A pretty action oriented chapter. I like Axel. Please enjoy and keep those reviews coming. They really help. For real.

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Chapter 10

Not Part of the Cavalry

The room was silent for a long time. Axel leaned casually against the doorway, smiling at Kairi pleasantly. Seifer, confused as he was by the intrusion, could not help but be somewhat relieved that the awful moment from earlier had now passed. He stared at the black robed man, trying to determine who he was.

After a while, Axel sighed. "Come on now, Kairi," he said with mock exasperation. "Did you really forget my name? I specifically asked you if you had it memorized." He pushed off the wall and took a step into the room. "I don't do that just for fun, you know?" He leaned forward and tapped on the side of his head. "I do it so you remember."

Kairi remained silent, her muscles tense. How had he managed to find her? This wasn't good. He was blocking the only exit…and if they tried to use the elevator…well there was no way it would be fast enough. And Seifer probably didn't even realize the kind of danger they were in. Her eyes flicked to Seifer for a moment. If he found out that this guy was Axel…would he attack? He had been planning to earlier.

Axel saw Kairi glance to the side and followed her eyes. When he saw Seifer, he leaned back and scratched his head, acting like he hadn't seen him before.

"Oh? And who might this be?" he said with a chuckle. "You know, a boy and a girl alone in a dark room at your age…people might start to talk." He laughed, oblivious of the deep shades of red Seifer and Kairi were both turning. "Aw, I'm just teasing you," he said with a smile. "I know how it is." He put his hands together and made a silly face. "Your heart belongs to Sora already." He laughed again.

Seifer felt the bottom of his stomach drop away. He couldn't breathe right for a moment. Kairi was blushing furiously, but Seifer wouldn't look at her. He couldn't. It would kill him.

Axel stopped laughing and looked at the two of them. With a sigh he put his hands on his hips. "Oh come on. Would you two lighten up? I'm just teasing you." He shook his head. "Geez, hearts sure make you folk sensitive."

Seifer finally managed to calm down enough to think. This guy hadn't just stumbled in here. Taking a deep breath, Seifer stood up, brushing the dust off his pants. Quietly, he took a good look at the man in black. How could he have been so stupid? Full black robes, red hair, spiked back like fire?

"So you're Axel then?" he said softly.

Axel cocked his head to one side. "You've heard of me then?"

"Kairi mentioned a few things about you before." Slowly, Seifer drew his blade. The metallic rasp of the steel against the hilt hissed threateningly in the dead air.

"Oh?" Axel's eyes narrowed and a cold smile split across his face. "Good things I hope."

"Hardly."

Swallowing hard, Kairi managed to find her voice. "Seifer don't!"

But Seifer was already moving. He darted forward, crossing the room in a flash and thrusting out with his blade. Axel watched him come, keeping an eye on the sword as it flew toward his chest. At the last moment, he swayed to the side, letting the tip of the blade come within a hair's reach of his chest.

Seifer quickly stopped his thrust and withdrew, falling back into his guard. When he realized no attack was coming, he flicked out the blade once more, cutting down at Axel. Once more, Axel ducked under the oncoming weapon, spinning around Seifer and giving him a light shove before dancing away. Caught unawares, Seifer stumbled forward but caught himself quickly. When he looked up, Axel was standing in the middle of the room, bouncing lightly on his toes.

"So…you have a weapon or what?" Seifer said as he fell back into his stance.

"Why, am I going to need it?" Axel said with a wide grin.

Seifer paused for a moment, put off by the reply. But then, after only a second, he smiled widely. This was the repartee he'd been looking for in an opponent. He felt strangely elated.

"Why don't you tell me."

Then he was moving again, dashing in toward Axel, blade held low until it was scraping against the stone floor. When he was within striking distance, he brought the blade up and forward, cutting up toward Axel's face in a large, wide arc. Not even waiting, Axel sidestepped the oncoming blow.

Unable to contain his giddiness, Seifer felt a smile split across his face as he halted his forward movement, transferring his energy into a spin that kept him parallel to Axel. It was the first time he'd been able to use a feint against a skilled opponent like that. He brought the blade across his body, tearing out at Axel's torso.

With a little yelp, Axel ducked just in time to avoid the oncoming steel. Without waiting, Seifer danced back and then forward again, whipping the blade out at the unbalanced Nobody. Axel's eyes widened as he saw the sword aiming at him.

Unable to contain himself, Seifer smiled and yelled, "Gotcha!"

There was a fizz and suddenly Axel was gone. Seifer blinked and nearly fell over as his attack traveled through nothing. He caught himself before he fell over and quickly fell back into his stance, looking around wildly.

"Just for the record…"

Seifer jumped and wheeled around at the sound of Axel's voice only inches behind him.

"Warping is not my weapon." Axel grinned pleasantly. "But congratulations on making me need to do that."

Seifer could feel the sweat on his brow as he swallowed hard. "Thanks." He didn't move this time, instead he slowly brought his feet closer together. It felt uncomfortable to be standing like that, but he stayed on his toes. "Y'know, I've been the one coming at you all this time. Howsabout we switch it up, eh?"

Axel cocked his head to one side and rubbed his chin in thought. After a moment he shrugged. "Alright I guess."

Seifer watched as Axel took a step forward. Then another. He watched as Axel's shoulders lowered. He dashed forward, his arms trailing behind him. Seifer watched him come, his eyes facing straight ahead. Axel was within striking distance now, but the man hadn't made any motion to attack.

He's faking it, Seifer realized.

He was close now, close enough to hit him. Seifer leaned forward, lowering the blade. It was a gamble.

There was a fizz.

He was right!

Seifer whirled around, arm extended, blade whistling through the air. He was turning faster now, faster than he ever had. Leon had been right. A closed stance really did help.

As he had thought, Axel was standing right behind him, fist raised. But now, Seifer could see, his eyes were wide open in shock.

Of course he can't teleport again so quickly, there had to be limits, Seifer thought triumphantly. I got him this time.

There was a flash of light and fire and Seifer felt his arm shudder as his sword crashed against metal. Flames erupted from the clash and Seifer hurled himself away from the explosion. His vision was spotty from the intense light that had almost blinded him. He shook his head to clear it and when he looked back at Axel, there was no more fire.

"Well done…" Axel said in a low voice. "I didn't think I'd need to bring these out against a kid like you."

Seifer could see what he was talking about. In each of Axel's hands, he held a circular, dangerous looking disc. The edges looked sharp and there were frightening looking spikes protruding from the center.

"The hell are those?" Seifer asked.

"Chakram," Axel said simply. "My weapons." The way he was speaking now was different than before. The mirth was gone from his voice and Seifer felt cold without reason. "Here, check 'em out."

In a blur of movement, Axel flicked his wrists forward and sent the two weapons spinning toward Seifer. Caught unawares by the projectile, Seifer wasn't able to move in time as the sharp spikes embedded themselves in his right arm, knocking him backwards. His back arched as he fell and he screamed in pain.

Both chakram had pierced through his upper arm and two sharp spikes were now rooted deep in his flesh. As he hit the ground he could feel the warm metal move inside of him, every shake sending fiery tendrils of pain arcing into his brain. Desperately he tried to steady himself, lifting himself onto his knees and gasping for breath in-between shortened yelps of agony.

"Seifer!"

Kairi's voice was far away. The room was spinning as he painfully pushed himself to his feet, supporting himself on the wall. Biting his lip until he could feel blood, he took a deep breath and tried to block out the pain. Wincing, he looked up at Axel who was still standing in the middle of the room.

"That's…ungh…that's not fair now is it," he said hoarsely. "You didn't tell me these things were projectiles."

Axel raised an eyebrow in surprise. "No I guess not."

Seifer swallowed hard, sweating profusely from the pain in his arm. He noticed with some pride that he had managed to hold onto his sword throughout the ordeal. Steeling himself, he reached up with his free hand and took hold of one of the chakram. With a scream, he yanked it from his arm. The room spun and he felt like he might black out but he took a deep breath and willed himself to stay standing. Then he reached up and did it again.

This time he nearly did fall over, finally he managed to swallow his screams and try to ignore the pain. He straightened up, wincing and biting his lip again.

"But here's the thing now, Axel," Seifer said with a forced smile. "Now you've got no weapon."

"Oh yeah…" Axel frowned slightly. "There was something else I didn't mention."

There was a flash of light and suddenly the hand Seifer was holding the chakram in burst into flames. The fire seared his skin and with a scream he dropped the flaming weapons. They fell and then stopped, floating a foot off the ground before zooming back towards Axel who caught them with ease.

"Look," Axel said with a sigh. "It's been fun, really. But I got other things to do. So let's make this quick, yeah?"

Seifer could barely stand now. His right arm was bleeding heavily and his left hand was burnt badly. His breath was coming in quick gasps now.

"See ya."

Axel reared back and flung his chakram forward again. They were aimed now for Seifer's head. He couldn't move, he couldn't do anything about it.

"Shit…"

"SEIFER!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Seifer saw a tiny metallic glint whizz through the doorway. There were two loud pings and Seifer saw the chakram suddenly change direction. Two sharp metal stars ricocheted into the ground at Seifer's feet as the chakram crashed into the wall inches from his head. Across the room, Leon burst in through the doorway.

"Good shot, Yuffie!"

The little ninja girl bounded through the doorway after Leon with a grin. "Thanks, now let's kick some Organization butt!"