Disclaimers: I do not own these characters.
Chapter 10:
Officer Strife opened the door to his small apartment and like everyday since the incident at the Jazz Club; he would remark to the hallowed and darkened walls of the apartment; "Hey, Roxas, I'm home."
It had become a norm now to just say out those few words if it only meant the walls and darkened corners of the apartment would be the only ones to hear the cheerful and greeting words. Sadly, their lack of ability to speak in response to the greeting was the only thing of the darkened and silent home hard to bear and live in without the light that Roxas brought into seem livable.
"I guess he's out, again," Officer Strife solemnly went about his life and set down his coat and other belongings wherever he saw fit.
As if it weren't truly apparent, that the person, of which those greeting words of acknowledgment to let anyone within the home know he had returned, was not in the home when he passed by the bedroom that had been the recipient's.
"You going to sulk forever, or are you going to get over it?" a mystery man inquired as he sat at the small table in the kitchen.
"Cid, what have I told you about coming into my house when I'm not here?" Officer Strife lowered his pistol and holstered it.
"You sure are on edge, chill, and have a drink," Cid walked over to Cloud and handed him a glass of cheap brandy.
The two men sat and talked, but it wasn't long before the topic turned to the ever alive topic of Roxas; it had been almost two years and most of the Police Force had written Roxas off as a lost cause as just someone who had fallen in with the Mob. He had fallen in between the cracks of the Crime World and was to be accepted as such and not to be brought up again. Cloud, on the other hand, wasn't about to give into that assumption.
"When Lieutenant Leonhart and I were working that place, we tried to keep our eyes on your brother, he was a good kid," Cid finished off the final swallow of cheap alcohol.
"And I 'thank you' you both…I'm just curious of the night you two were arrested at the Club, the night the Owner was found dead, what happened?" Cloud asked as he sat down on the sofa beside Cid.
"As far as I remember; it was to be a simple transaction, but the owner was unwilling to sell out to the two men, but that all changed once your brother got thrown into the fray," Cid sat back against the back of the couch.
Cloud cursed lightly as he slammed his fist and the glass onto the small wooden coffee table, "What in the world caused him to be thrown in?" Cloud angrily remarked through gritted teeth.
"It seems, one of the guys found him heading back to work and must have mistaken him for listening in," Cid began as the moment began to reveal itself in front of the men in an instant as it began to replay again.
The moment began to unfold again almost as visibly and as vivid as the day it happened; it would've cause others to scream out in fear due to the unknown, but the two men watched intently. You could almost smell the sweat from the men as it mixed with their uneasiness, fear and several other mixed feelings that seeped forth as they watch the vivid reenactment. The look of shock and fear on their faces was visible and every fear line was etched and visible upon Roxas' face as well as Mr. Wise's face until the fateful and cataclysmic moment that would change lives forever.
"And that's what happened," Cid nervously lit a cigarette to calm his shaking nerves.
"I can't believe it…I just can't," Cloud was still shaking as he tried to steady his hands as he reached for the glass of brandy.
"I tell you, that's what happened, but what became of Roxas? That's one thing I can't recall," Cid took a drag on the cigarette that dangled from his lips as he started to gain a sense of calm back to his life.