Chapter 10 - in which it's time to say goodbye

Roxas walked into the gym just after seven thirty, to find Xemnas was already there, waiting for him. Two keyblades lay on the ground in front of a training dummy, both of them covered in thin layers of foam, not unlike the batons used in the Struggle. There was a thick smell in the air; not unlike incense. It made Roxas feel slightly dizzy, but he pressed on until he was standing where Xemnas indicated. The silver-haired man stood next to Roxas, towering over him and glaring at him with peach-coloured eyes.

"Roxas. Welcome. I am glad you came; together we can bring this trophy back to the school for the first time in years, and make a proper name for the martial arts club. What say you?" The words were gentle, soft, and yet carried with them an air that Roxas dared not argue with. He nodded hesitantly. "Excellent. I saw you sparring today with two keyblades; was that the first time you have used them as such?"

"Mmhm."

"I thought as much. You were quite the natural, young man. I am happy to say. However, I should like to observe your form solo." He took Roxas through a number of stances, correcting the angle of an elbow or quietly pushing a foot back to align heels as Roxas moved and obeyed. He seemed satisfied with each turn, and Axel's earlier words of warning floated away in the incense-filled, lavender-scented haze.

"Well done, Roxas. You have great potential. However... there is one last test I should like you to undertake. If you would be so good as to back up a little bit, and take a running leap at the dummy, striking it as hard as you possible can with both keyblades at once, I should be much obliged." It was a simple request, and then Roxas could be on his way.

He shook his head softly, attempting the clear the buzzing sound from within, and walked backwards a few yards, until Xemnas nodded. He focused on the incredibly lifelike dummy, on its slate-gray limp wig, and took a deep breath, preparing to sprint. Xemnas gave a curt nod, and Roxas launched himself into a run, flinging himself into the air several feet from the dummy, raising his keyblades as he did so.

"ROXAS NO!" The shout distracted Roxas and momentarily cleared his mind, and he missed the dummy entirely, landing hard on the floor in a heap. When he got a hold of himself, he saw Axel at the far end of the gym, staring concernedly at him. The redhead was pointing frantically at the dummy, and when Roxas actually looked at the dummy, his blood instantly ran cold.

The dummy was not a dummy at all, being as how dummies didn't bleed or bruise, but in fact was a person - a small person of the same stature as Roxas, woozy but moving, and attempting to open bloodshot blue eyes.

"Z-Zexion? What's going on?" Roxas cried, confused.

Axel started for him, but a shadow appeared behind him and struck him him hard over the head, knocking him down mid-stride. Axel crumpled to the floor, but immediately rolled over still conscious. The figure above him smirked down at him, and even from halfway across the enormous gym, Roxas saw the colour drain from the usually-fiery redhead's face at the sight of the person standing over him.

"Isa?" Axel's voice was incredulous, but coated with a fear Roxas had thought him incapable of.

Ugly yellow eyes sparkled underneath a mountain of electric blue hair, and a well-built young man a few inches shorter than Axel said snippily, "It's Saix now. How've you been, Lealoo? I've been fine, thanks. Just got thrown out of school, and my mother disowned me, you know how it is. How fortuitous that my father understood and took me in when I was most vulnerable."

Axel's eyes widened, and he spluttered an disbelieving response. "Xemnas is your FATHER?"

"Indeed. Could you imagine how surprised I was, to get a phone call today saying that the marvellous Axel Valentine was not only living in Twilight Town, but in my father's little retard's fight club? Delicious." He delivered a swift, brutal kick to the prone subject of his speech, winding Axel and preventing him from any attempt to stand. "You're not so tough without your dearest uncle to stand over you, are you. ARE YOU!" His voice was unhinged, and Roxas put two and two together, working out that this was the ex-boyfriend Axel had spoken about; the one who had almost killed him in a fit of passion. Looking at the boy now, he could believe it. Saix's expression was that of a madman, and he punctuated each sentence with a vicious kick to Axel's stomach, until the slimmer boy coughed and spurted a mouthful of blood as he did so. However, he did not make a sound, which only served to enrage Saix further, but he was silenced with a placating 'sssh' from behind Roxas. Xemnas' voice indicated his had not moved, but Roxas did not turn to him as he spoke, instead, stared stricken at Axel struggling to breathe through a wet throat.

"Axel!"

"I would be more concerned with yourself, Roxas."

"What are you going to do to him?"

Xemnas roared with laughter at Roxas' question, and even Saix smiled cruelly. "Your hero is none of my concern, dear child, you are the only interest I have this evening. Although my son's toy interrupted us at such an inopportune time, it is of no concern to me - you will complete the task I set you, and you will do so immediately, or I will dismember this boy," - he indicated Zexion, still groggily stood still where he had been since Roxas first entered the gym - "in front of you. Now, pick up your keyblades."

Without thinking, Roxas looked down at the wooden weapons he had dropped in the fall after his aborted jump, only to find they were not wooden, but steel keyblades, blunt and shiny. "What.. what the hell are these?"

Xemnas sniffed unhappily. "Those are actual keyblades, not stupid wooden practice imitations. I suppose your dear trainer has probably never even suggested that you utilise two at once? Vincent knows as well as I do what they are capable of." The quiet gasp from the floor hammered home what Roxas had just noted - Xemnas knew of Vincent. From what Axel had told him of Vincent's assumed former-or-current line of work, this could only be bad news. "Two keyblades, striking a living creature at once, have the power to pass straight through that creature and tear its soul from its still-breathing body. There has not been a keyblade wielder on this world in some time, and it has been many ages since a dual-wielder graced the stage. One cannot simply pick up two keyblades - weapons choose their wielder."

'Ultimately, the weapon chooses its wielder.' Vincent's use of the same words echoed in in Roxas' mind.

"But what happens to those souls untimely ripped from their owners? Well, they are just left... floating. I thought I could make use of them, and indeed by extension, of you."

'Run, Roxas.' The voice whispered into his mind, urgent but weak.

"You see, I am not about to pass up an opportunity like the one you present to me."

'Run, Roxas!' The voice called, louder this time.

"Strike the idiot boy, Roxas."

"Roxas, RUN!" Axel screamed out loud, and finally kicked Roxas' overwrought mind into taking action. The little blond obeyed the one voice he trusted, and stood, darting out of Xemnas' clutches, past Saix's grabbing reach, and headed for the exit. He turned briefly, but the voice in his mind rang out clearly, reassuring him.

'Help is coming.You have to run or you're dead. GO!'

Without a second's hesitation more, Roxas fled the gym, praying as he ran that Axel was not lying to save him, forgetting in his hurry to drop the keyblades in his hands.

Axel collapsed back onto the ground, but his eyes were triumphant. Xemnas looked murderously at him, seemingly at a dilemma, but Saix nodded towards the door.

"Go after him, Dad. I wanted some privacy anyhow." He smiled one of the most twisted smiles Axel had ever seen, and Xemnas strode angrily out of the exit, fury emanating from every pore. The door swung back on itself after he exited, leaving the gym silent once more, until Saix leaned over close to Axel, licked some of the blood from the barely-conscious redhead's chin, continued up along his cheeks, and said,

"Nice tattoos. How's the neck?"

Roxas ran. He ran as though his life depended on it. He ran as though Axel's life depended on it. He ran, knowing that both of those statements were terrifyingly true. He ran faster than he had ever run, trying to aim for Axel's home where he knew Vincent and Reno would be waiting in the wings to save him. He ran with a sense of panic, turning to look over his shoulder every so often, cursing every time he saw the older man gaining on him. Xemnas moved as though he were walking on water, but he seemed to be shortening the distance between him and the frantically racing boy. He ran, and anger sped his shoes; anger at Xemnas for being Xemnas, anger at Saix for hurting Axel, anger at himself for being so stupid, anger at feeling like a coward while knowing it was his only option, and anger at the fact that he had run.

The streets blurred together into an endless labyrinth, and Roxas realised he was hopelessly lost, with no landmarks to orientate himself as he careened down side streets in a desperate attempt to stall for time until Axel's promised help arrived.

"Roxas, why are you running?" Xemnas growled, his voice not far enough away for Roxas' liking in any way. "You cannot escape your fate, my boy. You were almost in my grasp once, you will be so again and you will not even realise that it is so." Still, Roxas ran, falling around corners and tripping. Xemnas closed the gap with every misplaced footfall, but the adrenaline kept Roxas running.

"I understand of course, why you are running. Your delightful boyfriend back there told you to do so, and like a faithful puppy you are doing as you are told."

The terror threatened to engulf Roxas, but this statement brought with it a fresh wave of hot determination, as Roxas looked desperately for a sign that he was going in the right direction. He came to a T-Junction and paused for a millisecond, taking a right-hand turn and carrying on off down the street.

He was almost out of breath, running as fast as he could. The heavy weapons dragged him down and made his back ache, and his pursuer was still catching up. A stitch caught on his left side and he collapsed to his knees, wanting to thump the ground in his frustration, but without the energy to do so. He heard the footsteps behind him slow up and could almost hear the grin. Roxas was almost ready to give in.

"Well, Roxas, your weakness has failed you. Are you ready to be mine?"

Roxas tried to think of a response, but didn't know what to say. He was completely spent. A light by his foot caught his eye, and time seemed to slow as his brain registered what it was seeing. The ground began to glow in a wide curve in front of him, and he smiled.

Ten foot high flames burst from the aether in an enormous circle around him, and Roxas suddenly knew he was safe. Xemnas, for his part, had the decency to look surprised.

"I see that the red mongrel escaped from my idiot son. That is twice he has failed to kill you; I think I shall just have to disown him."

"Let Roxas go. He won't do what you want him to." Axel's voice was mercifully close, and though the flaming circle contained only Roxas and his pursuer, Roxas was more than relieved to see the older boy step through the wall of fire right next to Xemnas. Although Axel was very definitely injured, he appeared to be operating on animosity alone, and the ever-present smirk on his lips was a mangled look of pure hatred. Xemnas swallowed hard, but spoke calmly.

"Oh, I think not, firecrotch. People have a curious habit of complying with my wishes, even when they have no desire to - your little fire illusion is all very cute, but you are amusing only yourself.

"How do you know Vincent?" Axel's question was asked neutrally, but Roxas knew he was as afraid of the answer as Roxas himself was.

"We've met. It was a brief encounter. I am fairly certain he thought I did not walk away from it, but I have ways of distorting reality to hide myself. The question is, what is that dear old assassin doing playing with children for? Although..." He squinted at Axel. "That chin... those cheekbones... Of course. Not a son, far too old for that... Nephew perhaps?" Axel ground his teeth, and Xemnas laughed. "Oh dear me, Uncle Vincent?"

"Better than Daddy Xemnas." There was a triple popping, and the air next to Xemnas rippled as the silver-haired man stumbled backwards. At first, Roxas thought it was another fireball, but the swirling red ball slowed its movement, and instead Roxas could see Vincent's ebony hair become apparent. His blood-red cloak billowed around him, and one outstretched arm held a long, triple-barrelled gun. A glint of gold caught Roxas' eye at his side, and he could just about make out a metal glove on Axel's uncle's left arm. He had struck Xemnas on either shoulder, but the larger man stood straight, glaring at Vincent. "Like a bad penny, you just always keep on coming back again and again, don't you."

"It would seem you you just don't get the quality work these days, not even in your line of work, Valentine." Without warning, Xemnas struck out at Vincent, who hadn't expected a foolish fisticuff-slap. He backhanded the gun-toting assassin. Axel was about to laugh at the pathetic gesture, but Vincent dropped like a stone, leaving the two boys gaping.

"Silly idiot. The mind is my plaything. He should give me no more trouble for the night. Now, Axel dear-" He was cut off suddenly by the wall of flames receding, to reveal two figures who had been standing outside. Reno raised a long metal rod and the entire tip crackled as he rested it over his shadow. The air filled with electricity, and even his eyes were bursting with a blue charge. Beside him, Cloud held forth an enormous sword, the one that took up most of the back wall of Vincent's cabinet. In his hands, however, it did not look stupidly oversized, more like perfectly proportioned. They ran at Xemnas as one, but in a display of litheness, Xemnas dropped to the floor with his legs splayed out in front and behind him, meaning both Reno and Cloud missed him entirely and their momentum caused them to surge past. Xemnas sprang up, battling both on the head, and the two crumpled like Vincent before them, forming a small heap.

"Sleep, children." He sighed, and stooped, brushing a lock of hair out of Cloud's eyes. "And to think, this one felled Sephiroth." He barked a laugh. "Now, my dear boys. It's time for you to realise you cannot touch me. In fact, I'm rather glad that this big baby did take out that old Leech - there is no-one who can stop me, now." He made to move towards Roxas, but the wheels in both boys' heads turned as one. Roxas caught Axel's eye, and dropped his defenses.

Time stopped. Axel closed his eyes, and pulled in enough Will to light a small flame on his finger, but the surge of Will made him see stars. He realised then that Vincent, Reno and Cloud were deeply unconscious, and had no active defenses like that, and Xemnas himself would have had no idea how easily Axel could overcome barriers. Invigorated, he gathered with caution thrown to the wind, desperately sucking everything to him. Xemnas faltered, then fell hard on one knee, clutching at his chest. Roxas understood why - the pain as his Will was thieved from him was blinding.

Conversely, Axel felt higher than he ever had in his life. The force of the Will lifted him off the ground, arms outstretched, eyes burning with green fire. It was ecstasy; nothing could ever or would ever compare to that again. He was lost in the sensation, drawing and drawing and drawing, a lengthy roar escaping his lips. He wanted this to go on forever, this wondrous feeling, but the softest cry snapped him to attention.

"Axel..." Instead of focusing on the source, however, it was as though Axel remembered what he needed to do, and he fixed Xemnas with a look that seemed to contain the hate of a thousand people. He floated over towards the kneeling man, and reached a hand down to grip Xemnas' chin, pulling it up slowly to look Xemnas in the eye. Xemnas looked back up at him, trembling, tears gushing down his cheeks.

"What are you?"

"Someone who can stop you." The timbre of Axel's voice had a harmonic quality, like several voices speaking at once. Xemnas shook in terror. "And someone who has less mercy than he should." He floated back a few inches, and his eyes flashed as he spoke a simple word. "Goodbye."

The effect was instantaneous, and devastating. The floor around Xemnas hummed, and a column of bright blue flame erupted, engulfing Xemnas and stretching upwards, reaching high into the sky. There was no sound as the man was consumed, but Roxas watched, horrified, as the redhead did not stop - instead, he tilted his head back and began to laugh hysterically.

The ripping pain did not end - as Axel continued to drain the Will from around him, Roxas could begin to feel his consciousness fade, darkness threatening the edge of his vision, and he had to act on instinct alone. He crawled towards the levitating madboy, and, using every last ounce of strength he had, he threw himself at Axel, calling his name as he did. He fell heavily against Axel, wrapping his arms around Axel's legs, and let the blackness overtake him.

"..no, I think he is... Roxas? Can you hear me?"

"Ax, he's clearly asleep."

"Did you turn the streetlights on?" A pause.

"Oh." A comforting wave of white light filtered through his eyelids as he attempted to open them carefully. The first sight he saw was Axel, standing over him, concern painted on his perfect face. Behind him, Reno was hunched, and Roxas could vaguely make out Cloud assisting Vincent to stand in the background.

"Roxas! You had me so worried! Are you ok?"

"Think so." Blinking, the ache in Roxas' back made him realise he was lying akwardly on the street, where he had fallen earlier. "What happened? You were-"

"I'm fine." He looked fine, better than fine - although his clothes were still blood-spattered, Axel looked the very picture of health, almost radiant, in fact. "Are you hurt?" Before answering, Roxas tested his limbs, before concluding that he was uninjured.

"Don't think so. Axel, is Xemnas...?"

"Ash." A brief, cold look passed across the redhead's face, but disappeared.

"Are you ok?"

"Not even remotely. Come on, we have to get back to the school and let Is- Saix out. He needs to be turned over to the proper authorities." The questioning look from Roxas urged further explanation. "There's been a warrant with his name on it since he disappeared after almost killing me, and if we don't walk in the door first, Reno will electrocute the fuck out of him."

Saix was handed over to the Twilight Town police department, who thanked the boys for their hand in collaring a violent offended. No mention was made of Xemnas, not even from Saix himself. Axel dropped Roxas home, sand the boy thanked Reno, Cloud and Vincent for coming to his aid. All shrugged it off, but Vincent made Roxas agree to stop by the house the next day to discuss the events of the evening after a night's sleep.

The next day at school was eye-opening - in the middle of the cafeteria at lunch, Axel sat down next to Roxas, rook his hand and held it there, to the amusement of their lunch companions. He followed this by kissing Roxas squarely goodbye at the end of the break, waving to a stunned blond as he retreated. From his vantage point on the stairs overlooking the cafeteria, Headmaster Cid grinned a triumphant grin.

After a vigorous art exercise, Roxas made his way out of the school to the car park, to find Axel waiting in his Elise. He dropped inside, pulling the door shut behind him, and fastened his seat belt.

"So are we officially boyfriends now?" The little blond asked, innocently. The air left Axel's lungs, and his throat was dry and incapable of sound, and Roxas carried on, regardless. "'Cos if you're going to keep doing things like earlier, people are going to talk. Not like I mind, per se, but I would like to be told these things beforehand."

"Do you want to be open with it?" Axel asked.

"Beats hiding it. All my friends know anyway."

"Ok then." There was a long silence.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to ask me to go steady? I want you to be my only special guy."

Axel looked at Roxas and met a doe-eyed, eyelash-fluttering expression that made him laugh so hard he almost swerved the car.

"Oh god, Roxas, those eyes! You nearly got us killed, hahaha! You win. Roxas... Be my girl?" He received a slap on the on the shoulder for a reply, and they both descended into bawdy laughter, but a small hand found its way to rest on top of long bony fingers on the gear stick.

They were seated in the living room. O'aka, Vincent, Cloud and Reno were waiting inside, and Roxas and Axel took the two remaining places arranged in a circle. O'aka poured them both tea from a large ornate teapot, and they each took a biscuit from the tray on the coffee table, then settled back, nervously. Roxas could feel Axel shaking next to him. As both had expected, Vincent spoke first.

"Axel."

"Yes."

"I'm quite sure you have been expecting this talk, so I shall not waste time. Let us get right down to it. Tell me what happened."

The redhead paused to take a breath, and began slowly.

"Last week, our martial arts club was taken over by our English teacher, creeper number one. Seemed a bit weird that no-one even questioned his stupid explanation why. I decided to skip this week to do a little digging, and he started handing out woods at the club. Then yesterday, he must've seen us sparring in the gym when no-one was around, and he convinced Roxas to meet him at the gym last night, and Roxas blew me off, so I decided to go see what was up. He was talking to Roxas, and he had two wooden keyblades, and then he got Roxas to swing at this dummy he had set up, but when Roxas stepped back, his two woods must've switched 'cos they were real. and at the same time, the dummy changed too - it was a person tied to a pole, one of the kids in our class." Roxas sank into the cushions of the sofa, embarrassed at the recounting of his inability to spot the illusions Xemnas had constructed. Vincent noticed, and interrupted Axel.

"Understandable - Xemnas' power over the mind is remarkable. Continue."

"Well, I ran in and screamed at Rox to stop, and he fell over, and then something clocked me from behind - Isa is Xemnas' son, and he was there. Xemnas made some speech about souls and keyblades, and I told Roxas to run, so he did. Isa - Saix - got the drop on me, but I beat him out to it."

"How?"

"Played possum." His grimaced, grinding his jaw. "Bastard got cocky, went for my belt. I headbutted him and locked him in my locker." Reno let loose an involuntary guffaw. "Then I called you guys and ran after Xemnas."

"I see." Vincent nodded. "Well, I saw much of that, but... do tell me, how did you defeat him?"

Axel swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. O'aka put an arm around his younger son, and squeezed his shoulders encouragingly, a move that seemed to reassure Axel that his actions would not be judged harshly.

"I... leeched Will from all of you and then I burned him alive."

O'aka's hand stiffened, Reno gaped and Vincent's eyes hardened.

"I didn't want to," the boy went on, "It was just he was gonna kill Roxas and he's already killed Leon and god knows how many others and then he said that thing about the souls and I panicked and then-" He babbled animatedly, shame and regret spilling over. Vincent stood, crossed the room and sat down in front of him, instantly wrapping his arms around him, pulling the boy close, silencing him with a soothing shush and stroking his hair. The other participants in the discussion leaned closer, each putting a comforting hand on the youth, who broke down into the tears he had held back since the events of the previous night.

"Ssssh, Axel. Sssssssh. It's fine. You did the only thing you could do, the only thing that would work. You did what I failed to do a number of years ago, the thing that needed to be done. Please don't feel worse than you should. You saved countless lives in destroying Xemnas; please understand this. But... I have to ask you a question I don't want to know the answer to, but I must know. What did it feel like?"

Axel sniffed, grabbing at a tissue from the table. He wiped his eyes and blew his nose, delaying the response as much as he could. "It felt... It felt wonderful," he sobbed. "Like the greatest high of my life. Like the world revolved around me for that instant, and I could have crushed it in my hand if I'd wanted it. It was exhilarating. But... I could have killed you all, and it was only because Roxas called me, it sort of snapped me out of it and then... yeah. But I feel different now - kinda hollow."

"You absorbed Xemnas' Will as you killed him - his potential is now part of you. You are stronger because of it, but you will probably need a while to adjust to it."

"Oh. Is that... why..."

"Yes. That is why Leeches snap - they get that taste and crave it again."

"I never want to do it again. Feeling him die was just the worst thing. I wasn't myself; it wasn't right." Relief washed over the room, in Vincent's face most of all as the facade he usually wore trickled away.

"Good. Good. I think - maybe we should take a week off, get back to normal a little. First though..." He reached under the coffee table and pulled out a wooden keyblade, darker than Roxas' own. "Roxas, this is a gift to you. I don't know exactly what Xemnas said to you, but the truth of the legend of two keyblades, if a legend is what it is, has been muddled with time - only once before has a keyblade wielder ever had two - it's a difficult weapon to use anyway, never mind two of them - and that other was a Speaker who practiced necromancy. The latter fact was obscured by our forebears, so the story came to be about the keyblades, not the Speaker. Do not concern yourself."

"Oh. Um. Sweet!" He took the keyblade from Vincent, and Axel wrapped his arms around him, breathing softly in his ear,

"Thanks... for pulling me back."

Later that evening, Axel and Roxas lay under the covers in Axel's room, free of all clothing and thoroughly sated. Roxas began to drift off to sleep, while Axel stroked his cheek lovingly, planting tiny, featherlight kisses down the blond's neck and chin. Before he drifted off entirely, though, a question bubbled up.

"Could you turn the heating down? It's boiling in here."

"There's no heating plumbed into this room."

"...That makes sense."

"Sorry, you'll just have to get used to it."

Roxas was almost asleep now, but one last thought fought its way to be voiced. "You said... that nothing... could compare... to feeling all that Will."

Axel laughed sleepily, and snuggled Roxas closer to his chest. "I see you took that as a challenge."

Roxas giggled, and mumbled softly, "Love you, firecrotch."

"Love you too, twink."

Aaaaand that's all, folks! Thanks for sticking with me.

Oh. I lie. Tiny epilogue time!