~Chapter 14~
~Thorn...~
As much as I wanted to tell X about the recent visions, what we might know about Alyssia... I just couldn't work up the nerve to speak up. X was so busy, so was Zero. If I told them, it'd spark an entire new investigation which X and Zero were to busy to handle at the moment..
I was standing next to Axl, spinning my thumbs... He was serious about telling X. He was worried for me. "I know you're scared to speak up, but, if you keep falling and getting hurt, you probably wont even be able to think anymore." Axl sighed. He was truly worried for me. I looked out the window behind me...
"Axl... I don't think we should tell X just yet..." I muttered, chickening out, but for good reason...
"Not yet? What do you mean not yet?" he asked, putting a hand on his hip. "It's just... you, X, Zero, and everyone else are just too stressed out right now. If I mention it now, Zero and X will become even more strained and I can't do that to them." I explained. Axl shaking his head. "Fiiine..." he dragged out. "Look, we'll tell them when everything is over, got it?" he asked, I nodded. I hated to drag everything I knew on without telling everyone, but I had to keep it secret for now... X and Zero had their hands full with Lumine and Sigma, I couldn't stress them out any further...
Axl patted my head... I looked down sadly, something about all this made me nervous. First... she looked like me, and now, I knew things about her that not even Axl knew and he explained to me they were even closer than me and him are now, and it's been over four years...
We walked to an elevator, Axl pressing the down button. We waited in silence for a moment, where he later led me inside when the doors opened up. We stood in silence for a few more moments, with my eyes facing the window behind us, I spoke..
"Axl.. don't you think it's weird I know her so well, but never even knew she existed till now...?" I mumbled, Axl's attention quickly being ripped from the wall of buttons towards me. "Well..." he sighed, as he moved closer to me, I turning around and he later pulled me close...
"Ala, listen... I do find it a little odd, yeah... but, even so... you're still you. Just because something weird happens, doesn't change you... that's what you're worried about right? That you're such a burden to everyone..?" he asked, I... a little shocked he could read me so well...
He chuckled. "Heh, didn't think I'd guess right?" he asked, I looked up at him.. my heart was racing a little. "N-no... I didn't think you'd get it honestly." I responded, honestly. He smiled, looking back forward. "Eh, I can tell. It's not hard. You're pretty open." he mumbled.
The doors opened on the first floor, and Axl let me go, walking out. "Well, come on. Let's go take a walk for a while. My shift for today is over anyways. Not like you have much to do anyway." Axl said, chuckling. "Ms. No life." he teased. I pouted, following behind him closely...
It was weird around him... he would make my heart race, and then, it'd stop... he confused it so much. But, why did he do so? So easily he could play with my heart strings like a puppet master, he could have me wrapped around his fingers, and I wouldn't even realize...
Why did he tease me like that? Was it out of friendship, or something more intense than that? Fortune had told me about Love, how a persons heart could hone on another... and it'll grow so attached to them, it'll care, swell with love.. called... a crush...
I shook my head as I followed behind him, my face turning red. 'A crush on... Axl?! That's crazy, why would I love a annoying... reckless...' I began to speak out loud... "Sweet boy..." I mumbled, Axl looking back at me. "huh..? You say something?" he asked, my cheeks grew darker with red. "N-no! Nothing!"
~~~~
It was late at night, Axl's time of day... when work was over, he'd leave for a while and come back home to rest for the next day. Heaven only really knew where he'd wander off to. "So... where are we going?" I asked, Axl shrugged. "Well, as I see it, where ever my legs can take me. If I get tired, I head back." he bluntly stated, he seemed to have... a one track mind.
"Hey Al, are you still nervous or anything?" he asked innocently, emerald eyes looked down towards me, observing me from up to down. "Kind of. I mean... it's not every day you find out you're psychic or something... I don't even know what it is anyway." I said, Axl raising a brow. "It's just, I've always had problems... Doc said once... to Thorn, thinking I couldn't hear through my capsule, or that I wouldn't understand... that I'd.. never make it." I mumbled, Axl's eyes widened, it's a sad thing, hearing that you were meant to pass or not make it through life... as a Droid, you were meant to be perfect...
"I'm... I'm sorry..." he mumbled. "I didn't even realize he'd say something like that around you..." he said. "It happened around when I was first created, I could see perfectly out of the water I was in... it was dark on the outside, but I could see Doctor talking to Thorn, and he simply said I wouldn't be the one to make it..." I stated. "The one to make it..." Axl mumbled to himself, confused by the statement...
"Yeah and.. I actually felt sadness, that was the first time I had ever purely felt emotion." I muttered, Axl looking down... he reached for my hand, and clenched onto it tightly. "Hey... it's okay..." he said. "You're with us now, and we'll... I'll make all the pain go away. Okay?" he said, smiling...
I found myself smiling, my cheeks growing red... I felt warm, even though it was chilly out... I could still find myself happy and warm, instead of wrapped in cold and sadness... his hand was tough, but soft and gentle...
Axl's eyes changed... before long, his kind and gentle look, went to that of alert... "Axl..?" I mumbled... "Shh!" he shushed, as he held my arms tightly. "Axl.. what's wrong?" I asked, trying to get an answer from him...
"We're... being watched.." he said. "Ala, I need you to be quiet for now..." he mumbled. I suddenly found his arm wrapped around my waist, as he tossed me to the side, sharp, rose thorn like blades slamming through the concrete where I and Axl stood. Axl, landing in front of me from his dodge, his armor covering his body once again... "Show yourself!" he yelled, I sitting on the floor looked around frantically...
A woman, jumped from above in front of us. She was far from unrecognizable...
"Thorn..." I mumbled, half excited and happy. "The girl... give her back to me." Thorn said sternly. "Or will I have to take her by force. She doesn't belong to you Red Alert scum." she said, with an angered tone to her voice. Axl grew angry. "Don't call me scum! You're the one who's scum!" he responded, Thorn's lips forming a smirk as she charged at him, she too quick for Axl to notice...
Her fist, impaling Axl's stomach with such a great force, I'd thought that he'd blow into pieces then and there... the force, tossed him on the floor, he holding his now bleeding wounds... each, filled with the sharp, toxic thorns that she was born with. I got up quickly, rushing to Axl's side. "Axl! Come on! Look at me!" I yelled, as I pulled him to look to me, I had to heal the wounds...
"Ala, get away from him... he's a danger to you and everyone around him." Thorn said, as she lent out her hand, her armor, cracked and damaged... "Thorn... you don't understand! He saved me! He's no threat! Please..." I pleased, Thorn, grabbing my arm and yanking me up. "We are to leave, now!" she yelled at me, I throwing my fist into her stomach, each hit barely making any form of damage to her. "Your abilities still haven't awoken yet..." Thorn sighed, as she looked down to Axl. I yanked my arm from her, going back to his side. "You can't take me from him!" I yelled, Axl's armor fading away as he grew weaker, not even capable of holding his own form...
She sighed. "He truly did poison your mind..." Thorn looked at him with a pitying look, sighing once again. I pulled the thorns from his wound... "Axl, please... look at me..." I pleaded, he barely able to answer me by this point...
I pulled her thorns from the wounds, and put my hand over them, a green aura coming from my hand and surrounding the wound, soon closing it... he, lay unconscious, but safe from loss of liquids...
"I only allowed you to help him, being it was true he had saved you... I will take him back to his little friends... I suggest telling him it'd be wiser to carry his weapon."
"Thorn, Red Alert isn't... here anymore.." I explained, Thorn looking at me. "What..?" she mumbled, "Red Alert... was ended, and he now no longer has a family to call his own..." I explained, Thorn looking down at Axl... she sighed, as she crouched next to him. "Come here bud..." she said sadly, she had said once that she understood how it felt to be alone... I suppose knowing this new information was enough to convince her otherwise...
"Where does he live now..?" she asked, "he lives... with the hunters now. He's a Maverick hunter, just like he dreamed of being." I said, she sighed, looking down at Axl who she now held in her arms. "So, he's an officer now huh?" she asked, I nodded...
"Let's get him back home..."
~~~~
When Axl was taken to Lifesaver, X took the time to meet Thorn... he sighed...
"So, Axl's hurt because... why?" X asked. "I quickly assumed he was holding Ala hostage, after the incident with Red alert had happened, I had all reason to believe so..." Thorn explained, X rubbed the bridge of his noes. "Ms. Thorn, you do understand this is a punishable offense, he is a form of officer you cannot just harm an officer.." X mumbled, Zero standing behind him.
"I am aware of such, however I had many reasons that can be valid..." Thorn stated, I looked to X. "X please, can't you just lift the charges...?" I asked, X leaning his hand on his cheek. "Look, I'll see what I can do... please, just get out of my sight for a while, I have enough to deal with." X mumbled with a yawn.
With that, me and Thorn left. She chuckled. "Quite the cute young men here." Thorn said, smiling wide. "Thorn!" I exclaimed, sighing. "So.. that kid... is he honestly a good young man?" she asked, I nodded. "Yes... he's my best friend now..." I responded, Thorn smiled. "Look, so long as he gives me no reason to be skeptical, I wont budge... however, you are to remember that you are my main priority..." she explained.
I nodded... "Of course.." I mumbled, she smiled as she patted my head...
"Come on now, lets go see him. I'm sure he's awake by now. I've known Lifesaver for a while now, and he's a brilliant Droid, I'm sure this kid is fine by now." Thorn explained...
I had many questions... and they were my next actions. I had to know, where was she all this time? Who survived, if she's the only one... how did she know so many people at HQ? X being one of the main ones who didn't know her personally... So many questions, so little time...
A/N:
Okay, so really I believe this is an odd chapter, being it seems kind of roughly written... I finally got to write after a week or so of not writing, but I hope you enjoy it, even if it is a little roughly done. :3