"I, I need to tell you something. Something, before I go," Axel grunted as Saix continued to kill and shoot all while avoiding being killed.
"No, you're not going anywhere Axel," Roxas couldn't control the rolling tears as they fell off his face.
"You were right." Axel smiled as Roxas returned a confused face. "I," Axel chuckled with a grimace of pain. "I was bluffing."
"What?" Roxas whispered.
"I chose you," Axel reached for Roxas' wet cheek. Roxas grabbed Axel's cold hand and clutched it tightly, his body shaking from fear and hate and sorrow and adrenaline.
"You chose me?" Roxas knew what Axel meant but had a hard time accepting it as he realized what it changed.
"Agh!" Saix put a hand over his arm, and Roxas knew that the blue haired man was shot.
"No," Roxas shook his head.
"I chose you." Axel repeated before his eyes rolled back.
"NO!" Roxas screamed, hating the confusion in his mind and the chaos crumbling around his body. The inner torment of questioning the past years events were too much for him to try to organize in such a destructive environment. Roxas kissed Axel's forehead before he the redheads gun and stood up.
"You ok?" Roxas asked Saix, who appeared to be surprised by such a question from the blonde.
"Yes. I can still fight." Saix said. "How is he?" Saix asked Roxas, who sniffled.
"I don't know." Roxas' lip trembled before Saix nodded.
"Let's finish this." Saix said and Roxas nodded before they both peered over the door and unleased all the ammunition they could. Roxas shouted profanities as he killed several men. Bullets whizzed past his head and he experienced a form of luck he didn't know a man could possess. He saw the eyes of men he never before had seen, yet hated with a passion deeper than any other. He wanted them dead. He wanted to kill. And he did. Part of him killed for Axel while part of him killed for Cloud. If it wasn't for those men, Cloud wouldn't have been involved with drugs. If there wasn't a gang to be a part of, Cloud would have lived. Roxas dished out his own sense of justice until he exhausted all of his ammunition. When there were no more shots coming towards Roxas and Saix, they hovered over Axel's body.
"Axel," Saix shook the redheads shoulders.
"Ha!" A man, who had been hiding unseen within the room, jumped out and aimed at the back of Saix's head.
"Ugh!" Roxas grunted as he pulled the trigger first and shot the man in the face. Saix watched with shocked eyes as the man fell over, a dead mass, with a bleeding hole where his eye once was.
"Thank you," Saix bowed his head in respect as Roxas nodded back.
"I'll clear the room." Roxas said, volunteering himself to do a job that, before that moment, he'd cry and beg for death as an alternative. When he came out and told Saix that everyone inside was dead, Saix informed Roxas that it was time to leave. Saix called Vexen to be ready as he and Roxas lifted Axel's body into the car and sped off.
"Is, is he alive?" Roxas asked, since the rush and circumstances made it all unclear.
"I don't know." Saix gripped the steering wheel tighter.
"He'll be ok." Roxas said out loud, although he meant it as a private thought. "Your arm, can you drive?" Roxas asked, noticing how Saix hunched forward as he drove.
"Nevermind my petty injury. The mission was a fail. If Axel dies, it's in vain." Saix said. Roxas wanted to ask for clarification, but they were already on Castle grounds, and the urgency to get Axel to Vexen came before all else.
"This isn't good. Not at all." Vexen said before he took Axel's body into his lab with Zexion and Saix and shut the door.
Roxas and Demyx waited outside the office on the floor or pacing without a word. When an hour passed, Saix exited the lab with clean bandages, but no report on Axel.
"Well, let me know what he says," Demyx said before he left.
"If he had died, we would know by now." Saix said, and Roxas knew it was his way of staying positive.
"Saix," Roxas began. "If Axel's alive," Roxas looked away before he could look back into Saix's eyes. "Can I say goodbye before you kill me?"
Saix thought for a moment and was about to answer when Xemnas approached them.
"Shouldn't you have come straight to my office to debrief?"
"My apologies." Saix bowed his head.
"He was shot." Roxas said, hoping it would take some of the pressure off of the blue haired man.
"I see." Xemnas said as he glanced at Saix's bandages. "Come with me, so that you may debrief and then rest."
"Yes, Sir," Saix said with a frown before he turned to look upon the locked laboratory door.
"Why are you sad?" Xemnas placed his thumb on Saix's chin.
"It seems we have a comrade who is critically injured at best." Saix frowned.
"Axel?" Xemnas asked before Saix nodded.
"I failed you, Superior. I was only able to retrieve half of the data you needed." Saix bowed on his knees and hung his head. "I shall not beg for mercy, for I deserve none."
"My love," Xemnas went on his knees and lifted Saix's chin up. "Your safety above all else. Forgive me, for your wounded arm. I should not have sent you into such a mission."
"We didn't know the house was filled. They, they knew we were coming. Were it not for the boy," Saix looked at Roxas. "Axel and I would have both perished."
"I only did what I had to," Roxas bowed at the waist. "And, I found these. I figured this is what you needed." Roxas said as he handed a folder to Saix.
"The documents!" Saix gasped as he took them from Roxas' hands.
"Come with me my dear. We must debrief." Xemnas held out his hand, and after one last look to Vexen's door, Saix took the hand and followed Xemnas down the hall.
Roxas waited outside Vexen's door patiently and quietly, but his exhausted mind and drained body demanded sleep that he couldn't oppose. When the blonde woke up, he saw Saix exiting Vexen's lab.
"Saix!" Roxas jumped to his feet. "How, how is he?" Roxas was anxious to know.
"I talked with the Superior." Saix said, ignoring Roxas' question. "After your actions today we decided," Saix tilted his head and looked even deeper into Roxas' eyes. "To spare you."
"You, you mean, you're not going to kill me?" Roxas asked, his mind disbelieving while hope crept up inside.
"No. Not today," Saix answered, and Roxas was about to frown until he saw something he hadn't ever seen before. Saix smiled. "I owe you my life. You killed the man who elsewise would have killed me. In addition, you retrieved the documents I swore to get. Now, in this moment, I shall spare your life. We are even." Saix held out his hand, and for once Roxas felt like he could trust him, so he shook hands.
"Even." Roxas smiled as Saix smiled back. "How, how's Axel?" Roxas asked, but Saix said nothing. "Saix?" Roxas pressed.
"He's on a machine to help him breathe. Without it, he wouldn't be alive. He's not conscious, but the biggest problem is the amount of blood he's losing. He was shot near the heart. Vexen has a vault of stored blood for each official member, for such emergencies, but he's already running low for Axel's. If he can't find a way to fix things soon, we will lose him." Saix said gravely.
"What's his blood type?" Roxas wondered aloud before Saix knocked on Vexen's door.
"What, what do you want, can't you see I'm busy?" Vexen answered the door, his white coat stained red with blood.
"Test the boy to see if he is a match for Axel." Saix ordered.
"Even if he is, I could only take a small amount compared to the large quantity needed to keep Axel alive."
"Then buy yourself the time." Saix said as he pushed himself and Roxas into the room. Axel was lying down on a table, being monitored by Zexion who continuously wrote down information in his charts and adjusted needles and tubes. Roxas watched as the redhead breathed through a plastic mask that covered his nose and mouth, his chest rising and falling robotically with loud beeps and growls from the machinery.
After Vexen tested Roxas' blood and determined that it was a clean match, he began extracting blood from Roxas and transferring it to Axel.
"If you get light headed, let me know." Vexen instructed as Roxas nodded. They both silently yet mutually agreed to drain as much blood as they could from Roxas without putting him in danger. When Roxas felt his hearing fade, he looked to Vexen.
"I, I feel," Roxas' eyes closed.
"That's enough." Vexen said before he took out the needle and put a small bandage over the blonde's arm. "Saix, carry him to his room and let him sleep; but only after he's had something to eat."
"As you say." Saix said and carried Roxas' barely conscious body to the elevator.
"Is he better?" Roxas asked Saix.
"Time will tell. Your donation means a lot. How do you feel?"
"Dizzy." Roxas said with his arms around Saix's neck.
"You can sleep in Axel's bed. He has no need for his apartment anyway."
"Okay." Roxas agreed lazily as they arrived on the eighth floor and gained clearance to enter the room.
"Here, eat this." Saix said as he pushed a bag of cookies in Roxas' face.
"Meh." Roxas grumbled, his head too airy to think.
"Eat." Saix said again before Roxas whined through stubbornly closed lips. "Eat it!" Saix shoved the cookie into Roxas' mouth when the boy opened it to breathe.
"Yummy." Roxas smiled as he chewed.
"Now, go to bed. I shall awake you if I have any news on Axel's health. It is imperative that you rest, since you donated quite a bit of blood today."
"Okay." Roxas yawned, clung to the cookie bag against his chest, and helped himself in Axel's bed.
"Neky-neko chan." Roxas saw the black cat jump on the bed, curl up at his side, and fall asleep before he did the same.
Author's Note: OMG so now we finally know, AXEL CHOSE ROXAS! but, WHY? Any ideas? Any thoughts? Predictions? Did he chose Roxas because they have the same blood type, for such occasions as the one he's in now? For romantic purposes? As a punching bag? To make Saix jealous? For revenge on Cloud's rival gang? So many possibilities, what do you think?
Sorry its taking me so long to update. Life has been pretty crazy lately, full up big ups and downs but don't worry, I'm still here. Thanks for reading, any and all comments are greatly appreciated. So, what was Axel thinking? What's going to happen to him?