Taking a short break from exams and updating something I haven't touched in a while. Rest assured, there's more to come. :)
Axel didn't struggle much as he was strapped down on a different table, as Saix began hooking up several wires and needles to a very large, very intimidating machine. The redhead had never seen anything like it before. A large, wooden wheel, very similar to that of a water wheel, and a couple of pumps pushed down into the ground was all he could really make out in the dim light. He couldn't see the bottom of the wheel or what was in the small pit at its base, but something gave him the suspicion that it wasn't water.
Saix had Even move the table closer to the machine before he strapped Axel's head down as well, using a long, leather harness. The blue-haired man stood over him triumphantly, watching as his assistant inserted the needles and made sure the harness was tight and secure. Axel winced faintly as he felt little mild pokes into his skin, but he tried to keep his reactions to a minimum. He didn't want to let on that the mere look of that machine was making him nervous.
Saix looked up at his invention proudly. "Impressive, isn't it?"
Axel remained silent, looking up at him blankly. The man didn't seem to care. "It took me half a lifetime to invent it. I'm sure by now that you've noticed my deep and abiding interest in pain."
The redhead snorted, turning his head as much as he could to look back up at the machine. It was a colossal contraption, almost high enough to reach the ceiling. He decided it against asking what it was built to do, figuring that Saix would be all to happy to elaborate.
Surprisingly, he didn't right away. "At present, I'm writing a book on the subject. So I want you to be totally honest about how the machine makes you feel."
Saix stepped away from the table, toward a wooden bar with numbers marked horizontally up the side. Then he turned his attention back to Axel.
"This being the first go, I'll use the lowest setting. Brace yourself." With that, he pushed the bar up from zero to one and watched.
What he was supposed to brace himself for, Axel couldn't guess. But as soon as the bar was moved, he heard the sound of rushing water, and looked up to see it pouring over the wheel, setting it in motion. The wheel slowly began to turn, and it was only a moment later that Axel felt the resulting sensation.
There was a tug at every needle in his body. It tingled a little at first, and then became a rough pull at his insides. It was sucking something out of him, but what it was, Axel couldn't tell, because that very instant came the most intense pain he had ever felt in his life. It was rough, burning, churning; everything that resisted the pull felt like it was being seared with a hot poker. Axel had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming; his body arched wildly off the table, trying to shake loose the needles and escape the awful feeling. He was aware of losing something as the sucking continued, but the pain was too intense to be ignored.
The process seemed to go on for ever, but really, it had only been three minutes that passed when the machine finally stopped. The wheel creaked to a slow stop just a small ding was heard, and Saix walked around the side where Axel couldn't see, checking something inside. The redhead's chest was heaving wildly, his breathing ragged as his heart struggled to calm down. The end of the suction had mercifully brought a stop to the pain as well, but now that he had a moment to think, Axel focused on the light, painful tingle the feeling had left behind. What the hell was that?
"Ah, good." Saix came back into view and walked over to his desk, picking up a book and quill pen. "The process was a success."
"W-What..." Axel choked on his words, as he tried to move his fingers and found them stiff and, strangely, hollow feeling. They twitched a bit at his urging, burt no matter how hard he tried, Axel couldn't force them to curl into a fist.
The man didn't wait for him to finish. "The concept of suction pumps is really nothing new. It's the basis of this machine, except that instead of sucking water, I'm sucking life."
Axel shot him a look. Could he really be serious? In all his travels, he'd never heard of anything like it.
"You don't believe me? It's true. I've just sucked one year of your life away."
As Saix sat down and began jotting down something in his book, Axel took the moment to catch his breath. It seemed impossible...but he had felt it in his body! A sucking pressure, drawing...blood? Water maybe? Whatever it had taken to accomplish its goal, he now had one fewer year to live. The idea was dizzying, terrifying, and Axel was slowly losing that disciplined calm he had been trying to keep in his time in the pit. In the face of such a terrible force, his need for escape became more immediate, urgent. Roxas was still in danger, and now Axel was faced with the risk of losing more of his own life.
The blue-haired man seemed unbothered by the whole thing. He didn't look up from his book when he spoke, breaking Axel's train of thought.
"For now, you needn't fear. This machine was just recently perfected; the side effects of prolonged exposure seem to be quite mild. I might one day go as high as five years, but I want to test it on a few others before that. In the meantime, we'll just start with what we have." He looked up then, golden eyes cold but interested, and watched his prisoner closely. "So, how did it feel?"
Axel bit his lip and glared as defiantly as he could. He refused to indulge this sick man any further. The only thing he needed to focus on now was escape, and soon, for time was running out for everything...
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Meanwhile, in the rest of the kingdom, Prince Xigbar set forth a decree that the thieves forest be emptied, and all its inhabitants be arrested. A brute squad was assembled to carry out the dead, and much of the day was spent rounding up and beating every lowlife they came across.
Lexaeus sighed, closing up the back of one of the wagons to keep the prisoners inside from escaping. Not long after the incident with Vexen, he had been picked up by Xigbar's men just off the coast of Guilder. Having lost both Vexen and Zexion, he reluctantly offered his services to the General, who gladly accepted the giant for the job. He was one of the more muscled men in the squad, and work was plentiful, but the man didn't enjoy it much.
As he joined another new recruit in the little run-down village, the General approached and addressed them both.
"There's a dark-haired fellow down the way giving the men some trouble. Lexaeus, Zell, I want you two to go over there and subdue him."
The younger recruit looked decidedly uncomfortable at this. "H-Hey! Why me? Can't you just send Lexaeus to go do it?"
"Recruit, that's not how we address our commanding officer." As the blonde winced and stepped back nervously, the General snapped, "I order you both to go take care of it!"
"Yes, sir."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
With that, the man rode off, and Zell breathed a small sigh of relief.
Lexaeus looked at him sympathetically. "I'll handle it this time, Zell." He knew how much the younger man hated fighting. They'd become friends not long after Lexaeus had joined the guard, and the giant had learned that it was hard times and poverty that had driven the man to this, not his own choice.
The blonde smiled widely with relief. "Thanks, Lex! You're a life saver! I'll just go see how the others are doing and make a report to the General when you get back!"
Lexaeus smiled as he watched him go, before heading the way the General had indicated. What sort of man was enough to give the royal guard so much trouble?
He turned a corner around one of the little huts and heard a familiar voice.
"I'll slice ya to pieces!"
Zexion! Lexaeus was overjoyed to hear that his friend had made it out of Guilder alive! But he noticed quickly the slur in the man's voice; the weak, tired drawl that lacked its usual cold, biting edge. Was he drunk? The giant stepped out from behind the hut and saw several guards lying scattered on the ground. One was left standing, glaring and shaking his blade at the hunched, swaying, dark-haired figure leaning against a tree.
"Come quietly, you drunken fool!" the guard snapped. He heard Lexaeus's approach easily and turned to snap at the giant. "Oi, soldier! What're you gawking at! Get over here and help me!"
Zexion raised his head and gave a lop-sided smirk, swinging his blade like a bat.
"Oh-hoh! Callin for help, you pansy-ass son of a bitch?"
"Why you!"
The guard charged forward, ready to stab Zexion through the heart, but the smaller man parried the attack quiet easily. Lexaeus winced. His partner could be scary when he was drunk; partially because he got so vulgar and loud, but also because, unlike most people, Zexion's skills with a sword seemed to triple when he was hammered.
"Missed!" His form was terrible, but somehow, Zexion managed to dodge or block every swing. He landed a blow or two as well, and the guard stepped back, hissing as he held his cut arm. It was a small cut, but it had already begun to bleed, and clearly it stung painfully.
The man looked back at Lexaeus, flaming mad now.
"Take him down, you big lout!"
"I'm not goin anywhere til Vexen gets back," Zexion slurred, shoving some of the dark purple hair out of his eyes. "Go ahead and try!"
Just then, Lexaeus moved forward. He quickly backhanded the other guard and sent him to the ground, unconscious, before cautiously approaching his old partner. The man stepped back a bit more, looking up at him warily.
"You're a big one. Hmph, no problem! I can still take you down!"
"Zexion, it's me." When the smaller man blinked, Lexaeus added, "You're old partner, remember?"
"Lexaeus?" He looked him over for a moment. "Took you long enough."
Suddenly, the man fell forward, passing out drunk on the ground. It had to have taken all his strength to put up this much of a fight; upon taking a closer look, Lexaeus noticed that he didn't look well at all. He was flushed from drinking, clearly, but his skin was unusually clammy and cool. Whatever had happened to him since Guilder must have really taken its toll.
Regardless, the giant couldn't help but smile. He bent and lifted the smaller man into his arms, before seeking out a more secluded path back to town. A little care and Zexion would be as right as rein. He had his partner back, and that was all that really mattered.