Axel centric... almost the whole chapter... Which is an achievement.

Potion Torture

Chapter 11

Axel sighed. Larxene was telling Roxas about the "relationship" she had developed with him. Roxas was listening, an amused look on his face. "So," Roxas said to Axel when Larxene paused. "You two have an intimate relationship?"

"There's nothing intimate about my relationship with Larxene," Axel muttered. "There's not even a relationship."

Larxene giggled. "Oh, Axel. What have I told you about lying?"

Axel rolled his eyes. "Larxene, shut up."

Larxene giggled again and scooted closer to Axel. After Vexen had tested his antidote, Larxene had pulled Axel down to an empty room. Roxas had followed them, and was now sitting in a chair across from Axel and Larxene, who were seated on a couch. "Axel..." Larxene cooed. "That's not a nice way to talk to me. Is it?" She paused and laughed. "Of course it isn't! You should be respectful to me. But if you were respectful, you wouldn't be Axel, so... just be respectful to me! Disrespect everyone else as much as you want. But you have to respect me, for I am your girlfriend." She stopped and smiled proudly at Axel.

"You are not my girlfriend," Axel said, moving to the end of the couch. "And I'll disrespect you if I want to."

Larxene snorted. "Don't be silly Axel!" she said cheerfully. "If I wasn't your girlfriend, then you wouldn't have kissed me."

Roxas grinned. The entire love potion ordeal amused him. "You kissed her?"

Axel looked from the happily smiling Larxene to Roxas. He sighed, leaned forward, and put his head in his hands. "...Larxene?"

"Yes?"

"Go and get some drinks," he ordered. "Three."

"Axel," Roxas objected. "I don't-"

Axel removed his head from his hands. "Quiet, Roxas."

"Three drinks," Larxene repeated, standing. "Got it!" She grinned at Axel and left the room.

Roxas looked back at Axel and snickered. "So...she's not your girlfriend, but you kissed her?"

Axel glared at Roxas. "Shut up, Roxas."

- - - - -

Larxene, humming to herself, fixed three drinks and set them on the counter. She was ready to take the drinks back when she realized that to carry three drinks, she would need some sort of tray. Sighing, she turned away from the drinks and walked to a nearby closet to find a tray.

Several minutes later, Larxene had searched through four closets and was now far away from the counter where she had left the drinks. "Why the hell can't I find a tray?" she asked herself, throwing open another closet and resuming the search. "And why are there so many closets in this damn place?" She sighed and leaned into the closet, pushing things aside.

Soon, she emerged from the closet, tray in hand. She smiled, closed the door, and walked back to the kitchen, humming. Upon entering the kitchen where her drinks were, she frowned.

Demyx was slipping out of a closet, being careful not to step on a pile of broken glass by the door. He headed through the kitchen, not noticing Larxene.

Larxene scowled, slammed the tray down on the counter, and set about fixing three more drinks. She finished, and walked back down to the room where Axel and Roxas where, kicking open the door. "Drinks!" she said, with her now usual cheerfulness. She set the tray down on a chair by the door and picked up two, one for her and one for Axel. Roxas sighed, got up, and got his own drink, walking over to the open window and pouring the drink out the window.

"I didn't want a drink," he said loudly, tossing the glass out the window.

Axel rolled his eyes and drank from his glass as Roxas leaned out the window to watch the glass break on the ground below.

"Holy shit!"

Axel jumped, dropping his glass, as Roxas leaned further out the window. Larxene was over beside Roxas in one second, looking out with him. She whistled, and Axel decided he had better join them. At the window, he pushed the other two aside and looked out. He raised one eyebrow at what he saw.

Marluxia had, evidently, fallen off some point of the castle. He was clutching his chest as if he was in pain, and was narrowly missing several parts of the castle that jutted out of the wall. Roxas looked over at Axel with a questioning look.

"Should we do something?" he asked.

Axel shrugged.

Larxene pushed them both to the ground as Xaldin's spear dragon shot through the wall. Roxas moved out from under Axel (who had landed almost exactly on top of him) and went to the side of the dragon just in time to see Marluxia fall on top of it behind Xaldin. He leapt back out of the way as the dragon crashed through the wall and curled into the room. As Xaldin stepped off of it, it disappeared into his spears, which also vanished. Marluxia fell to the ground with a thud and a groan.

"Marluxia," Xaldin said, looking at the man on the ground. "What's wrong with you?"

Marluxia tightened his grip on his chest and moaned.

"You know," Axel said, pushing Larxene off of him. "I think he's in pain."

Xaldin glared at Axel. "Thank you, Axel."

Axel grinned and nodded. "No problem, Xaldin." Beside him, Larxene stood, reached down and grasped his arm, pulling him to his feet.

"Come on, Axel," she said, walking past Xaldin. "I wouldn't like to be here when Xemnas finds out that one of us has been mysteriously wounded and we have no way of healing him, since we don't know what's hurting him."

Axel looked at her, then snorted. "Sounds like something one of Vexen's potions would do..." he said thoughtfully. "Though I'm sure he'd be able to heal him."

Larxene stopped and blinked. "I wonder if this has anything to do with the first drinks I made..." she murmured.

Roxas ran up to them and skidded to a stop at Larxene's side. "I heard that," he said. "What first drinks?"

Larxene grinned. "Oh, nothing, nothing!" she said, starting to run off again. "Gotta keep moving, right?"

Axel looked over his shoulder at Roxas, who shrugged. "Sounds like she suspects something," Roxas said, moving over beside Axel. "Don't you think?"

Axel nodded. "Just what I was thinking." He stopped running, swept one foot under Larxene's, and caught her before she fell. He grasped her arms just above the elbows and slammed her against the wall, sliding up against her. "Larxene, what did you mean back there?"

Larxene grinned again, squirmed underneath Axel, then sighed. "Fine," she muttered. "I fixed some drinks, then realized I would need a tray to carry them back to the room. When I came back a few minutes later with the tray, the drinks were gone, and Demyx was slipping out of a closet, a closet that had broken glass beside it. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but he is Demyx, so he could've done something to those drinks - like put some potions in them - and then Marluxia might've drank one."

"What about the other two?" Roxas asked.

Larxene shook her head. "I don't know about those..." she said slowly. "But we should-"

All of them jumped a little when one of the most irritating sounds ever heard in the castle sounded out again.

"What have they done to him now?" Axel asked through clenched teeth. "I'm tired of hearing the damn brat scream like that!" He pulled away from Larxene and opened a portal that he hoped would take him close to where the scream had come from. Larxene ran after him, Roxas following her through just before the portal closed. The portal had taken them to a higher floor of the castle, and they paused, Axel thinking he might have to try again, when the scream sounded again.

"That way," Roxas said, pointing right. He ran that way, the other two following him. Roxas stopped at a dull white door, one with the roman numeral XI enscribed at the top. Roxas shrugged, twisted the doorknob, and frowned.

It wouldn't open.

Sighing, Roxas summoned a Keyblade, pointed it at the door, and grinned as the lock clicked. Axel reached forward this time, and opened the door. "Fuck..." he muttered.

Marluxia's room was void of all forms of life. Completely empty. The only thing moving was the light pink curtains pulled in front of the balcony doors, swaying in the wind from a single window.

"I swear," Roxas said, venturing into the room. "I heard that scream come from here."

Larxene moved past both of them and pulled the curtains by the balcony apart. She sighed, then moved aside so thatAxel and Roxas could see. It seemed that the source of the screams - Demyx - had witnessed whatever had happened with Marluxia, and was currently attempting to tell Luxord what happened, while screaming whenever the man got to close to him.

"Luxord again?" Axel muttered, fiddling with the doors until he forced them open. "Luxord!" he called. The man stopped in his slow advance towards Demyx and turned to him. "What happened?"

"Mar fell!" Demyx yelped, his voice full of despair. "At least... I think he did... He might've jumped." He sighed and his shoulders sagged. "I don't know... I don't even know if he's all right..."

Larxene snorted. "He's fine," she said, moving out onto the balcony. "Well... He's not dead."

Demyx looked up at her. "You mean you know where he is?"

Larxene nodded. "Yeah. He's back down where we were." She paused and looked at Demyx. "And don't ask me where that is. All I know is that Xaldin caught him on his spear dragon... And that it's your fault he fell in the first place."

Demyx stared at her, confused. "What?"

"Yes," Larxene said, nodding. "You poisoned his drink, caused him pain, and made him fall. It's also your fault what Vexen will do to you once he finds out what you did."

Demyx sighed and sank to the ground, shaking. "I didn't mean too..." he whined, bringing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "It was an accident..."

"Larxene," Roxas said softly, nudging her. "Shut up. You'll make him jump if you don't stop it."

"Oh, be quiet, Roxas," Larxene whispered back. "This is fun!"

Roxas rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Larxene was hopeless when it came to torture. He sighed and stepped back into the room, pulling Axel after him. "Axel, Demyx already feels bad enough," Roxas said lowly, watching as Larxene ranted about how everything that had happened to Marluxia in the past few hours was all his fault. "If she continues on like this, he really will jump!"

Axel looked from his friend out to the balcony. He nodded. It wasn't that he cared for Demyx any, but if he commited suicide and Xemnas found out about it, they'd all be in trouble. He pushed the door open again, reached forward, and snatched Larxene's arm, pulling her back a step. "Wrap it up," he hissed in her ear.

Larxene nodded. "Oh, and Demyx," she said loudly. "I do hope you know how to run."

Demyx looked up at her quizicly, and she only smiled. She pushed back into Axel, and he pulled her into Marluxia's room. "Can we go now?" Roxas asked, looking just a little bit anxious. Axel nodded, opened another portal, and pulled Larxene into it.

- - - - -

Xemnas sighed. All that been going on was classified under a "normal" day at his castle. And he was tired of it. If it was possible, Vexen would be suspended from his potions. "Marluxia did what?" he asked Xaldin.

Xaldin repeated everything that happened to Xemnas and then sank into a chair by the still groaning and moaning Marluxia. "I think I hurt him more. He landed on the dragon pretty hard."

Xemnas walked over to Marluxia and knelt beside him. "Marluxia."

Marluxia looked up at Xemnas, tried to sit up, and fell back. He groaned, and gripped his stomach with one hand, keeping one on his chest.

Xemnas stood, and motioned Xaldin over. "Take him to the infirmary," he ordered.

Xaldin nodded. He leaned down, picked Marluxia up, and held him in his arms as Marluxia grimaced and seemed to fight against a groan rising in his throat.

"And do it quickly," Xemnas said as Xaldin began to walk out of the room. Xaldin nodded and moved quicker down the hallways. Xemans sighed again and sat down on the couch to wait for Vexen to return. When he did, he would be set to work to figure out how to heal Marluxia. Xemnas knew that Axel wouldn't be happy about Vexen leaving the antidote making for a while, but it was more important that all the members be alive and healthy, even if they were in love with others. That decided, Xemnas stared at the destroyed wall and wondered if he should really go find Lexaeus to fix it now, or tell him about it later.

Ah... Marluxia's still in pain. And most likely will be for the next few chapters. And no, I have no clue what happened to him. That'll come up...sometime.

And now - sometime in the now, anyway - Lexaeus came up. Woot. He gets to fix a wall. Go him.

...Demyx is alone with Luxord again... Shoot. I guess the next chapter will have more yaoi between that... Bad Luxord.