Roxas made a soft sound and turned his head, still asleep.
Riku poked his head in irritably. "What, Fire Head?"
Axel smirked at him. "A bit of healing salve and bandages for our wounded hero here? I'm sure no one would like him to bleed on the bed more than he already has." The silver head vanished briefly before reappearing and throwing a container and a roll of bandages none too gently at Axel. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to actually take care of the state of affairs around here now."
"You might want to bury that girl…Kairi?" Axel rolled out a long strip of white cloth and ripped it away from the rest with his teeth. Riku blinked. "I do have a knife if you need it."
"What? So do I. And blunt the perfectly good edge when my teeth will serve?"
"I can't tell if you're jesting or not." Riku paused. "F—what's your name?"
"Axel."
"Axel. Do you…do you know…was that Kairi?"
"Why do you ask?" Axel tossed back at him absently. The wound in Roxas's shoulder was not too deep, a mere flesh wound that had simply bled more than expected from a wound of this caliber. He carefully slid the dagger from Roxas's leg, taking care to keep it still, and a steady trickle of blood followed the blade. Axel held the torn edges of flesh together, pressing down, willing it to stop.
"I knew Kairi. Sora and I grew up with her. We were all best friends."
Why did everyone seem to be so-called best friends around here?
"We were close to each other. All of us. As if we were blood brothers and sister. You would not have believed how different she was from… And right when we began becoming teenagers, she seemed to change. She became more distant, first to me. She went off alone with Sora more frequently." A world of hurt flickered unspoken behind those simple words. "And finally she married him."
"She married him. Not the other way around?"
"I never thought of it as the other way around." Whatever hostility, however playful, had existed between them had taken a hiatus to make way for this conversation. There were things that needed to be said here, secrets long kept so. Riku looked thoughtful, slowly working his way through memories. "Sora never seemed to show the slightest romantic interest in Kairi before they started going off together. And afterwards, both of them just seemed to fade away. Kairi…I never would have believed she could rule so cruelly and coldly as the queen she became if I had not seen it happen throughout the years with my eyes. And Sora just…you know, he loved to laugh. He was always the goofy, clumsy one of our group of friends. And he was the crown prince then, but we still all teased him for it and he would laugh at himself as much as we would if he broke a priceless vase and we had to all run for it. He was the sweetest kid you'd ever have known. And after he married, he grew paler and…not colder like she did, just quieter. Tired. That's the word. It was as if he walked under a perpetual cloud that steadily drained his strength away. That's almost what happened, wasn't it? Why Roxas said his father needed rest."
"I think so. But go on."
"So Kairi was the sweetest girl around, kind hearted, good natured. It just feels all wrong that she could become the heartless woman that, well, you were down there, watching as well. And that black smoke coming out of her mouth. What was that? Do you…I don't care if you don't know for sure, that Roxas is the only one who has all the correct answers. You've been closer to him than anyone here has, even his parents. Surely, he must have told you something…a clue."
"Not really." Axel lifted a finger from his bandaging at the beginnings of a crestfallen look on Riku's face. "But. I'll tell you one thing. You know how Roxas was locked away in that damnable floating castle that took forever to find? There was a spell placed on it. And she…Kairi, the queen, I'll call her for convenience, ordered that castle to be built, didn't she? And you saw her spell casting down there. She probably enchanted the castle as well. So, this spell. Demyx and I walked into the castle, stayed there, tried to work out what was going the hell on. And one night, the spell decided to make its attack. I don't know exactly what it did; it wasn't quite possession. But I dreamed what it wanted me to dream and when my body got up in the real world and began moving, I wasn't asleep, but I wasn't out of the dream either. I couldn't have controlled my own body even if I had wanted to. And I didn't want to. It was that feeling you get while dreaming sometimes, where you're just watching from a distance, and nothing can really affect you."
"And this is what happened to Kairi? Someone was controlling her…gods above, she wasn't able to control her own body for sixteen years?"
"Maybe? Do keep in mind that all I am spouting now is merely unconfirmed guessing. I don't know. Look, can we keep this till morning? I know your curiosity will reign unchecked and torment you until then, my heart bleeds for you, but my guesses aren't going to do that much good now, are they."
Riku sighed and beckoned. "Come on then. You get a choice of many guest rooms."
Axel hesitated. "I think I'm fine right here. Demyx, that bard that was with me? He'll be arriving with his friend sometime. They might need rooms." He grinned wickedly. "Or a room, though he protests."
Riku ignored the barb, or perhaps failed to catch it although the man couldn't be that oblivious, could he? He looked uncertainly from Axel to Roxas and back again. "I don't know…why?"
Axel shrugged in what he attempted to pull off as a nonchalant manner. "Someone has to make sure Roxas sleeps safely to wake up the next morning."
"How noble and hypocritical of you."
"Hyp—what?"
Riku had vanished from the doorway. Axel momentarily debated rising and pursuing the knight, who appeared no less impudent than he accused Axel of being, but turned and glanced at Roxas. With his eyes closed, he looked like any normal sixteen year old adolescent, mouth a little open in sleep, expression calmly blank. Even as Axel looked upon him, the adrenaline and hype of the day quietly drained away and his eyelids protested at their sudden weight.
Within a minute, Axel had snatched the extra pillow and was fast asleep on the floor.