Summary: She wanted nothing more than to live like a normal teenager. He wanted nothing more than to revenge the death of his parents…and maybe to get in her pants. A boy and a girl caught up in a net of lies and hurting pasts – will they walk out of this hand in hand? Or will they bow to the will of destiny?
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts including its characters. But I do own this story.
10. The boy behind the mask
Time stood still, as I was processing what had left Roxas´ lips mere seconds ago. I was sure that I looked like a wreck, having just heard the confirmation of the downfall of my family. When I dared to look up to his face, this disturbing blank fassade, I searched his eyes in order to make sure he wasn´t lying to me.
"Well? Are you going to say something?" My voice was quivering but I was sure that it wasn´t thanks to the cold wind that passed us every few seconds. I was terrified. Scared to death. And he honestly didn´t have any feelings or thoughts he could show on his face? Did he lure me out in order to see me self destruct?
"I am waiting for you to say something." His voice was clear and strong, just like always when he spoke. I raised my eyebrow.
"You can´t be serious, Roxas! You just told me about a gang that wants to kill my family! What am I supposed to say?! I have to do something, not waste my time by talking about it! I want actions, not words!"
"Calm down." He put his hands on my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes. "I want you to come with me."
"Oh, now you want to kidnap me? What a cheap trick!" I wriggled myself out of his grasp but it did take only a second or two, until he had grasped me again. This time a lot firmer.
"I am a member of MASG. That´s true. But I also have the intention of helping you to get out of this situation, Kairi. Now, do you want my help? Or do you want to wait until they come and get you? `Cause let me tell you, if they do, I won´t be able to save you anymore."
I sank to my knees, while he followed me. I was kind of surprised, when he put his arms around my shivering frame. And quite gently.
"I know that this is hard, Kairi. But you have to get up and live. Fight for it. Don´t let yourself get knocked down by anyone. Not ever."
I shook my head, while I felt the first tears stream down my cheeks.
"Why are you doing this?" I looked up. "Why, Roxas?"
"Why am I doing what?" His hand travelled to my cheeks, where he gently wiped my tears away with his thumb.
"Helping me." I found myself to be quite surprised, when I saw his perfect fassade crumble for a moment. His eyes searched mine. Cerulean met violet. It was as if we were caught in a trance, not being able to break out of it.
"Why, you ask? There are things in life you just do."
He rose to his feet and reached out his hand to me. "Now, do you trust me?"
I hesitated for a moment, but Roxas was patient with me and didn´t move an inch.
"Yes", I whispered, while I looked up to the sky in order to get rid of my last tears.
I took his hand, before he gently wrapped whis fingers around mine, never breaking eye contact with me. It was then, when I saw his smile for the first time in my life.
Unknown POV:
"Pence! Where are you, when someone actually needs you for once!", I shouted.
"Idiot, I am sitting right behind you." I turned around in order to see him sitting on the black leather couch with his beloved laptop on his lap.
"Seriously, some exercising would do you good." He rolled his eyes and moved his hands into the bag of chips right next to him.
"Nah, I don´t think so, Hayner. After all MASG has enough sixpack buddies. They need a brain. And I am more than willing and fitting to act the part."
I grumbled. "Whatever. Have you seen the boss around? We worked our asses off to get here on time and then he just decides to give a fuck about us? What the hell?"
"Calm down, Hayner. It appears as if the boss would have some serious trouble in his life right now. We shall not interfere until he is ready to face us."
"Can you just answer my questions for once? I came here to plan ahead. I want to rumble, not hear you ramble. Geez, sometimes I am seriously asking myself why I even bother to put up with you guys."
Pence sighed and stroke a strand of his dark brown hair out of his face. He looked more tired than ever with his dark circles under his eyes.
"He hasn´t left his quarters for days. He didn´t eat. He didn´t talk. And most of all he punched the wall like all the time. He is a wreck. Broken. Frustrated. And Roxas told us to wait for him."
"Why the hell would we want to wait for Mr. Favourite? I know he and the boss are like shit close. But what does he hope to achieve?"
"Well, he obviously has a plan." Pence fixed his headband to control the bushy mess of hair on his head. I groaned in annoyance.
"What´s with you and all the thinking stuff? I bet, if we would just waltz up there and knock some sence into him, he would return to his old self in no time."
Now it was Pence´s turn to groan. "I can´t believe, such stupidiy actually exists among our gang. Hayner, he would wipe the floor with you. No offence, it is the truth. He could take you drunk. No one, maybe Roxas, but no one else is a match to him. He is not human when it comes to fighting."
"Whatever." I grumbled while crossing my muscular arms.
"We can just hope that Roxas knows what he is doing. `Cause MASG needs his boss. We are nothing but helpless puppies without him."
"Why not make Roxas the boss, if he is a match to him, anyway?" I flexed my biceps with satisfaction. Yeah, working out has definitely paid off. Pence shook his head.
"We can´t. The boss is the heart of MASG. He has knowledge and connections that we don´t. He is the most skilled fighter, having had to defend himself since he was a little boy. There is no way, we can replace him. Just give him some time. He has to get his life back together, Hayner."
I hissed, before I let out an amused chuckle. "Yeah, right. He has a bitch up in his quarters like every day. Sounds like life to me."
"Well, if that´s what you think, then you are hopeless."
Kairi´s POV:
Not once did Roxas let go of my hand, not even when it was starting to get sweaty. I was nevous as hell. I had a hunch that he was leading me straight to the house of evil.
"Roxas, isn´t it kind of strange that you are leading me, the one they are actually lokking for, straight to their spot? What if someone recognizes me? I would be dead before I know it."
He shook his head, while he put his free hand into the pocket of his ripped black jeans. "Do you really think that I haven´t thought this through? I would never ever do something that would put you in danger."
I raised my eyebrow in confusion. "Why?"
"Because." There was a hint of annoyance in his voice that showed me that this question was a line he had no intention to cross. I sighed and looked ahead to see a giant stony building that looked like a castle. I had lived on Destiny Islands my whole life and still, I had never seen this hideout before. It was very hard to find. Roxas led me through a forrest, some hidden pathways and over a river. The way was hell on earth. And I was sure that if Roxas hadn´t been there with me, I would have been toast.
"That´s it. Welcome to your grave", he joked. I punched him on his shoulder.
"I am not going inside without a plan. I have no intention of dying today. Half of my life consisted of Mr. Ashton´s stupid math lessons." He chuckled. "Yeah, I can understand you. That would have been a crappy life."
"Well, your plan?" I tapped my feet on the ground to show him my growing impatience. He smiled, before he moved his head closer to my face.
"I could tell them that you are my girlfriend. No one would dare to even think about touching you."
I blushed. Like wow. I had to look like a giant tomato with my red hair and equally red face. I wriggled my hand out of his grasp. "Yeah, right. Are you even allowed to bring girlfriends to your hideout? You know, secret information and stuff? What would your boss say about it?"
Roxas´ face changed from amused to blank to sad. He sighed, before he looked up to the dark blue sky aboth us.
"The boss, hm?"
"Roxas, is there something you are not telling me?", I crossed my arms, "because now would be a good time to spill it."
"I can´t. At least, not yet. It is his job to tell you. And I know he will."
I widened my eyes. "Wait a minute! No one told me that I would have to face the boss of MASG! Roxas are you out of your mind?! He is going to kill me! I look exactly like all the other women MASG has killed!"
"Calm down, Kairi. I know what I am doing." He took a few steps closer to the castle.
"Well, that´s great and all. But I don´t trust you fully, yet."
"I´ll tell them that you are my cousin", he said with a strange voice I couldn´t place my finger on, "no one would dare to hurt you and the boss wouldn´t rip me apart."
"Why would your boss rip you apart?"
"You´ll see. Now come on. We don´t have all day."
I groaned in annoyance, before I followed him into the house of evil.
I blinked a few times, when the light of the fireplace that stood in the centre of the round room blended me for a moment. When I opened them again, I was met with the surprised looking faces of two young men that were watching me closely. I stiffened.
"Hayner, Pence. I´m back." Roxas moved in their direction.
"Yeah, we can see that, genius." The blonde guy rolled his eyes, but didn´t dare to move his eyes away from me.
"Roxas why did you bring a girl down here? I thought we made it clear that only the boss was allowed to do that." The slightly flabby guy next to the blonde one was fixing his headband that held his bushy hair together.
"She isn´t just any girl", Roxas stated, "she is my cousin. And I know that she can help the boss. I´d put my hand under your knifes. I know that she can make him talk."
Pence took a closer look towards me. "Does that mean that the boss actually knows your cousin?"
"Indeed", the words slipped Roxas´ lips, before I knew it, "I mean look at her. The boss knows her very well. And he has known her for years."
He was a brilliant liar. I just hoped that he was honest with me. After all I put my life on the line.
"Well, she is a redhead." The blonde one didn´t look convinced. Roxas took a step closer to him, while crossing his muscular arms over his chest. "Are you seriously emplying that my cousin, my own flesh and bloos, is one of them? I dare you to, Hayner. If you even think of laying a finger on her, not only I will kill you, but the boss also. He especially." I saw Hayner gulp, even from the distance I kept. I inwardly gave Roxas a giant kiss for being such a genius.
"Now, if you´ll excuse us. We have a boss to toughen up."
Roxas nodded to Pence, while ignoring Hayner and taking my hand into his again. He led me up some weird stairs that had at least one hundred steps. I kept silent, when we passed some other MASG members who had a dangerous look on their faces, when their eyes fell upon me and my stupid red hair that would cost me my head someday.
"There, here we are." Roxas looked behind himself to make sure that no one had followed us up here.
"Is this where your boss lives? Are his quarters behind this door?", I asked with a now timid voice. He chuckled, before he put his hand on my shoulder to calm me down.
"Believe me. He will talk to you. And he would rather die than hurt you."
I knitted my eyebrows. "I don't understand. I have never met him. Why would he care about me so much?"
"Oh, you have known him for a very long time, actually. Now stop asking me your dumb questions, Kairi. I am telling you that it´ll be fine. It´ll all turn out okay. And you´ll have a lot of your questions answered. You just have to break through his shell. Even though I don´t think it´ll be that hard for you."
My silence showed him my confusion.
"When it comes to you, no man can resist. He especially. Now go."
He put his hand on the doorknob to find it being closed.
"Call him", he whispered.
"Call who? I don´t even know his name!", I hissed.
"You don´t need to. Just say something. He will recognize your voice anywhere."
I lifted my eyebrow again, but decided to lay my hand on the wooden door. I took a deep breath, before I gently knocked.
"Hello?" My voice shivered for a bit. The blood pulsed in my veins. "I have come to talk to you. Roxas brought me."
I didn´t get an answer, but I could here a glass shatter on the other side of the door.
"Please let me in. I need to talk to you." My voice grew weaker. "Please."
When I turned around to ask Roxas for help, I was shocked to find him nowhere near me. He had left me all alone. Panic rose inside of me.
"Roxas!", I hissed into the darkness, until I felt a hand grasping my shoulder. I supressed a scream and turned around to meet a tall young man with a strange white mask on his face. A dark cross was on it, making me fall into a kind of trance.
"What are you doing here?" I was surprised to find his voice sounding desperate and broken, not at all what I has expected. I knitted my eyebrows. What was Roxas talking about? Not once in my life had I heard this voice before.
"I-Roxas brought me here. He told me that we should talk."
There was a long silence. I shivered, before I dared to look into the two holes on his mask. My heart skipped a beat, when I was met with the most beautiful and mysterius shade of ocean blue that reminded me of one person almost immediately.
"Sora?", the word slipped my lips, before I could hold it back. He stiffened.
"Come inside." His voice sounded weak and not at all like him. Something was off.
"Okay." I entered his quarters, while he closed the door behind me. The fainted smell of alcohol rose inside my nostrils, making me frown immediately. I turned around to see him stand merely a meter in front of me, while looking down on me with pained eyes.
"You are Sora, aren´t you?" My voice was shivering. Could the boy who had followed my on daily basis actually be the one who was desperately trying to eradicate every bit of my family? My heart clenched. My hands were balled into fists.
"Why are you crying?" His voice didn´t fit the picture. I blinked in surprise, when I felt a single tear drop reach my mouth, leaving a salty taste. I quickly wiped my eyes. Great start, Kairi. So much of trying to appear strong.
"People don´t cry because they are weak", it was as if he would be able to read my thoughts, "they cry because they have been strong for such a long time."
It was then, when I heard his own voice change for a bit. He had to fight with his emotions, too. I bit my lip, while I slowly reached out to his cheeks that were covered by this strange mask. He didn´t move an inch.
"Can I…?"
"You know I would never deny you anything." His voice sounded broken. I wasn´t sure if it was the alcohol or something else entirely. I bit my lip so hard that it would have been no surprise when I would have found the taste of blood inside my mouth.
I out my fingers on his mask, before I looked him straight in the eyes. I didn´t find any resistance looming inside them. So why was it so hard for me to remove it? Was it my own fear? My need to deny the truth? My heart that hurt? The tears that threatened to leave my eyes like a waterfall?
"Do it." His voice sounded strangely demanding. I nodded, before I moved my shivering hands closer to the button on its backside that held the mask on his face.
Not a single sound was heard, when it fell down to the ground, until it reached the stony floor of this dim room.
I sank to my knees, feeling empty and helpless, when I was met with the face of the most famous skirt chaser of my school. Sora Willers. The one and only.
"Kairi, I´m sorry." His voice returned to normal. It must have been the mask. A voice changer. Without doubt.
He hesitated, before he followed my movements. He gently put his arms around my small frame, while pulling me closer to his firm chest. I didn´t feel anything at all. I didn´t even bother to resist. My arms made its own way around his torso, desperately wanting to feel the warmth that was radiating from his body.
"You are their leader?" My breath hitched in my throat. My world came crushing down on me.
"I am." His eyes searched mine. "I missed you."
"Why didn´t you return to school? I was worried."
He sighed. "My life is very fucked up right now."
I put some distance between us and I felt him stiffen, when I moved out of his arms.
"Oh, yeah? I bet you had a girl up here every single night! Oh and are you behind all of the murders that took place all this months? Was it all you?!"
"Kairi, no! You get it all wrong! I´m not a bad person!"
"Well it seems to me that you are! You don´t just go out and kill people who look like me! I was so scared, Sora!" The tears streamed down my face all over again and I had no power to hold them back.
"I would never do anything to you, Kairi!" His voice was desperate, when he tried to put his arms around me once more. I slapped his hands away and put another two meters of distance between us. God, I felt like a giant toddler. Down on the ground, crying, feeling helpless.
"Kairi, please don´t do this to me." His hands sank to his side. "I have my reasons. Richard Startz has ruined my life! I am just taking revenge!"
"Well, that doesn´t explan why you are killing all those women!", I shouted back at him with venom lacing my voice.
"Kairi! You don´t understand!"
"Well, then make me understand!"
"He killed my parents!" He roared like a hurt animal. It was then, when I felt all my anger slowly leaving my body. I saw a single tear leave his cerulean eye that never broke eye contact with mine. He needed me. I could see it in his eyes.
"You are lying." My words had no power. They sounded weak, almost empty.
"I am not. It happened ten years ago. On the charity event at Richard Startz´ residence. My parents were secret agents that came across some dark secrets. Amelia Eclaire Startz and my parents died on this evening. That is the truth. And I know that Startz´ has something to do with it. Now I want to take every bit of family from him. He deserves the same fate."
I had to use my arms to prevent my body from collapsing on the stone floor. I was scared, devastated, because I actually believed him. I knew what my father and Riku were capable of. Together and alone.
"My sister has cancer. She is going to die, soon. And I don´t have the money I need to pay her OP." He reached his hand out to me. "Please, don´t leave me. Don´t hate me, Kairi. I need you. I love you. I always have."
"Yeah, right. That's´why you have a gril clinging on your arm every day." I snorted in disbelief.
"Kairi, please." He sounded so lost. When I looked up to his eyes, my heart sank. That wasn´t the Sora I knew. That wasn´t the Sora he was supposed to be. That was the boy behind the mask, the broken young man that was reaching out towards me for years. It was all an act to hide his secrets. His fucked up life that beat even mine.
I sighed. My lips quivered. Because when I met his eyes I could see nothing else but pure love that was meant for me. And me only.
I moved over to him and gently laid my hand on his cheek. He leaned into my touch and let out another cry, before I pulled his body closer to mine, burying his face in my neck.
"It´s okay, Sora. I´m here. It´ll be okay."
He laid his arms around me and held on to me like I was his life line. I sighed and closed my eyes, when I felt my own tears coming back. I just couldn´t bring myself to tell him the truth. That I was the only daughter of Richard Startz.
Author´s note: I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. And please don´t get mad about spelling mistakes. I´ll correct them when I have time to do so. XD Review and have a nice day! :D